Moving Your Small Business
Moving Your Small BusinessMoving Your Small Business
We have an inherent entrepreneurial spirit and drive for innovation. We welcome companies that choose to move or expand into the Dallas area. While small business owners already know laws and processes required to form a company, you will benefit from the following resources specific to Texas and the Dallas Region.
Resources and Centers to Assist Business Growth and Development
If you are going to start a business here and need help, or if you’d like to apply for funding for your existing business, use the following databases to find helpful resources on government assistance.
Small Business Association
Government-run center for small business owners to receive financing, entrepreneurial development and education, government contracting, and legal advocacy; routinely publish newsletters and guides for relocating business owners
Texas Economic Development Corporation
Informational company that can help you find links to governmental support, such as grants or skill development; also offers their own information about relocating your business
America's Small Business Development Center
Has multiple locations across the country, with each conducting its own research; counsels and trains business people in managing, financing and operating small businesses; provides comprehensive information services and access to experts in a variety of fields
How to Start an LLC
You are ready to start your new Texas business and you’ve decided that you want to form an LLC, or “limited liability company”. What’s next? The setup process is multi-step, but this article will give you the steps you need. We also provide links to important sites and give you things to think about along the way.
Relocating Your Business: Entities, Regulations and Taxes
When considering moving a fully formed business, be prepared for an extensive process. You must find a new space, apply for taxes, inform and prepare your staff, publicize the move to customers (if relevant to business), get new business licenses, and physically make the move.
How to Relocate Your Formal Business Entity
If you move your corporate offices to Texas, you have one of three options. You may continue as a corporation in your old state and register as a foreign corporation doing business in Texas. Alternately, you can dissolve your corporation fully in your old state and form the corporation again in Texas. Finally, you may do a reorganization, in which you form a new company in Texas and merge it with your existing company.
Texas Secretary of State
If you’ve chosen to operate your business as a Limited Partnership, LLC (Limited Liability Company) or a Corporation (Professional and Nonprofit), you will register with the Office of the Secretary of State. You can also check to see if the name you’ve chosen for your business is available in Texas.
Name Filing
If you’ve chosen to operate your business as Sole Proprietorship or General Partnership, you’ll need to file an Assumed Name Certificate, or DBA (Doing Business As), for the name or names of your business. The county clerk for your business’ area will issue the certificate. If your business will not have a physical location, you must file in every area it will operate.
Zoning Regulations and Product Restrictions
If your business will be operating out of your home, you must check zoning regulations and product restrictions in order to legally operate.
Register your Mark
If your business or product is trademarked, you may need to register it again. Businesses that sell their goods or services only in Texas must register their marks with the state. Those doing interstate business must register federally.
Tax Obligations
Texas is one of the top 10 states for lowest overall tax burdens, as residents don’t have company tax or individual income tax. Unless your company has a yearly revenue of more than $1,000,000, you may well be exempt from other types of tax as well. For more information, visit Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
In the Dallas Region, your business will have tax obligations at a local, state, and federal level. The contact information for local tax obligations will differ per county, but state and federal contacts will remain the same.
State & Local Taxes
When you move to Texas, you won’t pay a personal income tax at the state or local level. You also won’t pay a local occupation tax or local wage tax. This means more money in your paycheck. Instead, you pay for local government services, such as education, through local property taxes, sales taxes, and business taxes. It’s a balance, to be sure, but for people who are moving to the Dallas Region from high-income tax states, this change can feel like a financial windfall.
Federal Taxes
Access to tax information useful to small businesses with assets of $10 million or less.
Employer ID Numbers
To obtain Employee Identification Numbers, you can apply for one online.
Texas Workforce Commission Social Security Administration
For state and federal employee tax obligations, you will need to contact:
Governmental Loans, Funds and Incentives
As a small business, you can receive loans such as state and federal incentives, local incentives, and funding companies. Loans help lower the costs of running a small business, so that your company can have a competitive edge in its market when operating or creating jobs. State and federal loans specific to small businesses include the following:
Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF)
The Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) awards “deal-closing” grants to companies considering a new project for which one Texas site is competing with other out-of-state sites. The fund serves as a financial incentive for those companies whose projects would contribute significant capital investment and new employment opportunities to the state’s economy.
Skills Development Fund
Supports educational opportunities for company employees, such as pairing with a university, as well as to promote fair wages
The Economic Development and Diversification Program
Benefit for relocated businesses that grants in-state tuition waivers to employee’s children
Dallas Regional Chamber for more info
The Dallas Regional Chamber serves as a single point of contact for companies, site selection consultants, and corporate real estate executives examining the region.
Networking
Once your company has settled in Dallas, you’ll benefit from finding your place in the small business community. In addition to advice, mentorship and industry connections, networking can help you expand your business’ employee count. Forbes named Texas the best state for future job growth, so rest assured your business can multiply in size should you want it to.
The Dallas Regional Chamber
The Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC) works with the Dallas Region’s business community to champion economic growth, strengthen our workforce, advocate for pro-growth public policies, and improve the quality of life for all people.
Dallas Regional Chamber Young Professionals
The DRC YP program engages an emerging group of future leaders who are committed to leadership development, public policy, and community engagement.
The Dallas Entrepreneur Center
The Dallas Entrepreneur Center (The DEC) is a 501c3 non-profit organization driving innovation and economic impact by helping entrepreneurs start, build and grow their businesses. Since 2013, we have been launching physical hubs and education programs for startups, accelerating connections for founders, and collaborating with investors, corporations and public institutions. The DEC believes investment in entrepreneurs is an investment in the community.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
For more information on startup communities in the Dallas Region, check out our entrepreneurship page.