Santa Cruz County Government

"Starting A Business In Santa Cruz"

This pamphlet, compiled by the Santa Cruz Library and reproduced by the Santa Cruz County Assessor provides many valuable resources which are helpful in starting a business in Santa Cruz.

City Business Licenses

Licenses are required for most businesses. Business owners should contact the licensing department for each city in which the business is located or being operated. If your business will be based in one city, but you plan to operate in several cities, you may need a license from each city. To be sure, check with the tax and license division in each city where you intend to operate. Phone numbers for business license offices in Santa Cruz County are:

Capitola 475-7300

Santa Cruz 420-5070

Scotts Valley 440-5610

Watsonville 728-6031

County Permits

The County of Santa Cruz also has restrictions and requires permits on some types of businesses operating in the unincorporated and incorporated areas. Therefore, you might need both a business license and a permit from the County. Because the regulations change from time to time, it is recommended that you contact the Planning Department, 454-2580, to determine if a permit is required prior to the operation of your business. The most common businesses requiring permits from other departments are: ambulance, card rooms, bingo, food establishments, garbage collection, kennels, organized camps, pet shops, public swimming pools, target ranges.

Zoning Requirements

You should contact the Planning Department of the city for businesses in incorporated areas, or the County Planning Department for businesses in unincorporated areas, to make certain that your business location is zoned for your particular type of business. The phone numbers are as follows:

Santa Cruz 454-2130

Santa Cruz City 420-5100

Capitola 475-7300

Scotts Valley 440-5630

Watsonville 728-6020

State Licenses

In addition to licenses and permits mentioned above, certain professions and selected businesses require state licenses. A few of the more common ones are auto repair shops, bars, liquor stores, electrical appliance repair shops, contractors, cosmetologists, insurance sales, collection agencies, real estate sales, lawyers, and medical professionals. Many of these activities are regulated by bureaus or divisions of the California State Consumer Affairs Department. To obtain telephone numbers for these bureaus call the Consumer Affairs general information number, (916) 445-1254. Other regulatory and licensing agencies are listed in the California License handbook by the California Department of Commerce, Office of Small Business, available at the Central Branch of the Santa Cruz County Library.

http://commerce.ca.gov/business/small/management/pub/license/index.html

Food Vendors

If you are going to be selling food, you will need to obtain a permit from the County Department of Environmental Health, 701 Ocean St., Rm 312, Santa Cruz 95060, 454-2022 (to speak with an Inspector, call between 8-9 am).

Fictitious Business Name

A fictitious business name is defined as a name that does not include the full corporate name. Most businesses, whether located in the incorporated or unincorporated areas of the county, are required to file a Petition of Fictitious Business Name with the County Clerk's office. Nonprofit corporations, associations, or charitable organizations do not need to file. If you need to file, you should do so within 40 days of starting the business. The forms may be obtained and filed in the Special Services Division of the county Clerk's Office, 701 Ocean Street, Room 210, Santa Cruz 95060, 454-2470.

Within 30 days of filing the petition, you will be required to publish a legal notice of your business name in any local paper of general circulation once a week for four consecutive weeks.

Seller's Permits/Resale Numbers

Retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers must obtain seller's permits from the California State board of Equalization, 111 E. Navajo Dr., Ste 100, Salinas CA 93906-2452. Phone numbers are: (408)443-3008 or (800) 432-2829

http://www.boe.ca.gov/

Incorporation

Information concerning corporate filings may be obtained from: Secretary of State, Corporations Unit, 1500 11th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814. Forms and fee information are available at:

www.ss.ca.gov/business/corp/corp_formsfees.htm

Information on corporate name availability is available for a fee. For instructions on how to obtain information on name availability, call (916)654-7960 (taped information).

The Secretary of State also has a San Francisco office at: 455 Golden Gate, Suite 7300, San Francisco, CA 94102-3660. Office hours are 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday. The staff may be reached at (415) 557-7047.

Non-Profit Status

If an organization or business wishes to obtain non-profit status, the applicant should contact:


Exempt Organizations Unit
Franchise Tax Board
P.O. Box 1286
Rancho Cordova, CA 95741-1286
(916) 845-4171
http://www.taxes.ca.gov/exemptbus.html

Or

Internal Revenue Service
Western Area Distribution Center
Rancho Cordova, CA 95743-0001
1-800-829-3676
http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/charities/index.html

Employee Related Requirements

If you plan to hire employees, there are several requirements. You should file a form SS-4 with the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS will assign an employee identification number to your business. The toll free number to order the SS-4 is (800) 829-3676. Don't forget to ask them for the instructions. Send the completed form to Internal Revenue Service, Fresno Service Center, Fresno, CA 93888.

http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/index.hml

You are required to file a form DE-1 with the Employment Tax Section of the California Employment Development Department, 2045 40th Ave., Suite A, Capitola 95010, 464-6293 or http://wwwedd.cahwnet.gov/formpub.htm After filing, you will be responsible for withholding and payment of state income tax and unemployment insurance.

You are also required to have each employee fill out a form I-9 from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to verify employment eligibility. The nearest INS office is 280 S 1st St., Room 1150, San Jose 95113. The form may also be obtained by calling (800) 870-3676 or http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/forms/download/i-9.htm

You should arrange Worker's Compensation Insurance coverage for your employees. This can be done through a state sponsored plan, State Compensation Insurance Fund, 6203 San Ignacio Ave., San Jose 95119, (408) 363-7600, or your own insurance agent. For additional addresses and phone numbers of the State Compensation Insurance Fund, see http://www.dir.ca.gov/DIR/Workers'_Compensation/SCIF/scif.html

You should familiarize yourself with the California Occupational Safety Health Act, which sets down exact requirements for safety and health standards in places of employment throughout the state. Fines for non-compliance can be steep. CAL-OSHA Regulations can be found in Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, available at UCSC's McHenry library in the Government Publications department, at the Santa Cruz Law Library, 701 Ocean St, Room 070, or at http://www.dir.ca.gov/Counters/t8index.htm

Questions about employer-employee relations? Call the Labor Commissioner at (415) 557-7878 for information.

Employee Assistance

The Santa Cruz County Private Industry Council (454-4080) administers the federally funded Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program which provides job training programs and related services to economically disadvantaged youth and adults and the On-The-Job Training program which will reimburse up to 50% of a trainee's salary during the training period. They also have programs for older workers and for job retraining (for those affected by plant layoffs). Call for more information or look at http://www.edd.cahwnet.gov/jtpaind.htm

Chamber Of Commerce

It is not required, but you may be interested in registering with the Chamber of Commerce in your area at the following numbers:

Some of these chambers have Business Start-Up Kits for sale - call the one near you for more information.

Small Business Assistance

The Central Coast Small Business Development Center (located at Cabrillo College), 479-6136, http://www.businessonline.org provides professional consulting at no charge for businesses in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties that need assistance (businesses just starting out, businesses which are expanding, businesses which are in trouble). They also make referrals to business oriented workshops and services offered by a variety of agencies.

Business counseling on a one-to-one basis is available through SCORE (Service Core of Retired Executives) http://www.score.org/ Appointments may be made by calling the Capitola Chamber of Commerce, Scotts Valley chamber of commerce, or the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce (see above for phone numbers).

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers help to small businesses and has a number of low cost business development pamphlets and booklets available. The nearest SBA District offices is: SBA, 455 Market St., 6th Floor, San Francisco CA 94105, (415) 744-6820, http://www.sba.gov/

Copyright and Patent Information

For copyright information, contact the U.S.Copyright Office, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington D.C. 20559-6000, (202) 707-3000, http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ For patent information, contact the Assistant Commissioner for Patents, Washington, D.C. 20231, (800) 786-9199 or (703) 308-4357, http://www.uspto.gov/ or the Sunnyvale Center for Innovation, Invention & Ideas (Sc[i]3, 465 S. Matilda Ave., Sunnyvale CA(408) 730-7290, http://www.sci3.com/

Trademarks and Service Marks

A trademark is a symbol, word, letter or device that points to ownership (a brand name). For information, contact: Secretary of State, Trademarks/Service Marks, P.O. Box 944225, Sacramento CA 94244-2250, (916)653-4984, http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/ts/ts.htm or the Patent and Trademark Office (see previous paragraph for address, phone and web address).

The Santa Cruz City-County Library System has many publications to assist an entrepreneur starting a small business. Consult the staff, in person or by phone (420-5730), to determine if the Library has material in which you are interested or connect to the library's Public Access Catalog through our home page at http://www.cruzio.com/~sclibs/online/online.html

(Information in this pamphlet has been compiled by the Reference Staff of the Santa Cruz Library, 224 Church St, Santa Cruz CA 95060.)

Should you have any further questions about the assessment of Business Property, please contact the Business Property Section of the County Assessor’s Office at (831) 454-2487.

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