• Survey
  • Book Becky to speak
  • The book: Small Town Rules
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Can a sole proprietor have more than one business

By Maesz

Question: Can a sole proprietor have more than one business?
Answer: Yes. Next question.

Easy peasy.

Seriously, as a sole proprietor, you may have one (1) business or several businesses. There is no limit to the number of businesses in which you may engage.

The Internal Revenue Service says you must report your income and your expenses from any endeavor entered into with a profit motive. That can be one or a dozen or even more.

When reporting your business on a Schedule C, you must enter a Business Code. Therefore, if each of your businesses is in a field unrelated to the other–say, if you own/operate the following: Fine Leather Shoe Shop, K-9 Kennels: Prime Pups, AAA Accounting–you will need a separate Schedule C to report each business.

Then, all Schedule C’s will be totaled together and the final number will be carried to the front of the Form 1040.

See? It really was easy.

Helpful links for sole proprietors:

  • Checklists for starting your first business
  • Simplified accounting for side businesses
  • Simplified business plans for the real world
  • Simplify your small business marketing plan
  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Maesz

Glenna Mae Hendricks. She is an entrepreneur and income tax consultant, so we get lots of good tax tips from her. She is an oenophile (“look that up in your Funk and Wagnall’s,” she says), and a wine enjoyment teacher/guide who also writes wine notes at the Allen’s Retail Liquors site. Her political thoughts (and occasional outbursts of domesticity) appear at Old Feminist and Wild-eyed Liberal.
  • Four Things to Know about Taxes and Starting a Business - November 14, 2017
  • You probably should be making estimated tax payments to the IRS - November 7, 2017
  • 2015 Standard Mileage Rates from the IRS - December 23, 2014
  • Deducting your home office – webinar Wednesday - September 8, 2014
  • Webinars on hiring independent contractors and avoiding common tax mistakes - April 30, 2014
  • IRS? There’s an app for that - February 12, 2014
  • IRS Tax Calendar for Small Business and Self-Employed - December 31, 2013
  • 2014 Standard Mileage Rates for Business, Medical and Moving Announced - December 7, 2013
  • Where can you find answers on the Affordable Care Act? The IRS - August 21, 2013
  • Avoiding the Top Tax Mistakes - June 13, 2013

November 3, 2010 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, Small Biz 100, tax matters Tagged With: maesz

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Comments

  1. tracey says

    April 13, 2014 at 10:48 pm

    omg- i’ve been looking to the answer to this question for days. thank you!

  2. Becky McCray says

    February 16, 2019 at 9:33 am

    Walter shared this question by email:
    “Thank you for the answer, as a follow up question, If I have an EIN for one business that I run/operate as a sole prop, can I request and obtain another EIN for a second or third business that will also be run/operate as a sole prop? if they are unrelated to each other?”

    The answer we received was that you can have multiple EINs for multiple unrelated businesses. All the EINs will be associated to your social security number.

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Shop Local

Buy local buttonReady to set up a shop local campaign in your small town? You'll need a guide who understands how we're different and what really works: Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns.

Best of Small Biz Survival

What is holding us back? Why does every project take so long in small towns?

How any business can be part of downtown events by going mobile

Concert-goers talking and enjoying the evening in downtown Webster City, Iowa.

Why do people say there’s nothing to do here then not come to our concerts?

Retailers: Fill all empty space, floor to ceiling

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2021 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in