Home / Mississippi / Hair Salon / LLC

Forming an LLC for Your Mississippi Hair Salon: The Complete Filing Guide

The parent guide gives you the short version: file Form F0100, pay $50, and file a free report every April 15. This page is the long version. It walks through choosing between an LLC, a sole proprietorship and a corporation in Mississippi terms, what the Secretary of State filings actually do, the voluntary trade name registration most states make mandatory, and the accounts and dates that keep a Mississippi salon LLC in good standing year after year.

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

LLC, sole proprietorship, or corporation for a Mississippi salon

The parent guide gives the short version of this choice. Here is the long one. A sole proprietorship is what you are by default if you open a salon in your own name and file nothing: there is no state formation step, and legally there is no business separate from you, which means the salon's debts, lease obligations, and legal claims reach your personal assets. Mississippi makes this route unusually tempting, because the proprietor skips both the $50 certificate and the annual report entirely, at the price of holding the business's liabilities personally.

A limited liability company creates a separate legal entity between you and the salon. Formed properly and kept separate, it holds the business's debts and claims at the business level instead of following you home. Two limits deserve plain words. The shield covers the business's obligations; it does not protect you from claims about your own work behind the chair, and it weakens if you run the salon's money through your personal accounts, which is why the bank account section below matters. An LLC is also taxed flexibly: by default its income passes through to the owners, and the entity can elect corporate taxation at the federal level if that ever fits better. That election is a federal tax choice, not a different Mississippi entity.

A corporation is the third route: a separate entity formed with the Secretary of State, owned through stock, and run with more formal machinery, directors, officers, and records, than most single salon operations need. It earns its keep for multi location groups and outside investors. For a first salon, the LLC is the structure Mississippi owners usually land on, and it is the one the rest of this page walks through. Whichever you choose, remember that the entity is separate from licensing: your establishment license and your stylists' practitioner licenses are still required, exactly as the Mississippi hub lays out.

Filing the Certificate of Formation: Form F0100

You form a Mississippi LLC by filing a Certificate of Formation, Form F0100, with the Mississippi Secretary of State. The filing fee is $50. Work through the pieces in order:

1. Choose the legal name. It must be distinguishable from names already on file with the state. If the name you want is not ready to file yet, an optional name reservation holds it for $25.
2. Name a registered agent. Your LLC needs a registered agent with a Mississippi street address where legal papers can be delivered. A post office box does not qualify. Pick someone who will actually be there and who has agreed to serve, because a missed lawsuit notice is the worst way to learn the agent moved.
3. File Form F0100 and pay the $50 fee. The Secretary of State's own business services portal takes the filing online, linked in the partner slot below. Filing creates the entity; it does not license the salon, and it does not finish your tax setup.
4. Keep the filing confirmation. Your bank, your landlord, and your payment processor will all ask for proof the LLC exists, and the board's establishment license application asks for proof of the business's good standing with the Secretary of State where that applies. Save the confirmation with your lease and licenses.

Two Mississippi quirks work in your favor, as the parent guide notes. Mississippi charges no franchise tax on a domestic LLC, the recurring entity tax many states build their budgets on, and the LLC annual report is priced at $0. The comparison that proves the point is the foreign LLC: forming in another state and registering here costs $250, and its annual report costs $250 every year, which is the entire reason a Mississippi salon forms in Mississippi.

The fictitious name registration: the filing Mississippi makes voluntary

If your salon operates under a name different from your LLC's legal name, Mississippi calls that a fictitious name, and here the state breaks with most of the country, because the filing other states require is one Mississippi merely offers. The Fictitious Business Name Registration Act, sections 75-93-1 and following, created a voluntary, centralized registry at the Secretary of State so the public can find the legal name behind a business name. Registering, Form F0070, costs $25, and the registration runs for a five year term, renewable for another $25 due by December 31 of the fifth anniversary year. There is no county level filing to pair with it, no penalty attaches to operating unregistered, and registering grants no exclusive right to the name.

Voluntary does not mean useless. A salon trading under a name different from its legal name will meet the question at the bank, at the payment processor and on the establishment application, and the $25 registration is the cleanest public answer to who stands behind the sign. An LLC trading under its exact filed name needs nothing at all. A mismatch between your storefront name, your lease, and your bank records is a small thing that stalls bigger things, including the loans on our Mississippi business loans page. Either way, the registration creates no entity and substitutes for no license, so choose the salon name before the establishment application is filed rather than after.

Your EIN from the IRS

Your EIN is the business's federal tax ID, issued by the IRS. You need one to hire employees, to file business taxes, and in practice to open the business bank account, because most banks require it even for a single member LLC. It is free. Apply directly through the IRS and ignore any website that offers to obtain one for a fee; those sites charge for a form the government gives away. In Mississippi the EIN is also the key that opens the registrations that follow: the Department of Revenue's TAP account and the Department of Employment Security's employer account both key off the federal number paired with the Secretary of State's entity records, so apply early and let the EIN never become the bottleneck when you sign a lease or set up payroll.

Mississippi tax accounts: TAP registration, sales tax and withholding

Forming the LLC does not open your tax accounts. Register with the Mississippi Department of Revenue through TAP, the state's Taxpayer Access Point, which is how a Mississippi business opens its tax accounts and files online. The sales tax question needs care, because owners assume the moment they offer a service, the 7 percent state sales tax follows. It does not. Mississippi taxes the specific business activities the statute lists, in section 27-65-23, and hair services are not on that list, so a haircut, a color service, or a blowout carries no sales tax. Retail products are different: shampoo, treatments, and tools sold across the counter are taxable sales at the 7 percent state rate, plus any local taxes the Department publishes for your address. Register for a sales tax permit through TAP before the first retail sale (the Department advises applying early; the process can take up to three weeks), and set your point of sale to itemize services and products separately from day one, which is also the discipline your bookkeeping needs.

The moment you hire, two more accounts open. Register through TAP to withhold Mississippi income tax from wages, filed and paid on Form 89-350; for 2026 the state's withholding formula applies a flat 4 percent rate to annual wages above $10,000. And register with the Mississippi Department of Employment Security on the employer status report, Form UI-1: an employer becomes liable after paying $1,500 or more in wages in a calendar quarter, or meeting the twenty week test. New employers pay unemployment tax at 1.0 percent in the first year, 1.1 percent in the second and 1.2 percent in the third and later, on the first $14,000 of each employee's wages, with experienced employer rates running from 0.2 to 5.4 percent. There is no state minimum wage in Mississippi, so the federal $7.25 floor is the wage law that applies to your first hires.

And the tax that is not there: Mississippi charges no franchise tax on a domestic LLC, so there is no entity level tax return to calendar alongside the report. The annual report in the calendar below is a report, not a tax, and the state prices it at $0.

The business bank account and keeping the separation real

Open the salon's bank account in the LLC's name, with the EIN, and run every dollar of salon income and expense through it. This is not bookkeeping fussiness. The liability separation an LLC gives you only holds up if the business's money is actually separate from yours; paying salon rent from a personal account, or sweeping the day's receipts into one, is how owners end up arguing that the entity they paid $50 to create was real. A Mississippi salon's compliance calendar is spread across the year: practitioner and establishment renewals, sales tax returns on the Department of Revenue's assigned schedule, and an annual report every April 15. The account is just as important to your landlord, your payment processor, and any lender reading your statements, each of whom wants to see the business's money standing on its own. Our Mississippi salon insurance guide covers the other half of protecting what the entity holds.

Your Mississippi LLC annual duties calendar

• April 15, every year: the LLC annual report, Form F0108. File it online through the Secretary of State any time on or after January 1. It costs $0 for a domestic LLC. The Secretary of State's own warning is that failure to file may result in the administrative dissolution of the organization, and reinstatement costs $50.
• Not on your calendar: a franchise tax. Mississippi charges none on a domestic LLC, which is the single biggest reason this state's recurring entity cost is $0 a year.
• Every two years: the cosmetology licenses themselves. Practitioner licenses renew for $50, with a 60 day grace period and a $50 delinquent penalty after it. The establishment license renews for $60.
• On the Department of Revenue's schedule: sales tax returns through TAP, covering retail product sales only; hair services are not taxed in Mississippi.
• Quarterly, once you hire: unemployment insurance reports and payments to the Department of Employment Security, due April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31.
• Every five years, and only if you filed one: the fictitious name registration renewal, $25, due by December 31 of the fifth anniversary year.
• As things change: keep the registered agent and address current with the Secretary of State, and keep your fictitious name, if you use one, matched to your storefront, your lease and your bank records.

That calendar is the whole recurring burden of a Mississippi salon LLC at the state level, and it is lighter than most states: the state charges $50 once and nothing a year, but it will dissolve the entity over a free report. The expensive mistakes are the skipped April 15 filing and the personal card swiped for salon expenses until the entity and the owner are the same pile of money again.

This page is general information researched from official Mississippi and federal sources, not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Requirements, fees and forms change; verify the current rules with the agency or regulator linked above before you file, sign or spend.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to form an LLC in Mississippi?

The state filing fee for the Certificate of Formation, Form F0100, is $50, paid to the Mississippi Secretary of State. That is the whole formation cost at the state level: Mississippi charges no franchise tax on a domestic LLC, and the annual report that keeps the LLC current is free. An optional name reservation holds your salon's name for $25.

Does a Mississippi LLC file an annual report?

Yes, every year, and it is free for a domestic LLC. The annual report, Form F0108, can be filed online any time on or after January 1 and is due by April 15. The Secretary of State warns that failure to file may result in the administrative dissolution of the organization, and reinstatement costs $50.

Do I have to register my salon's trade name in Mississippi?

No. Mississippi's Fictitious Business Name Registration Act, sections 75-93-1 and following, makes registration voluntary. Registering, Form F0070, costs $25 for a five year term with the Secretary of State, there is no county filing, and registration grants no exclusive right to the name. It is still the cleanest public answer when a bank or payment processor asks who stands behind your sign.

Are hair services subject to sales tax in Mississippi?

No. Mississippi taxes the business activities listed in section 27-65-23, and hair services are not on that list, so a haircut, color service or blowout carries no sales tax. Retail products sold at the front desk are taxable at the 7 percent state rate, so register with the Department of Revenue on TAP for a sales tax account and permit, and itemize services and products separately.

Do I need an EIN for a single member salon LLC?

In practice, yes. You need an EIN to hire employees, and most banks require one to open the business account in the LLC's name. It is free from the IRS, so there is no reason to wait, and no reason to pay a website that offers to get one for you.