How to Start a Lash Studio in Delaware

Who regulates lash studios in Delaware

Delaware has no lash regulator of its own, because Delaware has no lash license. The authority that governs a lash studio is the Board of Cosmetology and Barbering, a board in the Division of Professional Regulation, part of the Delaware Department of State, acting under Title 24, chapter 51 of the Delaware Code. That chapter licenses cosmetologists and aestheticians, and its statutory definitions are where eyelash work lives: applying lash extensions, additions or enhancements, including permanent waving and tinting, is written into both the definition of cosmetology and the definition of aesthetician practice. The Division of Professional Regulation states that the 2021 statutory revisions require a Cosmetologist or Aesthetician license to apply eyelashes and eyelash extensions. Applications and renewals for both licenses, and for the shop license the studio premises need, run through DELPROS, the Delaware Professional Regulation Online Services system.

The rest of the setup sits outside the board. The Division of Corporations takes the LLC Certificate of Formation and the flat annual LLC tax. The Division of Revenue issues the state business license, runs the trade name registry through Delaware One Stop and administers the gross receipts tax that replaces a sales tax in Delaware. The Department of Labor sets the minimum wage and runs unemployment insurance. Sanitation inside the studio sits with the Division of Public Health, whose Cosmetology and Barbering Regulations every shop must comply with, and which investigates sanitation complaints. One neighboring service belongs to that health department outright: permanent makeup and microblading are body art under the Division of Public Health framework, a boundary the practitioner section returns to.

Delaware lash studio at a glance

The practitioner question: two licenses can do lashes, and nothing else can

Start with the negative, stated plainly. Delaware has no dedicated lash license, license type or endorsement, and an unlicensed lash artist cannot be hired to apply extensions, full stop. Applying lash extensions, additions or enhancements, including permanent waving and tinting, sits inside the statutory definitions of two existing practices in Title 24, chapter 51, and the Division of Professional Regulation states that the 2021 statutory revisions require a Cosmetologist or Aesthetician license to apply eyelashes and eyelash extensions. A certificate from a lash course is training rather than licensure, and it does not substitute for either license.

The two lawful staffing routes differ in length, price and renewal clock. The aesthetician route is the shorter and, for a lash only studio, usually the direct one: 600 hours of classroom instruction, or 1,200 hours as an apprentice, a $101 application fee, and renewal on March 31 of even numbered years. The cosmetologist route is the full scope credential: 1,500 hours of classroom instruction, or 3,000 hours as an apprentice, a $128 application fee, and renewal on October 31 of even numbered years, the only personal license under this board on the October clock. Both routes carry the same education floor, a 10th grade education or its equivalent, and the same examination structure, written and practical examinations that are nationally developed, with the practical examination administered through Prometric. Renewal fee amounts are notified at renewal, the late fee is 50 percent of the renewal fee, individuals may late renew for up to five years while not practicing on an expired license, and no continuing education is required.

Choose between the routes on the menu. A studio selling lashes, brows and skin services fits the aesthetician license, at less than half the school hours. A studio that will also cut, color or chemically treat hair needs cosmetologists on the floor, because the aesthetician license does not reach hair services. One add on belongs to neither license. Permanent makeup and microblading are not a lash studio add on under a cosmetology or aesthetician license: the board classifies permanent makeup as body art and tattooing, directed to the Division of Public Health Body Art Program, where the framework permits the establishment rather than licensing the individual artist. Read the Delaware microblading guide and budget for that separate establishment permit route before advertising the service.

The shop license for your premises

The absence of a lash license does not remove the premises license. A shop license from the Board is required before operating any premises where cosmetology or barbering services are offered, under section 5103(d), and a lash studio staffed by cosmetologists and aestheticians offers exactly those services. The license is the Cosmetology and Barbering Establishment or Shop license, priced at $142 on the board fee schedule. The application names a professional in charge: a licensee in good standing who is responsible for the shop, who may serve as professional in charge for only one shop at a time, and whose changes must be reported to the Board in writing within 10 business days. In a lash studio the designation belongs to a licensed cosmetologist or aesthetician on the team.

Where services happen is regulated as tightly as who performs them. Services may be rendered only in a licensed shop or school, with narrow exceptions that include services in hospitals and nursing homes, services for decedents, services to invalid or handicapped persons in their homes, institutions, performers and models, and retail demonstrations. A licensed shop may operate in a home if it fully complies with the applicable health regulations, which is the route a home based studio must take rather than an exemption from licensing. The shop license expires June 30 of odd numbered years, and the establishment late renewal window is short: only 45 days after expiration, after which a new application is required. Every shop must also comply with the Division of Public Health Cosmetology and Barbering Regulations, the sanitation framework the Division of Public Health enforces and investigates complaints under.

Forming your business: the LLC

Most Delaware lash studio owners form a limited liability company with the Division of Corporations, in the Department of State. Formation is a single filing, the Certificate of Formation, and the Division fee schedule prices it at $110. The certificate names the company and its Delaware registered agent, and every Delaware LLC must maintain a registered agent in the state, the person or service who receives legal papers for the business. File the certificate before signing contracts in the company name, and keep the filing receipt with the shop license application and the bank records so every file shows the same legal name.

The annual obligation that follows is unusual, and it catches owners who expect a report. A Delaware LLC pays a flat annual tax of $400, due on or before June 1 for the prior year, and no annual report is required. The Division of Corporations tax instructions are explicit that there is no proration: the tax is assessed if the entity is active on the Division records at any time during the tax year. Missing the payment brings a penalty of $200 plus interest of 1.5 percent per month on the tax and penalty. Older Division pages still print a superseded $300 figure, but the current tax instructions page prints $400, and $400 is the amount to budget.

Registering your lash studio name

Delaware rebuilt its trade name system in 2026. Beginning February 2, 2026, the Division of Revenue administers a statewide trade name registry through Delaware One Stop, replacing the county Prothonotary filings the state used for generations. Registration costs a one time charge of $25 per trade name, one registration covers the whole state, there are no per county fees, and notarization is no longer required. All applications are processed online. A lash studio trading under a name different from the LLC legal name registers that name here, and the order matters: a trade name must be attached to a valid Delaware business license issued by the Division of Revenue, so the business holds the license before it registers the name.

Two features make the new registry easy to maintain. Trade name registrations do not expire and do not require renewal while the underlying business license stays valid, so the $25 is paid once rather than on a cycle. Registrations made with the county Prothonotaries before February 2, 2026 remain valid, and the owner may re-register the name into the Division of Revenue registry at no cost by providing the historic filing number.

Getting your EIN

The Employer Identification Number is the federal tax identity for the business, issued free by the IRS. A lash studio with employees needs one before the first payroll, because withholding and unemployment reporting key off it, and most banks ask a new LLC for one when the business account opens. Apply on the IRS site, keep the number with the LLC records, and use the same legal name on the EIN record, the Division of Corporations filing, the Division of Revenue business license and the board shop application so the files match across agencies.

Sales tax: no sales tax, but a gross receipts tax

Delaware has no state or local sales tax, so there is no sales tax permit to obtain and no tax to collect from the client at the register. In its place, the Division of Revenue imposes a gross receipts tax on the provider of services. The tax falls on total receipts from services rendered in Delaware, with no deductions for the cost of labor, materials or other expenses. Beauty businesses sit in the occupations and general services category, and the Division of Revenue tax tips list barbers, beauticians and spas among the licensed occupations in that category, so a Delaware lash studio plans for gross receipts tax from the first month of trading.

The numbers for the service side are an occupation and general service license fee of $75 for the first location and $25 for each additional location, renewed annually on or before December 31, and a gross receipts rate of 0.3983 percent on income received from services rendered in Delaware, with the first $100,000 of receipts per month exempt from the tax. A taxpayer conducting an activity at multiple locations aggregates the receipts and takes only one exclusion for that activity, a rule the tax tips illustrate with a taxpayer operating multiple beauty shops. Retail product sales are a separate activity with its own exclusion, covered where the retail shelf is discussed in this guide.

Booth rent in Delaware: no renter license, one shop license

Delaware has no booth rental license and no renter credential, and in a lash studio that rule interacts with the licensing rule in a way owners must hold clearly. A renter works inside the shop license held for the premises, under the professional in charge named on that license, rather than under a license of her own for the room or the bed. But the personal license requirement does not soften for renters: a booth renting lash artist still needs her own current cosmetologist or aesthetician license before she applies a single extension, because that personal license is the only authority Delaware recognizes for the work.

The renter still has one business filing of her own. A renter running her own business holds her own Division of Revenue business license, the state business license described in the tax section, attached to her own trade name if she trades under one. The written rental agreement should spell out who collects payment and who supplies product. The owner keeps the shop side in order: the $142 shop license current, the professional in charge designation accurate, every practitioner license on the wall current for the service being sold, and sanitation compliance under the Division of Public Health regulations, because an inspector reads the premises as one licensed shop no matter how many independent businesses work inside it.

Hiring: wages, unemployment and withholding

Delaware minimum wage is $15.00 an hour, effective January 1, 2025, under 19 Del.C. section 902. Price every employed chair, station and front desk shift at that floor or above, and check the rate each January as part of the renewal calendar review. Whether a worker is an employee or a booth renter changes the obligations that follow, and the booth rent section of this guide explains how Delaware handles renters inside a licensed shop. For employees, the salon controls the schedule, the prices and the client relationship, and the payroll registrations below apply in full.

Hiring triggers three registrations. The business registers with the Division of Unemployment Insurance in the Department of Labor and pays contributions on the first $14,500 of each employee wages in 2026, the taxable wage base for that year, at the new employer rate of 1.0 percent for 2026. The business also registers for Delaware income tax withholding with the Division of Revenue, through Delaware One Stop, the same portal that holds the business license and the trade name. The EIN from the previous section comes first, because both registrations key off the federal number. Keep the wage base and the new employer rate in the first year budget, and expect the unemployment rate to be revisited once the business has its own experience history with the Division.

The local layer: cities, zoning and premises

The state licenses the lash studio; the city or town decides where it can be. Zoning approval for a personal services use, any local business license or registration the municipality requires, building and signage permits, and occupancy and fire review all run through the locality where the premises sit, on local timelines rather than the board calendar. This guide stays general about that layer, because city level requirements were not part of the official state sources this cluster is built from, so confirm zoning and local licensing with the city or county before signing a lease.

Premises facts carry state licensing consequences as well. The shop license belongs to the licensed premises and names the professional in charge for that shop, services may be rendered only in a licensed shop or school apart from the narrow statutory exceptions, and a licensed shop may operate in a home if it fully complies with the applicable health regulations. A home based lash studio therefore has two gates, not one: the board shop license with its sanitation duties, and the local rules for operating a business from a residence. Sequence both before taking bookings, because neither approval substitutes for the other.

Insurance for a Delaware Lash studio

Nothing in Title 24, chapter 51 conditions the shop license or the personal licenses on carrying liability insurance, so coverage is a business judgment rather than a licensing step. The standard stack for a lash studio is general liability for the premises, professional liability for the services each license covers, and property coverage for equipment, furniture and retail inventory, with the lease usually naming the landlord as an additional insured. Owners using a booth rent model should require each renter to carry her own professional liability policy, because the renter runs her own business inside premises licensed under your shop license and supervised by your professional in charge.

What it costs to open a Delaware lash studio

The state level costs sit in a small number of published schedules, with the practitioner line depending on which lawful route each artist took. On the licensing side: $142 for the Cosmetology and Barbering Establishment or Shop license, $101 for an aesthetician license or $128 for a cosmetologist license for each practitioner who does not already hold one, and $40 lines on the board schedule for a temporary permit and an apprenticeship permit where those apply. On the formation side: $110 to file the LLC Certificate of Formation, $25 once for the trade name if the studio trades under a name different from the company legal name, $75 for the first location state business license, and nothing for the EIN.

Recurring state costs run on the calendar in the next section, and a lash studio is the one business type in this cluster that carries both personal renewal clocks: aestheticians renew March 31 of even years, cosmetologists renew October 31 of even years, in each case at amounts the Division notifies at renewal, alongside the flat $400 LLC annual tax every June 1, the state business license renewed annually by December 31, and the shop license renewing June 30 of odd years. Gross receipts tax at 0.3983 percent applies only above the $100,000 monthly exclusion for the service activity, with retail product sales as a separate activity at 0.7468 percent. Everything beyond the schedules is market cost: price the lease, the beds and lighting, and the opening product inventory locally, and hold payroll at the $15.00 minimum wage floor and the first year unemployment terms in the hiring section.

Renewal and filing calendar

The rhythm of a Delaware lash studio year is the fullest in this cluster: aestheticians renew in March of even years, cosmetologists in October of even years, the shop in June of odd years, the LLC tax every June 1, and the business license every December 31.

Official sources

• Board of Cosmetology and Barbering, fee schedule: the board fee schedule listing practitioner fees, the shop fee and the late fee rule.
• Board of Cosmetology and Barbering, frequently asked questions: the board FAQ covering hours, continuing education, sanitation and lash and permanent makeup placement.
• Division of Corporations, LLC and partnership tax instructions: the flat annual tax, the June 1 due date, the penalty and interest, and the rule that no annual report is required.
• Division of Corporations, fee schedule: the Certificate of Formation fee for a Delaware LLC.
• Division of Revenue, gross receipts taxes: how the gross receipts tax works, with no deductions for labor, materials or other expenses.
• Department of Finance, state taxes document: the occupation and retailer license fees and gross receipts rates.
• Delaware One Stop, trade names: the statewide trade name registry that began February 2, 2026.
• Department of Labor, Division of Unemployment Insurance, employer services: employer registration, the taxable wage base and the new employer rate.
• IRS, apply for an EIN: the free federal application.

Delaware lash studio FAQ