To start an antique business from home, you register a business entity with your state, pull a local home occupation permit, obtain a secondhand dealer license from your city or county, get a resale certificate from your state’s revenue department, and set up systems to comply with federal rules that apply specifically to antique dealers, including restricted-materials laws, cash-reporting requirements, and the IRS test that separates a business from a hobby. The registration side is quick. The permit and compliance side is where most new dealers stumble, because antique inventory triggers rules that ordinary home businesses never encounter.
Pick a Structure and Get an EIN
Two structures cover most home dealers: a sole proprietorship or an LLC.
A sole proprietorship takes no formation paperwork. You report business income on your personal return and use your Social Security number as your tax ID. The trade-off is that your personal assets are exposed if a buyer sues over a sale or gets hurt at your home. If you plan to operate under a name other than your own, you’ll need to register a “Doing Business As” name with your county or state.
An LLC puts a legal wall between your personal finances and the business. You form one by filing articles of organization with your state’s secretary of state, listing the members and naming a registered agent to receive legal documents. Filing fees generally run from about $50 to $300 depending on the state. Once approved, the LLC is its own legal entity.
Either way, get an Employer Identification Number from the IRS. It’s free, the online application takes a few minutes, and it produces your number immediately.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number LLCs are required to have one. Sole proprietors without employees aren’t technically required to get one, but most banks want an EIN to open a business checking account, and using an EIN on resale certificates and vendor forms keeps your Social Security number off paperwork that circulates among strangers.2Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number
Clear Zoning and Get a Home Occupation Permit
Before you list anything for sale, check whether your municipality’s zoning code allows a business in your residential zone. Running a business from a home that isn’t zoned for it can produce daily fines or a shutdown order. Most local governments handle this through a home occupation permit, which authorizes limited commercial activity in a residence as long as the business doesn’t change the residential character of the neighborhood.
Planners generally look at the same handful of concerns: how much customer foot traffic you’ll generate, how many commercial deliveries will arrive at your address, and whether the business creates noise, odors, or vibrations neighbors would notice. Many jurisdictions cap the share of your home’s floor space you can use for business at around 25 percent, and most prohibit large outdoor signs. Application fees typically run from roughly $75 to $250, though some cities charge more.
One thing worth knowing before you fill your garage with inventory: a standard homeowners policy is not built to cover business property held for resale. If a pipe bursts and destroys $30,000 of stock, you’ll want an inland marine policy or a business property rider in place, and commercial general liability coverage if customers or delivery drivers visit the property.
Get a Secondhand Dealer License
This is the permit most online guides skip, and it’s the one most likely to create a problem. A large majority of jurisdictions require anyone who regularly buys and resells used goods to obtain a secondhand dealer license, sometimes called a used goods dealer permit or a junk dealer license. These laws exist to help law enforcement track stolen property, and they apply to antique dealers just as they apply to pawn shops.
Requirements differ by locality, but the common elements are consistent. You’ll typically record detailed information about every item you buy: a physical description, the date of acquisition, the price paid, and the seller’s name and ID. Many jurisdictions require this information to be reported to local police, sometimes through an electronic system. Most also impose a holding period, often 15 to 30 days, during which you cannot resell or alter the item. That window gives police time to check the piece against stolen-property reports.
Noncompliance can mean fines, loss of the license, or seizure of inventory that turns out to be stolen and undocumented. The name and requirements of this permit vary widely, so check with your city or county clerk’s office for the specific license used in your jurisdiction.
Set Up a Resale Certificate and Sales Tax Collection
When you buy inventory from wholesalers, estate sales, or other dealers, you shouldn’t be paying sales tax on those purchases, because the items are for resale. To avoid tax at the point of purchase, apply for a resale certificate (sometimes called a seller’s permit or sales tax ID) through your state’s revenue department. The application asks for your business name, federal tax ID, business type, and your North American Industry Classification System code (453310 covers used merchandise stores). Present the certificate to your suppliers so they don’t charge you tax on inventory.
The exemption comes with an obligation. When you sell an item to an end consumer, you collect sales tax and remit it to the state. The resale certificate isn’t a tax exemption; it’s a promise that tax will be collected at the final point of sale. Direct sales from your home, at antique shows, or at flea markets are yours to handle: collect the applicable tax and file periodic returns.
Sales through platforms like eBay and Etsy work differently. Virtually every state with a sales tax now has a marketplace facilitator law that requires the platform itself to collect and remit sales tax on behalf of third-party sellers. You’re still responsible for anything you sell outside those platforms, including sales from your own website or private transactions.
Federal Rules on Restricted Materials
Antique inventory routinely includes materials that federal law regulates. Getting these wrong can mean seized inventory, civil penalties, or criminal charges.
Ivory, Tortoiseshell, and Other Endangered-Species Materials
Federal law heavily restricts the sale of items containing parts from endangered or threatened species, including elephant ivory, tortoiseshell, certain exotic woods, and whale bone. Under the Endangered Species Act, items containing these materials can only be sold across state lines or internationally if they qualify for the antique exemption. To qualify, an item must be at least 100 years old, it must not have been repaired or modified with any endangered species material after December 28, 1973, and it cannot be scrimshaw.3eCFR. 50 CFR Part 14 – Importation, Exportation, and Transportation of Wildlife
Elephant ivory has extensive documentation requirements. You need to demonstrate the species (African or Asian elephant), that the ivory was lawfully imported before the relevant CITES listing date (January 18, 1990 for African; July 1, 1975 for Asian), and that the item meets the ESA antique criteria. Acceptable documentation includes a qualified appraisal, a CITES pre-Convention certificate, datable photographs, or other detailed provenance records. Interstate sales of ivory items that qualify as ESA antiques also require a CITES permit.4U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Elephant Ivory FAQs
Lead Paint on Furniture
Furniture coated in paint containing 0.009 percent or more lead by weight is a banned hazardous product under federal law. The Consumer Product Safety Commission defines “furniture articles” broadly to include beds, bookcases, chairs, chests, tables, dressers, desks, pianos, and sofas.5Consumer Product Safety Commission. Lead in Paint Since lead paint was widely used on furniture built before 1978, this rule directly affects dealers selling painted antique pieces. Either verify the paint is below the threshold or strip and refinish before selling.
Report Cash Payments Over $10,000
If you receive more than $10,000 in cash from a single buyer, whether in one payment or in related payments that cross that threshold within 12 months, you must file IRS Form 8300 within 15 days of the transaction that triggers the requirement.6Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 8300 Reference Guide This isn’t optional. Penalties for willful failure to file can include fines and criminal prosecution. If you deal in high-end pieces where four- and five-figure cash transactions happen, build this filing into your intake process.
Keep Records That Prove You’re a Business, Not a Hobby
If the IRS decides you’re not running a real business, it can reclassify your dealing as a hobby, and the tax consequences are severe. Under Section 183 of the tax code, hobby expenses can only be deducted up to the amount of hobby income.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 183 – Activities Not Engaged in for Profit Spend $15,000 on inventory and restoration, sell $8,000 worth, and you can only deduct $8,000. A legitimate business could report the $7,000 net loss and use it to offset other income.
The IRS uses a safe harbor: if the activity shows a profit in at least three of five consecutive tax years, it’s presumed to be a for-profit business. Even without meeting that test, you can defend your status by showing you run the operation in a businesslike way. The IRS looks at whether you keep complete books and records, whether you put genuine time and effort into making the activity profitable, and whether you depend on the income for your livelihood.8Internal Revenue Service. Here’s How to Tell the Difference Between a Hobby and a Business for Tax Purposes
From day one, keep a separate bank account, maintain professional records, and document your efforts to turn a profit. These habits matter most in the early years, when losses are common and IRS scrutiny is most likely.
Record-keeping also directly affects how much tax you owe on each sale. The IRS calculates your taxable profit as selling price minus cost basis, and basis includes the purchase price plus related costs like shipping, buyer’s premiums, and restoration.9Internal Revenue Service. Publication 551 – Basis of Assets Miss a $200 shipping charge or a $500 restoration bill and you’ll overstate profit and overpay tax. Restoration costs on a specific piece are added to that piece’s basis rather than deducted in the year you paid them, and recovered when the piece sells.10eCFR. 26 CFR 1.162-1 – Business Expenses For estate buyouts where you purchase a mixed lot, allocate a reasonable value to each piece and document how you did it; the IRS won’t accept a single lump entry for a $5,000 lot that contained 40 different items.
Selling Online and the 1099-K Threshold
Opening a storefront on eBay, Etsy, or Ruby Lane requires a verified business bank account and your EIN or Social Security number. The platform uses that tax ID to generate a Form 1099-K reporting your gross sales to the IRS. Under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, the reporting threshold reverted to the pre-2021 level: platforms are not required to send a 1099-K unless your gross sales exceed $20,000 and you complete more than 200 transactions in a calendar year.11Internal Revenue Service. IRS Issues FAQs on Form 1099-K Threshold Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Below that threshold, you still owe tax on every dollar of profit; you just won’t receive the form.
Payment processing fees on major platforms generally run 3 to 5 percent of the sale price plus a small flat fee per transaction. Track them, because they’re deductible business expenses.
If you use a dedicated space in your home exclusively and regularly for the business, you can claim a home office deduction. The simplified method pays $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet, for a maximum of $1,500 a year, with almost no paperwork.12Internal Revenue Service. Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction The standard method requires more records but often yields more if your actual expenses (mortgage interest, utilities, insurance, repairs) are high.
Ongoing Filings and Fees
Registration isn’t a one-time event. LLCs in most states file an annual or biennial report and pay a maintenance fee, ranging from $0 in a handful of states to over $800 in the most expensive ones. Miss this filing and your state can administratively dissolve your LLC, stripping the liability protection you formed it to get. Your home occupation permit may also need periodic renewal.
Sales tax returns follow a schedule set by your state, usually monthly, quarterly, or annually depending on volume. Many states require you to file even in months with zero sales, showing $0 on the return. Resale certificates also vary in duration: some states issue them indefinitely, others require renewal. Keep a calendar of every filing deadline, because late sales tax penalties accumulate quickly.
One compliance burden recently disappeared for domestic businesses. As of a March 2025 interim rule, all entities created in the United States are exempt from filing beneficial ownership information reports with FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act.13FinCEN. Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting If you formed your LLC recently and were tracking that deadline, you can set it aside.