Home / California / Microblading

How to Start a Microblading Business in California: Licenses, Costs & Requirements

Microblading skips the cosmetology board entirely in California. It is permanent cosmetics, which makes it body art under the Safe Body Art Act: you register with your county environmental health program, keep your bloodborne pathogens training current, and work only in a permitted facility. Fees are set by each county, so this guide gives you the state framework and shows you exactly where your county fills in the numbers.

Researched from California state sources. Our guides are free. We may earn a commission when you use a partner service, at no additional cost to you.

Who regulates microblading in California

Microblading in California is not a cosmetology service. It is body art, regulated under the Safe Body Art Act, Health and Safety Code Sections 119300 to 119328, which covers tattooing, body piercing, branding, and permanent cosmetics. The Act is enforced locally, by the environmental health program in each county, called the local enforcement agency. The Board of Barbering and Cosmetology has no role in it, and holding an esthetician or cosmetologist license neither substitutes for body art registration nor authorizes you to microblade.

That structure, a state statute run by counties, means California microblading has one rulebook and many front desks. The framework in this guide, registration, training, permitted facilities, is the state's. The fees, forms, and appointment steps are your county's, and they genuinely differ. Use this guide for the framework and your county program's current pages for the numbers, because any site quoting you a single California registration fee is inventing it.

California microblading requirements at a glance

Practitioner registration under the Safe Body Art Act

Health and Safety Code Section 119306 is the section your business lives under. It says a person shall not perform body art if they are not registered with the local enforcement agency, and it lists what registration requires: evidence of current hepatitis B vaccination, including applicable boosters, unless you can show immunity or have complied with the federal OSHA hepatitis B declination requirements; evidence of completing OSHA bloodborne pathogen training consistent with Section 119307; and payment of the registration fee to the county. County programs also require proof that you are 18 or older. Your registration certificate must be displayed where the public can see it in the facility, and registration is renewed annually.

Section 119307 shapes the training. Before registering, you complete a Bloodborne Pathogens Exposure Control Training program specific to your practice: not less than two hours of instruction, delivered by a trainer the local enforcement agency approves, covering the Cal/OSHA bloodborne pathogens standard and how exposure happens in body art work. Every year after that, you complete a minimum two-hour update, and training records are kept for three years. Orange County's environmental health program, as one labeled example of how counties run this, requires annual registration, hepatitis B evidence, and bloodborne pathogen training taken through a county-approved trainer; your county's list of approved trainers and forms is the one that counts for you.

Registration has a small portability feature worth knowing if you guest-spot. Under Section 119306(e), a valid registration from one California jurisdiction is valid in another for no more than five consecutive days, or 15 days total in any one calendar year. Beyond that, register in the county where you are working. And note what the Act does not do: it sets no state hours requirement for learning microblading itself. Your technique training is a business and professional decision, and clients and counties both reward real apprenticeship-level training, but the state's conditions are the health and registration ones above.

The facility health permit for your studio

Section 119306(a) confines the work itself: body art may be performed only in a permitted permanent or temporary body art facility. The facility's owner obtains a health permit from the local enforcement agency and renews it annually, on the county's fee schedule. If you rent a room in an existing permitted studio, you practice under that facility's permit; if you open your own studio, the permit is yours to get, and the county will review the space, its surfaces and sinks, sterilization setup, and sharps handling before you open.

Sequence the county steps early, because they gate everything else. Talk to the environmental health program while you are still choosing a space, not after the lease is signed: a room that cannot meet the facility standards is an expensive mistake. Build out to the county's plan check, get the health permit, register every practitioner who will work there, and only then start booking. Working in an unpermitted space, or letting an unregistered artist work in yours, risks suspension and penalties under the Act, including a penalty of up to three times the cost of registration for registration violations under Section 119306(g).

Forming your LLC with the California Secretary of State

Most California microblading studios organize as a limited liability company, and the filing is cheap. It is what comes after the filing that surprises people. To form the LLC, file Articles of Organization, Form LLC-1, with the California Secretary of State. The filing fee is $70, and the form can be filed online through the Secretary of State's bizfile portal. Your Articles name the LLC, give its address, and name a registered agent, the person or company that accepts legal papers on the LLC's behalf.

Within 90 days of filing, and every two years after that, the LLC files a Statement of Information, Form LLC-12, with the Secretary of State for $20. The Statement lists the LLC's address, its managers or members, and its agent. Miss it and the state can suspend the LLC, which freezes your ability to enforce contracts and can complicate your bank accounts, so the two-year cycle belongs on your calendar from day one.

An LLC is not your only option. A sole proprietor files nothing with the state to exist, but also gets no liability separation: the business's debts and claims are the owner's personally. A corporation is a valid route too, and carries the same $800 annual tax described below. Whatever the entity, the licensing pieces of this guide do not change. The Board's establishment license, the county fictitious name filing, and the tax accounts are the same for an LLC, a corporation, and a sole proprietor.

The $800 annual LLC tax and the Form 568 return

Here is the California charge that catches new owners out. Every LLC doing business in California pays an annual tax of $800 to the Franchise Tax Board under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 17941. The tax is owed even if the LLC does no business at all, and it keeps being owed every year until the LLC is formally cancelled. The first payment is due on the 15th day of the fourth month after you file your Articles of Organization, and later payments are due on the 15th day of the fourth month of your tax year, which is April 15 for a calendar-year business. You pay it with Form FTB 3522.

Older guides and well-meaning friends may tell you the first year is free. That exemption covered only tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021 and before January 1, 2024. It has expired. An LLC formed in 2024 or later owes the full $800 in its first year, on the fourth-month schedule above.

The LLC also files an annual return, Form 568. A separate LLC fee kicks in only at higher income levels: when total California income, meaning gross income plus cost of goods sold, reaches $250,000, a fee of $900 applies, rising to $2,500 at $500,000, $6,000 at $1,000,000, and $11,790 at $5,000,000 or more, estimated and paid by the 15th day of the sixth month of the tax year with Form FTB 3536. Most new beauty businesses are nowhere near those tiers, but a fast-growing salon should know the ladder exists.

Registering your business name with a fictitious business name statement

California handles business names at the county level, and this is where out-of-state playbooks mislead people. If you do business under a name that is not your exact legal name, a sole proprietor trading as Fine Line Studio, for example, or an LLC using a shorter storefront name, you file a fictitious business name statement, often called an FBN or DBA, with the county clerk in the county where your business is principally located. There is no state registry and nothing to file with the Secretary of State for the name itself.

The timing rules live in Business and Professions Code Sections 17900 to 17930. File the statement at or within 40 days of starting business under the name. The statement then has to be published: once a week for four successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, with the first publication running within 45 days of filing, and an affidavit of publication filed with the county clerk within 30 days after publication is complete. The statement expires five years after filing, or 40 days after any change in the facts you filed, such as a new address or a change in owners, and a no-change refile within 40 days after the five-year mark does not require publishing again.

Filing fees are set by each county and vary. Los Angeles County, as one example, charges $26 for one business name on a statement and $5 for each additional name. Budget for your own county's schedule, not a statewide number, because there is not one. Expect your bank to ask for the filed statement when you open the business account, so file it before you sign anything that uses the name.

Getting your federal Employer Identification Number

Your Employer Identification Number, or EIN, is the federal tax ID for the business, issued by the IRS. Apply directly on the IRS website and it is free; sites that charge for an EIN are selling you a form you can file yourself in minutes. You need the number before you hire your first employee, and in practice before that: most banks require one to open a business account for an LLC, and the Employment Development Department wants it when you register as an employer. Get it right after your entity filing so it never becomes the bottleneck.

California sales tax: services are not taxed, retail products are

California taxes retail sales of tangible personal property, and beauty services are not tangible personal property. Haircuts, color, facials, manicures, lash services, and massage are services, and service charges are generally not subject to sales tax. The tax shows up at the retail shelf: aftercare ointments, cleansers, and retail skincare products are products, and when a client takes them home, that sale is taxable. Keep services and products on separate lines in your point of sale so the tax lands only where it belongs.

Before your first retail sale, register with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the CDTFA, for a seller's permit. There is no fee for the permit itself, although the CDTFA can require a security deposit from some businesses. The permit is also what lets you buy your resale inventory with a resale certificate instead of paying tax on products you will resell. The statewide base sales and use tax rate is 7.25 percent, and voter-approved district taxes in your city or county add on top of that, so the rate you charge is the combined rate for your location, which the CDTFA publishes by address.

File your sales and use tax returns on the schedule the CDTFA assigns and remit the tax you collected. That money was never yours; you hold it for the state from the moment the client pays.

Hiring staff: payroll taxes, wages and worker classification

The moment you hire, California gives you a second set of accounts. Register with the Employment Development Department, the EDD, within 15 days of paying more than $100 in wages in a calendar quarter. New employers are assigned an Unemployment Insurance rate of 3.4 percent for their first two to three years, charged on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages per year. The Employment Training Tax adds 0.1 percent on the same first $7,000. State Disability Insurance is withheld from the employee's pay; the 2026 withholding rate is 1.3 percent of wages, with no wage cap. Report every new hire to the EDD within 20 days of their start date on Form DE 34.

The wage floor is the state minimum wage of $16.90 an hour from January 1, 2026. California allows no tip credit, so tips sit on top of the full wage. Many cities, including most large ones, set a higher local minimum wage, and the higher number governs. Employees must also earn paid sick leave of at least 40 hours or five days a year. Workers' compensation insurance is mandatory for every California employer, even with a single employee, and it is separate from your liability policy.

Then there is classification, the issue California is famous for. Under the ABC test from AB 5, a worker is an employee unless the business proves all three points: the worker is free from the business's control, the work is outside the business's usual line of work, and the worker runs an independently established trade doing the same work for others. The licensee carve-out in Labor Code Section 2778(b)(2)(L) covers Board of Barbering and Cosmetology licensees who meet its conditions. It does not cover unlicensed trades, so a business built on independent contractors in this trade should expect the full ABC test and should document real independence: separate business licenses, their own clients and pricing, their own payment processing, and a written agreement that matches how the work actually runs. Misclassification brings back payroll taxes, penalties, and wage claims, and it is the most expensive mistake a small California beauty business can make.

City business licenses, zoning and the local layer

State licenses do not finish the job. Nearly every California city requires a local business license, often called a business tax certificate, for the shop and, in many cities, for booth renters and independent practitioners working inside it. Fees and renewal dates are set by the city. Zoning has to allow a personal services business at your address before you sign the lease, and your buildout may need building permits, plumbing or electrical sign-off, and a certificate of occupancy. Signage usually needs its own approval. If you plan to work from home, check the city's home occupation rules as well; some services and client traffic are restricted in residential zones.

For body art, the county layer deserves its own emphasis, because it is the layer that licenses you. Two county offices will know your business: environmental health, for registration and the facility permit, and the county clerk, for the fictitious business name statement. Fees and forms differ by county, and some cities add a police or planning review for body art locations. Call the environmental health program for your county before you sign a lease and ask for their body art packet; it is the most useful document in this entire process.

Do the local check before the state paperwork, in this order: zoning confirmation for the address, the city's business license application, then the buildout permits. A state license package does not help if the city will not let the business operate on that block.

Insurance and the costs that keep coming back

Plan on three policies at a minimum. General liability covers client injuries in the space, like a slip on a wet floor. Professional liability covers claims arising from the services themselves: an infection following a procedure, or a bloodborne pathogen exposure claim. Property coverage protects your equipment, furniture, and retail stock, and business interruption coverage can keep the business alive if a fire or flood closes you for a month. Workers' compensation, covered above, is mandatory once you have employees and is priced separately. If you rent booths or suites, your lease and your policy should both say clearly whose insurance answers first when a renter's client is hurt, and renters should carry their own professional liability policy naming their own business.

Premiums vary by city, services, and claims history, so compare quotes from brokers who write beauty industry policies and compare the exclusions, not just the price. Add the recurring state stack to the same budget: Board renewals every two years, the $800 LLC tax every year, the $20 Statement of Information every two years, and county and city renewals. None is large alone; together they are a real line in your budget, and calendaring them in advance is how owners avoid delinquency fees.

Dates to put on your calendar

• Every year: renew your practitioner registration with the county environmental health program, and complete the annual two-hour bloodborne pathogens training update under Section 119307.
• Every year: renew the facility health permit with the county, on the county's schedule and fee.
• 15th day of the fourth month after filing, then every year: the $800 LLC tax to the Franchise Tax Board on Form FTB 3522, April 15 for calendar-year businesses.
• Every two years: the LLC Statement of Information, Form LLC-12, $20 with the Secretary of State, first due within 90 days of formation.
• On the CDTFA's schedule: sales and use tax returns and payment for retail product sales, at the filing frequency the CDTFA assigns.
• Within 20 days of each hire: new hire report to the EDD on Form DE 34.
• Every five years: renew the county fictitious business name statement, and refile within 40 days if your address or ownership changes.
• Every year: renew your city business license on your city's schedule.

This guide is general information researched from official California sources, not legal or tax advice. Requirements, fees and forms change; verify the current rules with the agencies linked above before you file, sign or spend.

Frequently asked questions

Is microblading licensed by the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology in California?

No. Microblading is permanent cosmetics, and permanent cosmetics are body art under the Safe Body Art Act, Health and Safety Code Sections 119300 to 119328. The cosmetology board does not license it, and an esthetician or cosmetologist license does not authorize it. Practitioners register with their county environmental health program, and the work happens in a county-permitted facility.

What do I need before I can microblade clients in California?

Registration with the local enforcement agency, your county environmental health program, under Health and Safety Code Section 119306. Registration requires evidence of current hepatitis B vaccination, or proof of immunity or compliance with the federal OSHA declination rules, completion of bloodborne pathogens training under Section 119307, and payment of the county registration fee. County programs require proof that you are 18 or older. You may then work only in a permitted body art facility.

How much does body art registration cost in California?

Each county sets its own fee. Section 119306 requires the fee to be set at an amount sufficient to cover the actual costs of administering the program, and no more, so fees are cost-based and vary from county to county. The same is true of the facility health permit. There is no statewide price list; your county environmental health program publishes the current schedule.

How much training does California require for microblading?

The Act requires bloodborne pathogens exposure control training, not a state microblading course. Under Section 119307 the training is specific to body art, runs not less than two hours, and is delivered by a trainer approved by the local enforcement agency, with a two-hour update every year and training records kept for three years. Skill training in microblading itself is a professional necessity, but the state does not set its hours or approve its schools.

Can I microblade from home in California?

Only if the space is a permitted body art facility. Section 119306(a) allows body art only in a permitted permanent or temporary body art facility, and the facility's owner holds a health permit from the county. A home studio has to clear that county permit, plus your city's home occupation and zoning rules, which many cities restrict. Ask the county program before you build anything.

Are microblading services subject to sales tax in California?

Generally, no. California taxes retail sales of tangible personal property, and a microblading procedure is a service, so service charges are generally not taxable. Aftercare products you sell are taxable at the 7.25 percent statewide base rate plus local district taxes. Register with the CDTFA for a seller's permit before retail sales; there is no fee for the permit.