What to Do After You Get Your NAICS Code: EIN, LLC, and Next Steps
Finding your NAICS code is one line item on a longer list. Here's the order most solo business owners actually go through next, and where each step tends to trip people up.
Once you've got your NAICS code sorted, it's easy to assume the hard part is over. In practice, the code is more like a key that unlocks the next few steps — it feeds directly into the forms and applications that come after it. Here's the sequence that makes the rest of the process go smoothly instead of circling back to fix things.
Step 1: Get your EIN (even if you technically don't need one)
An Employer Identification Number is free, takes a few minutes directly through the IRS, and is the number most banks want before they'll open a business account. Sole proprietors with no employees can sometimes get by using their Social Security number instead, but in practice, having an EIN separates your business finances from your personal ones from day one — which matters a lot if you ever get audited or need to prove business expenses.
Your NAICS code makes this step faster. The EIN application asks for a description of your principal business activity, and having your code already identified means you're not guessing at that section on the spot.
Step 2: Decide whether to form an LLC
This isn't automatic, and it isn't required to run a legal business — plenty of sole proprietors operate without one. But an LLC creates a legal separation between your personal assets and your business liabilities, which becomes more valuable as revenue grows or as the work carries more risk. Your NAICS code doesn't change based on whether you're an LLC or a sole proprietor; it describes the activity either way. But if you do form an LLC, most states will ask for it during registration.
Step 3: Register for state and local licenses, if your activity requires them
Some industries and some localities require a business license or permit tied specifically to your registered activity — which, again, traces back to your NAICS code. This step varies enormously by state and even by county, so it's worth checking your specific state's Secretary of State site rather than assuming a blanket answer applies everywhere.
Step 4: Mark your first quarterly estimated tax deadline
This is the step that catches the most new business owners off guard. Unlike traditional employment, where taxes are withheld automatically from every paycheck, self-employment income isn't taxed until you pay it yourself — and the IRS expects that payment quarterly, not just once a year at filing time. Missing the first quarterly deadline is one of the most common and most avoidable costs of going solo.
Our Estimated Tax Calculator gives you a working number based on what you've actually earned so far. For the full walkthrough — quarterly deadlines, deduction categories, and how self-employment tax actually gets calculated — the Gig Workers Tax Guide covers it start to finish.
The pattern underneath all four steps
Each of these steps builds on the one before it, and your NAICS code is the thread running through all of them — it's on your EIN application, often on your LLC registration, sometimes on your license application, and it's part of how your business gets classified for tax purposes. Getting it right at the start, which is what the rest of this site is built to help with, saves you from having to circle back and correct paperwork later.