The Business Of Being An Artist

Small Business Saturday

I’m dotting all my I’s and crossing all my T’s relating to organizing my first online art sale.  I thought it would be great to share what I’m learning about doing business in North Carolina.  As artist small business owners, we need to complete the following as a sole proprietorship business:

#1: An Assumed Business Name Certificate NCGS 66.71.5 >> Web Link

This form is available on the North Carolina’s Secretary of State website.  It’s a PDF that you can download, complete and take to the Register of Deeds.  If you plan on during art shows outside of Wilson County, you may want to consider checking the box for “All 100 North Carolina counties,” for question #6.  Covid won’t last forever, and once we begin selling online, our opportunities may increase.  It helps to think positive.  For Wilson County it’s the second floor in the annex building behind the Court House.  The fee to file the form is $26.  When you print the form it’s a lot of white space at the top.  Please don’t delete this space, as the Register of Deeds places a stamp in it.

#2: Online Business Sales & Use Tax Registration Form NC-BR >> Web Link

We need to collect sales tax if we sell in North Carolina according to the individual county where the artwork was sold.  If we sell our artwork online in Wilson County but mail it to some in Wake County, then we collect the tax for Wake County.  We don’t collect tax if we are mailing artwork to another state or country.  There is no fee for applying for sales and tax identification.  Every quarter we will need to submit the funds we collected to the NC Department of Revenue.

In section III, the drop down menu asking “What kind of business are you engaged in? (Be specific)” doesn’t have an artist category.  I selected “Other Types – Hobby and craft shops, ceramics, curios, art supply stores.”  The question about what accounting method we will use is most likely “Cash.”

Completing these forms makes us a legitimate small business in North Carolina.