Additional Links
- Checklist for Starting a Business
- A Checklist for Developing a Partnership Agreement or Contract
- How to Write a Small Business Marketing Plan A Step-by-Step Guide
- Sample Organization Chart
- Write your business plan
- List ItemDeveloping a Strategy: The Business Plan
- Need an office suite? Try LibreOffier a free set of applications.
Starting a Business in Dickinson
- File an Assumed Name (D.B.A.) with the County Clerk in the county(s) in which the business is to be located and/or will conduct business
- Corporations and corporate documents are filed with the Secretary of State in Austin. You can contact the Secretary of State at (512) 463-5578 or visit their website. Upon filing in Austin, the D.B.A. is then filed with the County Clerk’s Office.
- For the Regulatory Assistance Program concerning licenses or permits, contact the Economic Development and Tourism-Small Business Division in Austin: (512) 936-0101.
- To obtain a State Sales Tax ID#, contact the State Comptroller at (713) 426-8200, (713) 777-1881 or (281) 820-6055, or visit their website.
- To obtain a Business Tax Kit and other publications, call I.R.S. at (800) 829-3676
- A Federal Tax ID# is available through the I.R.S. Business & Specialty Tax Line at (800) 829-4933
- Workers Compensation Information contact Texas Worker’s Compensation & Texas Department of Insurance at (800) 372-7713. For Unemployment benefits, contact the Texas Workforce Commission at (512) 463-2222 or visit their website.
Patents & Copyrights:
Commissioner for Patents
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
U.S. Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue S. E.
Washington D.C. 20559-6000
(202) 707-3000
- If the business is located in home, review the deed restrictions and contact the homeowners association.
- If the business is located in a city or its jurisdiction, contact the city for possible permit requirements
- Contact the County Health Department for a business involved in food preparation at: (409) 938-2300 or (409) 938-2411
- The Galveston County Small Business Development Center can also provide you with high quality one-on-one management consulting, training and information for starting your business. Contact them at (409) 938-1414 or visit their website or email GCSBDC.
Filing costs:
- Assumed Name Certificate with one owner or withdrawal of an Assumed Name with one owner in the office $14.50
- Assumed Name Certificate with one owner or withdrawal on an Assumed Name with one owner out of office (must be notarized) $13.50
- Each additional owner listed $.50
- Certified Copy $6.00
- Certificate of Assumed Name $2.00
Small Business Development Center Calender
State Incentives
The Texas Enterprise Fund
The fund was established to provide financial resources to help strengthen the state’s economy. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and the Speaker of the House must unanimously agree to support the use of the Texas Enterprise Fund for each specific project. Projects that are considered must demonstrate a project’s worthiness, maximize the benefit to the State of Texas and realize a significant rate of return of the public dollars being used for the project. Significant job creation and capital investment, above average wages generated, financial strength of the applicant, applicant’s business history, analysis of the relevant business sector, and financial support from the local community and private sector will all be significant factors in approving the use of the Enterprise Fund.
The Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF)
This fund was created to provide Texas with an unparalleled advantage in the research, development and commercialization of emerging technologies. The program works through partnerships between the state, institutions of higher education and private industry and is dedicated to three areas: Regional Centers of Innovation and Commercialization; matching grant funds for R&D projects that accelerate commercialization and that have demonstrated an ability to receive or have received federal grants or non-state grants; and assisting Texas public universities in attracting highly renowned research teams from universities and institutions in other states.
Skills Development Fund
Created to train employees through customized job training programs provided by the state’s community colleges. This fund is administered by the Texas Workforce Commission, is application driven and competitively based. The grants are provided to community colleges and technical schools as part of a partnership with companies and labor unions to provide training not currently available in the region. Average training grants per trainee are $1,000.
Texas Enterprise Zone Program
Allows local communities to partner with the State of Texas to promote job creation and capital investment in economically distressed areas. Companies may qualify for refunds of state sales tax paid on eligible items used at the qualified business site. The total amount of any refund is predicated on the investment amount and number of jobs created/retained at the qualified business site. In order to qualify, companies must commit that at least 25% of their new employees will meet economically disadvantaged or enterprise zone residence requirements – if the company is locating or expanding into one of the state’s Enterprise Zones. If the company is not locating into one of the Enterprise Zones, then they must commit that at least 35% of their new employees will meet economically disadvantaged or enterprise zone residence requirements.
Manufacturing Sales Tax Exemption
Machinery and equipment that is used in the manufacturing, processing, fabricating or repairing of tangible personal property for ultimate sale, are exempt from state and local sales tax. The exemption also applies to tangible personal property that makes a chemical or physical change in the product being manufactured and is necessary and essential in the manufacturing process. Some items, such as hand tools, are excluded from the exemption. A hammer, for example, is taxable even if it is used in fabricating a product for sale.
Texas Product Development Fund
The Fund provides financing to aid in the development, production and commercialization of new or improved products within the state. Products appropriate for the fund are inventions, devices, techniques or processes that have advanced beyond the theoretical stage and are ready for immediate commercial application. Preference for funding will be given to the state’s defined industry clusters within emerging technology fields, including: semiconductors; nanotechnology; biotechnology and biomedicine; renewable energy; agriculture and aerospace.
Texas Small Business Fund
Provides financing to foster and stimulate the development of small and medium sized businesses in Texas. Special funding preferences will be given to emerging technologies including: semiconductors, nanotechnology, biotechnology and biomedicine, renewable energy and aerospace. Additional preference will apply to applicants that have acquired other sources of financing, have formed companies in Texas and are receiving assistance from designated state small business development centers or through the Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR).
Pollution Control Property Tax Abatements
Available to companies with facilities, devices and equipment used to control air, water or land pollution. Companies wishing to apply for tax relief for their efforts in controlling pollution can apply for a tax credit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Texas Economic Development Act
The Texas Economic Development Act is a mechanism for school districts to offer temporary property tax limits to companies undertaking a large-scale capital investment project in the community. Under current law, only the following project categories are eligible: manufacturing; research and development; clean coal projects; advanced clean energy projects; renewable energy electric generation; and nuclear electric power generation.