Kim Krukowski

You probably do need to get a business license, but you need to call your county to confirm. There are a few things you may need to check before starting your business: http://forrager.com/faq/#starting

Have you spoken with the ag or health dept about your business plans? They might be able to point you in the direction of kitchens you could use.

Sorry, I don’t know either. I would think that it would be allowed, but I can’t verify that. You will need to call your health dept for the answer.

I don’t think that’s allowed, but you could call the health dept to see if the exemption for donated baked goods extends to online sales.

You need to pay annual taxes on all income you make, even if your business is operating at a loss. There is no limit — technically, your first order should have been reported. If you want to bypass income tax requirements, you would need to give away your products (not collect money). Once you start making a certain amount of money, you need to…[Read more]

Hi! New here, but I’ve been also researching Virginia’s cottage food laws. Regarding buttercream – unlike the hard stance Virginia takes on cream cheese, the law doesn’t specifically address buttercream so it is a gray area. The key is whether you need to refrigerate it, which mostly depends on the exact ingredients you use and the proportions.…[Read more]

Thanks so much for the info about that phone number now being invalid! I’ll remove it.

The list of requirements you’d need to go through sounds about right. For a tiny business, it’s not really worth it. The statement that most home food businesses don’t operate under the law also sounds right. And considering that you’re not willing to operate…[Read more]

By definition, a business intends to make a profit. That’s why the IRS will classify you as a hobby if you take a loss for too many years in a row. It is for that reason that I don’t think your gifts or donations could be deducted as a “loss” for your business. If you take the sales you’ve made and deduct the variable expenses for…[Read more]

Setting aside the sales tax question temporarily, I just want to make sure that you’ve gone through the steps to make sure you’re running your business legally. Are you sure that your county doesn’t require you to get a business license for your chocolate business? More general info: http://forrager.com/faq/#starting

From what I understand, a…[Read more]

Although kombucha isn’t allowed under VA’s cottage food law, you should still talk to your health dept to see if there’s a way you can bottle it at home and sell it. Otherwise, you’ll need to use a commercial kitchen.

I’m not sure if MD’s cottage food law allows spices, but I do know that you can’t sell online, nor could you sell interstate. To do those things, you need to use a commercial kitchen: http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

I’m not sure about VA, but here’s some general info: http://forrager.com/faq/#pet-food

I don’t believe food swaps fall under any regulation, since there is no money trading hands and people aren’t engaging in commerce. California has some extremely strict rules, but I know that food swaps happen in the Bay Area all the time and I haven’t heard of one getting shut down. I assume it would be less strict in MD.

However, the food swaps…[Read more]

Miasha, I’ve listed the basic info, along with external resources here: http://forrager.com/law/virginia/
I am not familiar with any significant websites for Virginia.

Most people make labels themselves and print them at home. Some also use online print shops to produce their labels.

That sentence actually refers to licensing requirements from a health or ag dept, which you don’t need. You always need to abide by any local or general business requirements, which could be explained better on the site. Here’s some info about that: http://forrager.com/faq/#starting