I live in Houston, Texas and would like to open a retail store in
about 18 months, so I am in the early planning stages now.  I need
info on what order things should be done.  For example, I need to
register a DBA but I don't have a location yet and obviously won't for
another year or so. Do I have to have that first?  I need to talk to
wholesalers to get prices to plan expenses but most won't give me
price info without a tax id number.  Can I get a tax id number if I
don't actually have the business up and running yet?  Can someone
please suggest an order on how to do things?  I've found the links to
getting my DBA, and I've done tons of research on marketing and the
ins and outs of owning a store, but now I need the nuts and bolts
basic stuff I need to do first.  This will be a retail store in a
strip shopping center selling mostly home decor type items and will be
located in Harris County, in Houston, Texas.  Thank you in advance.

Hi Ray,

You've done a lot of homework. Good. 

Here's what I would recommend. 

First decide what business format you will use - 
sole proprietor (just you), partnership, LLC, corporation, trust, etc. 

It wouldn't hurt to hire a good tax professional at this
point to help you with the decisions, and other start-up
arrangements. 

Once you know the business entity, you can get a tax identification number. 

With that tax ID number you can open a bank account. 

With that bank account, you can deposit money - either as
a loan or a capital contribution. Your Tax Pro can help you
decide which it should be.

Be aware, once you've started the company, you may have 
some annual filing requirements, but they won't be complicated
if you don't have a full-fledged business yet. Often, as with
a sales tax ID number, you'll just be filing tax returns 
with zeroes until you start selling. 

Most of your expenditures, at this stage, won't be deductible.
They are considered start-up expenses, until your business is ready to open. 

I hope this gives you a starting point.

Best wishes

Your TaxMama-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by houstonray-ga on 22 Sep 2004 09:22 PDT

Thank you for the great order of doing things.  Only one thing I'm
still not clear on:  Is it still ok for me to set all this up with
just my home address since I don't know where the store will be or
would a po box be better at this point?  Just didn't want the IRS to
think I was up to something fishy.  I won't be running the business
out of my home, just have to use it as an address on all these forms. 
Thanks taxmamma!

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Clarification of Answer by taxmama-ga on 22 Sep 2004 18:04 PDT

Hi Ray,

Sure. Go ahead and use your home address.

In fact, there's no reason not to keep
using that address, so you can be sure 
to get all the mail from IRS and the 
government agencies.

Best wishes,

Your TaxMama-ga

Great and quick response and followup answered quickly as well.  Good job taxmama!