The Quick Guide to Starting a Business in Delaware

This list includes everything that you need to do to properly start up a business in Delaware. If you will follow each of these steps, you will be registered with all of the proper tax authorities and you will receive all of the proper forms at the proper time.

1. Choose a business name.

2. By law any non-incorporated business entity (sole proprietorship, or partnership) must also register with the Prothonatary at the local county office of the Superior Court. You must register separately in each county where you will do business. Go into the Prothonatary's office listed below to fill out the form and do a name search to be sure your chosen name hasn't already been used. They will show you how. Take a $25 check and identification, because the form has to be notarized.

Doing this will protect your trade name from use by others in each county where registered. In case of a lawsuit, a business not registered could be fined $500. Also they could lose use of the name to whoever properly registered it. Some banks require registration of names by business customers.

County	Telephone No.	Location
New Castle	255-0825	Wilmington 500 N. King St. Suite 500, lower level 1
Kent	739- 3184	Kent County Courthouse, Dover State St., on The Green
Sussex	856- 5740	Sussex Co. Court House, Rm. 211 Georgetown

3. Choose the type of organization that is best for your needs: sole proprietorship, conventional corporation, sub-chapter s corporation, or partnership. There are advantages and disadvantages with each.

For assistance with tax or accounting questions, contact your accountant. For legal questions see your attorney. For information on incorporating in Delaware, call the Secretary of State Division of Corporations at 302-739-3073 or by computer at http://www.state.de.us/corp.

4. To get an IRS Employer Identification No. (EI No.), call toll free 1-800-816-2065, Monday through Friday from 7:30am to 5:30pm. EIN requests can be faxed to the IRS center for your state. Fax is 1-866-829-4933. Detailed information and an electronic SS-4 can be found at the IRS Small Business/Self Employed Community Web Site at http://www.irs.gov/smallbiz , scroll down to the section on Employer ID numbers..

5. After you have received your federal EI No.; call the Delaware Division of Revenue to obtain a business license. Ask them to send you a "CRA," Combined Registration Application. This one form will get you a state business license as well as gross receipts tax coupons, You can find information on Delaware’ business taxes as well as downloadable forms at (http://www.state.de.us/revenue).Or call the office nearest you.

City	Telephone No.
Wilmington	577- 8200
Dover	744- 1085
Georgetown	856- 5358

You also need to check with your city or town to see if they require a business license.

6. If the business will have employees:

• Call the State Unemployment Insurance Office and get a UC-1 form required for unemployment insurance. The telephone number is 761-6576.
• Obtain Workman's Compensation Insurance for your employees through an independent insurance agency.
• Supply W-4's to the Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE), P.O. Box 913,New Castle, DE 19720 or fax to 577-4848 for New Hire Reporting. For more information call Alinda Brown at 577-4815 ext. 222.
• Having a written employee policy manual will save you lots of trouble down the road. Call the SBDC or the Dept. of Labor for help. (http://www.state.de.us/labor)

7. Should you register your trademark(s) with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO)? Yes, if your business, especially a consumer business, uses a name or symbol worth protecting and if it may someday sell beyond the local area. If you plan to stay small & local, it probably doesn't matter.

You still have common law rights to a name even if it is not a federally registered trademark. To be eligible, your business must be engaged in interstate commerce of some kind. You qualify if any good or service you sell crosses state lines, or if any customers come from out of state.

A trademark or service mark is a word, symbol, design, combination of word & design a slogan, or even a distinctive sound, color, or smell which distinguishes the goods and services of one party from another. You can research and apply for a trademark on your own. It will cost you a few hundred dollars and take months to complete. But if you slip up -- easy to do since registration requirements are stringent -- your time and effort will be in vain. If you value your time highly &/or want to be sure of success, use a lawyer specialist.

Once protected, any unauthorized use of a registered trademark is illegal. If a prior, unregistered use does some day emerge, the continuing use of the unregistered mark could be geographically limited while the registered mark could be used throughout the U.S. After a mark is registered, you must use it or lose it. Also, the PTO expects you to police its use. If you fail to take action against another user, or stop using it itself, it will be considered abandoned.

The PTO number is 800-786-9199; has information how to apply. Request the pamphlet Basic Facts about Trademarks which includes an application & guidelines

The Patent & Trademark Office web site: http://www.uspto.gov contains much more useful information.