Licenses and permits in West Virginia

Forming the company is not permission to do the work. The business registration certificate is not that permission either. West Virginia does not issue one statewide license for every business. Cities and counties do their own licensing, the state licenses professions, and construction has its own board.

What’s different in West Virginia

• The certificate people sometimes call a business license is the tax registration. It is $30¹ and it comes from the Tax Division. Details are on Get your tax IDs.
• Construction needs a contractor license before you bid or do the work, unless an exemption applies. The board’s rule sets the license fee at $90⁷ a year, under the statute’s cap of $150⁴.
• Home food splits in two. Food that stays safe without time or temperature control can be sold directly without the cottage-food permit. A potentially hazardous food needs a permit, and the department guide prices that permit at no cost⁸.
• A professional LLC carries insurance the ordinary LLC statute does not mention. It has to carry at least $1 million of professional liability insurance at all times, or a segregated fund, bank letter of credit, or insurance bond in that amount¹⁰.

Do this

1. Get the business registration certificate if the tax step says you need it. That is not a city license and not a contractor license. Registration with the Secretary of State is not a substitute for a business registration certificate from the Tax Division¹.
2. Ask the city and the county where you will operate. Requirements differ by place. The Secretary of State filing is not that license. Most West Virginia cities also charge a business and occupation (B&O) tax on gross receipts, with no deduction for the cost of doing business, at rates that vary by city and by type of business¹. Under W. Va. Code § 8-13-4(c), an independent contractor or sole proprietor with less than $2,500 of annual gross revenue and no permanent physical location within the city is exempt from a municipal license². This is a narrow municipal licensing exemption, not an automatic exemption from a city B&O tax or state registration. This guide does not list each city’s or county’s rules.* Call the clerk for the city and the county you will work in, and ask the city about its B&O tax.
3. If the work is a licensed profession, use that board. West Virginia licenses professions one board at a time. This guide does not list each board’s fees.* Open the board for your profession before you take a client.
4. If the work is contracting, read the exemption before you assume the license applies, and before you assume it does not. No one may work or bid as a contractor in West Virginia without a license. A company needs an officer who holds the license. The licensing board's exam bulletin says each business operating in the construction industry must be licensed. The application statute says the fee is not to exceed $150⁴. The board’s rule sets it at $90 a year, paid with the application. A sole proprietorship that works only as an electrical contractor, and whose owner holds a state electrician’s license, pays $20 a year. The rule waives the first license fee for a qualifying low-income applicant or military family, and the annual fee applies at renewal⁷. The exam is separate. The board’s bulletin says each exam costs $59.95⁵, including a retake, and a contractor also has to pass the Contractor Licensing Act exam plus the trade exam when one applies. The statute then takes several kinds of work out of the license. One of them is work the owner or occupant does personally on that structure³. Others include work your own employees do for wages on property you own or lease that is not for speculative sale, finished products that are not built into the structure, and emergency repair of equipment. Read section 30-42-6 for the job you will actually do.
5. Selling food from home? Start with the cottage food guide. Meat, meat products, poultry, seafood, and Grade A dairy are not cottage food. Non-potentially hazardous foods, such as many baked goods, jams, and jellies, are sold directly to the consumer and generally do not need the permit the rule requires for potentially hazardous food. A potentially hazardous cottage food needs a Department of Agriculture permit before it is sold. The guide says a seller may have to obtain that permit, and it prices the permit at no cost⁸. Some products also need a process authority, a label review, or a water test. The guide says label review is optional for most products and that there is no cost to submit a label. A restaurant, a store, a stand, or a food truck is not cottage food. The state's food establishment rule covers restaurants, retail food stores, temporary food stands, mobile food units, and food vending machines. Local health departments permit and inspect them, and a permit application goes to your local health department⁹. None of these permits is the sales-tax account. Sales tax is on Get your tax IDs.
6. If the company is a professional LLC, put the insurance in place. It has to carry at least $1 million of professional liability insurance at all times, or a segregated fund, bank letter of credit, or insurance bond in that amount¹⁰.
7. Keep each expiration on its own line. A city license, a contractor license, and a cottage-food permit do not share a date with the Secretary of State annual report. That report is due on or before 11:59 p.m. on June 30¹¹. The details are on Stay compliant.

What you get back

A local license if the city or county requires one, a contractor license if the statute covers the job, a cottage-food permit if the food needs one, and the tax certificate if you were required to get it. Each one stands on its own. None of them is the LLC filing.