Business license · Minnesota

Does Your LLC Need a Business License in Minnesota?

The short answer. Minnesota does not require a general state business license. A business in Minnesota may still need a license from its city or county, or from a state board if its trade is regulated.

Minnesota Business License at a Glance

General state business license	No general state license
City or county licenses	Local governments may require one (see Local licenses)
Trade and professional licenses	State licensing boards (see Trade licenses)

Read from the government sources listed at the foot of this page, last checked September 30, 2026. See the sources.

Does Minnesota Require a State Business License?

Minnesota does not require a general state business license.

A business in Minnesota may still need a license from its city or county, or from a state board if its trade is regulated.

Minnesota's own guide to business licenses and permits is Minnesota ELicensing.

City and County Business Licenses

DEED's guide says some Minnesota local governments require certain kinds of business activity to be licensed locally, in some cases through a general business license involving registration and a fee. Larger cities such as Minneapolis and St. Paul have licensing departments, and smaller cities usually handle licensing through the city clerk.

Where Minnesota points businesses for local requirements.

Professional and Trade Licenses

Minnesota licenses regulated occupations and business activities by sector through many state agencies and boards. Minnesota ELicensing, the state's online portal for licenses and permits, covers more than 940 licenses, permits and registrations and can be searched by activity, agency or license name. Look up Minnesota license requirements.

Our verified guides for specific trades in this state:

See trade and business license requirements by state for every trade we cover.

Other Minnesota Registrations to Check

Minnesota articles of organization, the filing that creates the LLC itself.
Minnesota Sales Tax Permit, for a business that sells taxable goods or services.
Minnesota resale certificate, to buy inventory for resale without paying tax on it.
How to get an EIN, the federal tax ID most LLCs need to open a bank account or hire.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Minnesota does not require a general state business license. A business in Minnesota may still need a license from its city or county, or from a state board if its trade is regulated.
: DEED's guide says some Minnesota local governments require certain kinds of business activity to be licensed locally, in some cases through a general business license involving registration and a fee. Larger cities such as Minneapolis and St. Paul have licensing departments, and smaller cities usually handle licensing through the city clerk.
: Minnesota licenses regulated occupations and business activities by sector through many state agencies and boards. Minnesota ELicensing, the state's online portal for licenses and permits, covers more than 940 licenses, permits and registrations and can be searched by activity, agency or license name.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state's law and agencies say about a general state business license, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you which licenses your own business needs: that turns on what the business does, where it operates, and what its city or county requires, and fees and exemptions change between our reviews. Confirm your own position with the state agency named on this page, the city or county where the business is located, and any state board that licenses your trade before you open.

Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Minnesota sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so.

mn.gov/deed/assets/a-guide-to-starting-a-business-in-minnesota_ACC_tcm1045-600295.pdfMinnesota DEED, A Guide to Starting a Business in Minnesota, 44th edition (January 2026)

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Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.