What Are The Legal Requirements For Starting A Tutoring Business In 2024?

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Updated: January 20th, 2022

Interested in starting a tutoring business?

Starting a tutoring business involves commitment, hard work and most importantly passion.

However, before diving into all the exciting parts of starting your business, it's critical that you understand and meet all the legal requirements.

In this guide, we'll cover all of the prerequisites you need to fulfill, such as:

Licenses and certificates required to start a tutoring business
Insurance requirements required to start a tutoring business
Permits needed for your tutoring business
Establishing your tutoring business (formation and legal)

At the end of this article, we provide you access to a step-by-step guide on how to start your tutoring business.

List Of Legal Requirements For Starting A Tutoring Business

Just like any other business, it’s critical that you establish the proper licenses, permits and insurance so you can legally operate your tutoring business.

Let’s dive into these requirements and regulations.

Licensing Required To Start A Tutoring Business

Tutors are not required to have a teaching license. However, it is recommended that you at least have a college degree or higher form of education.

Typically, the higher degree you have, the more money you can charge for your tutoring services.

Permits Required To Start A Tutoring Business

Check Your Areas Zoning Regulations For Your Tutoring Business

If you plan to operate your tutoring business inside your home, it's important that you check your homes zoning requirements, as some locations do not allow you to run a business out of your home
To understand your zoning regulations, the best place to contact would be your town hall. They can provide you with all the necessary information and regulations regarding your tutoring business.

Insurance To Get When Starting A Tutoring Business

There are three main types of general business insurance that you may want to consider getting to manage risks for your tutoring business:

General Liability Insurance: this insurance protects your business from lawsuits.
Professional Liability Insurance: covers claims of malpractice and other business errors (typically used for providers such as consultants or accountants.
Workers Compensation Insurance (usually required if you have 1+ employees): provides coverage for employee's job-related illnesses, injuries, or deaths.

How Much Does Business Insurance Cost?

The cost of small business insurance depends on the type of insurance your business needs, but typically ranges between $700 and $3,800 a year.

You can get a free quote for your business insurance here.

Setting Up Your Tutoring Business (Formation and Legal)

When it comes to setting up your business, you may find yourself in a place where you have to make some financial and legal decisions.

The first thing you'll want to decide on is whether you want to be an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp.

These three options are found to be the most common when starting a small business, and all serve to protect your personal assets and also provide you with certain tax benefits.

LLC: All income and expenses from the business are reported on the LLC personal income tax return.
S corp: Owners pay themselves salaries + receive dividends from profits.
C Corp: C Corps are separately taxable entities that file a corporate tax return (Form 1120). No income tax is paid at the corporate level and any tax due is paid at the owners individual expense.

Depending on where you're conducting business, you'll also want to consider securing the proper permits, licenses and liability insurance.

Learn more about securing the right permits and licenses ➜

Need to start an LLC? Create an LLC in minutes with ZenBusiness.

How long will it take to form my LLC?

If you submit and make payment for the articles of the organization online, the formation will be immediate.

If you file by mail, this could take 5-7 business days.

Do I need a DBA?

A DBA is a new name a business operates under their legal name. DBA can also be referred to as a fictitious name, assumed name, or trade name.

If you are forming an LLC, you have already registered your business name and do not need a DBA.

However, if you would like to conduct business under a different name, you can register a DBA.

Learn how to file a DBA here.

Is it required to get an EIN for my LLC?

If you have operate an LLC with employees or with more than one member, it is required by the IRS that you have an EIN.

Conclusion (+ Free Guide)

As you can see, there is a lot that goes into starting a tutoring business. Once you have secured all the proper licenses, permits and insurance to operate your business, there is still plenty of work to be done.

We put together a step by step guide on how to start a tutoring business, with real life examples and data points here

meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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