How to Start a Nail Salon in Delaware

Who regulates nail salons in Delaware

The licensing authority is the Board of Cosmetology and Barbering, a board in the Division of Professional Regulation, part of the Delaware Department of State. The board administers Title 24, chapter 51 of the Delaware Code, the chapter that licenses nail technicians alongside cosmetologists, barbers, master barbers, aestheticians, electrologists and instructors, and licenses the shops and schools where they work. Applications and renewals run through DELPROS, the Delaware Professional Regulation Online Services system, so the nail technician application and the shop application move through the same portal and the same board.

The rest of the setup sits outside the board. The Division of Corporations, also in the Department of State, takes the LLC Certificate of Formation and the flat annual LLC tax. The Division of Revenue, in the Department of Finance, 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, including the separate retailer activity that a salon retail shelf creates. The Department of Labor sets the minimum wage and runs unemployment insurance. Sanitation inside the salon sits with a different department again: all shops must comply with the Division of Public Health Cosmetology and Barbering Regulations, and the Division of Public Health investigates sanitation complaints. A nail salon owner therefore deals with one licensing board and at least four other agencies in the first month, and this guide keeps each duty with the agency that owns it.

Delaware nail salon at a glance

The nail technician license, step by step

The nail technician license is the shortest practitioner route under this board. Section 5107 of Title 24, chapter 51 requires 300 hours of classroom instruction, or 600 hours as an apprentice. One correction belongs in print, because it appears across the internet: the 125 hour figure shown on secondary sites is stale, and the statute requires 300. Budget school, tuition and time around 300 classroom hours, not around the outdated number a search result may still carry. The education floor for practitioner licenses is a 10th grade education or its equivalent. On completing the hours, the candidate passes the board examinations, which are written and practical and nationally developed under section 5108, with the practical examination administered through Prometric, and pays the $103 application fee.

The license renews March 31 of even numbered years, on the same clock as barbers, master barbers, aestheticians and electrologists. Renewal fee amounts are set by the Division and notified to licensees at the time of renewal, so this guide prints no renewal dollar amount; the late fee rule is fixed, at 50 percent of the renewal fee, and an individual may late renew for up to five years after expiration while not practicing on the expired license. A license lapsed more than five years requires reinstatement, including passing the practical examination. No continuing education is required for this board licenses, which keeps the renewal a payment and a filing rather than a coursework deadline.

Scope is the limit a new owner most needs to respect. The nail technician license authorizes nail services, and services may be rendered only inside a licensed shop or school apart from the narrow statutory exceptions covered in the premises section. Adding facials, lashes or waxing means adding services that belong to the aesthetician or cosmetologist licenses, at 600 and 1,500 hours respectively, staffed by holders of those licenses.

The shop license for your premises

A shop license from the Board is required before operating any premises where cosmetology or barbering services are offered, under section 5103(d), and nail services sit inside that requirement. For a nail salon 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. Choose that person before applying, and treat any later change as a filing with a deadline rather than an internal note.

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. 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. That is a far tighter rule than the five year late renewal individuals receive. 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 nail salon 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 nail salon 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 nail salon 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 nail salon 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 nail salon 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, and the retail shelf is where that separation matters most in a nail salon.

The retail shelf deserves its own paragraph in a nail salon, because polish, treatments and aftercare sold to take home are not services. Division of Revenue guidance treats sales of goods by a service provider as retail sales, taxed at the retailer gross receipts rate of 0.7468 percent on goods sold, with its own $100,000 monthly exclusion, separate from the service exclusion. The retailer license carries the $75 license fee plus a $15 retail crime unit fee. One exclusion applies per activity across locations, so the service activity takes one exclusion and the retail activity takes one exclusion, and the bookkeeping should separate the service ticket from the product sale from the first day rather than reconstructing the split at filing time.

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

Delaware has no booth rental license and no renter credential. A nail technician who rents a station in a Delaware salon 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 station. Her personal nail technician license must of course be current, because the personal license is what authorizes the services, but no second premises credential is issued to her. For a salon built on independent technicians, that makes the shop license and its professional in charge designation the documents the whole model rests on.

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, and she accounts for her own gross receipts under that license. The written rental agreement should spell out who collects payment, who supplies product and implements, and who carries the retail activity if the renter sells products at her station. The owner keeps the shop side in order: the $142 shop license current, the professional in charge designation accurate, 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 nail salon; 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 nail salon 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 Nail salon

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 nail salon 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 nail salon

The state level costs sit in a small number of published schedules. On the licensing side: $142 for the Cosmetology and Barbering Establishment or Shop license, $103 for a nail technician license for each technician 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 salon trades under a name different from the company legal name, $75 for the first location state business license, and nothing for the EIN. A retail shelf adds the retailer activity on the state business license, including the $15 retail crime unit fee that rides on the retailer license.

Recurring state costs run on the calendar in the next section: the flat $400 LLC annual tax every June 1, the state business license renewed annually by December 31 at $75 for the first location plus $25 for each additional location, the shop license renewing June 30 of odd years, and personal licenses renewing March 31 of even years at amounts the Division notifies at renewal. Gross receipts tax applies only above the $100,000 monthly exclusion for each activity, at 0.3983 percent for services and 0.7468 percent for retail. Everything beyond the schedules is market cost: price the lease, the manicure stations and pedicure chairs, ventilation and plumbing, and the opening product and polish 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 nail salon year is a March in which the technicians renew in even years, a June 1 LLC tax, a June 30 shop renewal in odd years, and a December 31 business license renewal every year.

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 nail salon FAQ