How to Start a Barbershop in Virginia

The regulator: the Board for Barbers and Cosmetology

Barbering in Virginia is licensed by the Board for Barbers and Cosmetology, inside the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR), under Chapter 7 of Title 54.1 of the Code of Virginia. The working rules are in 18VAC41-20, which covers barbering and cosmetology together. That shared chapter is why barber and cosmetology shops in Virginia run on the same fee schedule, the same facility mechanics and the same renewal clock, and why the differences between the trades come down to training hours and scope of practice rather than different agencies or different price lists.

The fee schedule in force since August 1, 2025 charges $120 for an individual application and $120 for renewal, and $220 for a facility application and $220 for renewal, for barbers exactly as for cosmetologists. Every license expires two years from the last day of the month in which it was issued. There is a 30 day grace period after expiration, reinstatement is available within two years at the renewal fee plus a reinstatement fee, and after two years the licensee starts again as a new applicant. The renewal sections attach no continuing education condition to these licenses, so keeping a barber license alive is a matter of the fee arriving before the deadline, and the regulation is explicit that the date DPOR receives the fee, not the postmark, is what counts.

Virginia barbershop licenses at a glance

The barber license, step by step

The school route is a licensed barber program of at least 750 clock hours. That figure is new: the amendments to 18VAC41-20-200 and 18VAC41-20-220 that took effect December 1, 2025 reset the barber curriculum, and older Virginia material quotes longer programs from the previous rule. The master barber, Virginia's advanced credential, adds a master program of at least 250 clock hours on top of the barber license. A student who knows from the start that they want both can take a dual barber and master barber program of at least 1,000 clock hours instead. Registered apprenticeships in barbering also run through Virginia Works, the state workforce agency; the apprenticeship standards sit in that system rather than in the Board's regulation, so this guide publishes no apprenticeship hour count, and an apprentice's proof of registration has to be displayed in the shop where they train.

Barbering's statutory scope is narrower than cosmetology's, and a shop menu should be built around exactly what it says. A barber shaves, shapes and trims the beard; cuts, singes and dyes the hair; and applies treatments and massages the face, neck and scalp in connection with the shaving, cutting and trimming work. What the barber license does not carry is the rest of the beauty menu. Under 18VAC41-20-260, a barber or master barber who is not also licensed as a cosmetologist must hold a nail technician license to perform nail care and a wax technician license to perform waxing. A shop that wants a barber chair offering manicures or brow waxing is really staffing two licenses at that chair, and the nail salon guide covers the shorter of those routes.

Examinations are where Virginia barbering is unusually transparent. Applicants must pass a written and a practical examination approved by the Board, and the Board's own barber examination and license application form prints the vendor's charges: $99 for the theory examination, $95 for the practical, $194 for the combined examination, and $99 for the instructor examination. The regulation caps the total at $225 per candidate, so the printed figures can move with the vendor contract but not past the cap. An applicant found eligible for the examination can work first under a temporary license: free, valid 90 days, and conditioned on working under the direct supervision of a currently licensed practitioner. The license application itself is $120 to DPOR, with the same $120 for endorsement from another state and for each renewal, and $240 for reinstatement. All Board fees are nonrefundable and are never prorated.

The barbershop license

Section 54.1-704.1 of the Code of Virginia requires a valid Board license to operate a barbershop, and 18VAC41-20-120 gives the license its shape. It costs $220 to apply. The license is issued to a firm, the legal business operating the shop, and it is not transferable: it carries the name and address of that business and no other. Changes of name or address must be reported to the Board in writing within 30 days, and if the entity holding the license is dissolved or altered into a new entity, the license becomes void and the new entity files a fresh application. A barbershop that plans to reorganize its LLC in year two should budget for a second premises application, because the license follows the entity, not the chairs.

The shop runs under responsible management. The answerable person must keep every license in the shop, the barbers' and the shop's, displayed in plain view, and must ensure nobody performs services beyond the scope of their license; letting an unlicensed person practice in the shop is a disciplinary ground against the shop's management, not just against the person holding the clippers. Shops can also be mobile: a mobile barbershop is licensed under the same facility section, garaged at a stated address, stationary while services are performed, and barred from operating where a local ordinance prohibits it. Ownership, as with salons, does not itself require a barber license: the Board's guidance allows an unlicensed owner who performs no services, with the license obligations resting on the premises and on each barber. Home based barbering follows the same pattern as home cosmetology in the Board's guidance, a practitioner license plus a shop license for the address and full compliance with local law.

Forming the LLC and keeping it alive

Virginia has no secretary of state business office. LLCs are formed with the Clerk's Office of the State Corporation Commission (SCC), online through the Clerk's Information System, CIS. Filing Articles of Organization, Form LLC1011, costs $100 under section 13.1-1005 of the Code of Virginia. The articles set out the company's name, principal office and registered agent, who must be a Virginia resident or an authorized entity with a physical Virginia address.

The recurring obligation is the annual registration fee: $50, due by the last day of the month in which the LLC was organized, every year, with no annual report to file for an LLC. The Commission assesses the fee and sends notice to the registered agent roughly two months early. A late payment draws a $25 penalty, and an LLC that is still unpaid after the last day of the third month following the due date is canceled automatically. Because the barbershop license is issued to the firm and becomes void if that firm is dissolved, letting the registration fee lapse is not just a corporate housekeeping failure; it puts the premises license's foundation at risk. Diary the formation month alongside the license dates.

Your shop name: the assumed name certificate

A barbershop that trades under a name different from the legal name of the LLC, or from the owner's own name for a sole proprietor, needs a Certificate of Assumed or Fictitious Name under section 59.1-70 of the Code of Virginia. Since January 1, 2020, that certificate is filed centrally with the Clerk of the State Corporation Commission, for individuals and companies alike, for a $10 fee. The older practice of filing with the circuit court clerk in each locality is gone, and advice built on it is out of date. The certificate links the name on the sign to the legal business behind it; it does not reserve the name and it does not substitute for the barbershop license. File it when the entity is formed so the shop license application, the lease and the bank account all carry consistent names.

EIN and tax accounts

The federal Employer Identification Number is free from the IRS and is needed before the first employee and the first business bank account. Two state accounts follow from the shop's own activity: a Virginia Tax business account carrying the sales tax registration once the shop sells retail products, and a Virginia Employment Commission employer account once the first barber is on payroll, carrying the unemployment reporting described below. There is no advantage to opening either before its trigger, and there is real cost to opening them late, because both registrations ask for the same legal business name that appears on the SCC record and the shop license. Keep those documents together from day one.

Sales tax: services untaxed, retail taxed

Virginia taxes the sale of tangible personal property and a short statutory list of services. Barbering is not a taxable service, and service charges generally sit outside the tax unless they are connected with the sale of goods. The working split for a barbershop is therefore: haircuts, shaves, beard work and every other service are untaxed, while clippers sold over the counter, pomade, oils and other take home products are taxable retail sales. A shop selling retail registers with Virginia Tax as a dealer, collects the tax, and files electronically by the 20th of the month following the filing period.

The rate is local. The combined rate is 5.3 percent across most of Virginia, built from the 4.3 percent state tax and the mandatory 1 percent local tax. It rises to 6 percent in Central Virginia, Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia, 6.3 percent in Charlotte County, Danville, Gloucester County, Halifax County, Henry County, Northampton County, Patrick County and Pittsylvania County, and 7 percent in James City County, Williamsburg and York County. Confirm the rate for the shop's locality on the Virginia Tax table before configuring the register, because the products at the counter are taxed at the rate where the shop sits, not where the owner lives.

Chair rental in a Virginia barbershop

Virginia has no booth renter license, so chair rental is governed by the facility rule in section 54.1-704.1: a licensed practitioner with no ownership interest in the facility where they work needs no facility license of their own. A barber renting a chair in a licensed shop practices on their own $120 barber license under the shop's premises license. The owner's side of that bargain is responsibility: responsible management answers to the Board for license display, scope and sanitation for everyone in the shop, renters included, so a rental agreement should require a current license on display at the chair as a condition of the rent.

A barber who rents their own premises and runs it as their own business crosses the line into operating a barbershop, and that address needs its own $220 barbershop license issued to the renter's firm. The same logic drives the salon suite model, and the Virginia salon suite guide works through it in full. For tax purposes the genuine renter is a separate business: their own EIN, their own Virginia Tax registration for their own retail, and their own assumed name certificate if the chair trades under its own name.

Hiring barbers: classification, minimum wage and unemployment

Whether a barber is an employee or a renter turns on control, not on the label in the agreement. A barber whose hours, prices and clients the shop directs is an employee; a barber who rents a chair, sets their own prices and keeps their own book is a separate business. The distinction decides the wage and tax obligations that follow, and the Board's responsible management rules apply to the shop either way.

Employees are covered by the Virginia minimum wage of $12.77 per hour for 2026, set by the Department of Labor and Industry and adjusted annually with inflation. Tipped barbers may be paid a cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour, provided wages and tips together reach $12.77, with the employer making up any shortfall. For unemployment insurance, a shop generally becomes liable with the Virginia Employment Commission when it meets the federal style triggers, in practice a quarterly payroll of $1,500 or more or an employee in 20 weeks of a calendar year, and registers online through the Commission's systems. New employers pay a base rate of 2.5 percent, plus pool and fund charges, on the first $8,000 of each employee's wages per year until they earn a calculated rate; calculated base rates run from 0.1 percent to 6.2 percent. Quarterly tax and wage reports are due from the first quarter with payroll.

The local layer: zoning and the business license

The state license does not choose the address; the locality does. A barbershop needs a zoning district that permits the use, a premises that satisfies occupancy and building rules, and in most Virginia cities and counties a local business license, with the local Business, Professional and Occupational License tax computed on the locality's own schedule. Those schedules vary too much to publish a statewide figure, so the operative step is a call to the licensing office or commissioner of the revenue in the shop's city or county before the lease is signed. Because the barbershop license names one firm at one address and cannot be transferred, zoning and local approval for the exact address come first in the sequence, the entity filing second, and the shop license application last.

Insurance and risk

The Board's regulations do not condition the barbershop license on insurance, so coverage is a business decision. The working package for a shop is general liability for the premises, professional liability covering each barber's services, and property coverage for chairs, tools and retail stock, with limits checked against what the lease requires. Chair renters should carry their own professional liability in their own business name: the shop's policy covers the shop's operation, and the first call after an injury at a rented chair usually goes to the shop regardless. As the employee roster grows, workers compensation joins the list, and the shop's insurer or payroll provider can confirm the Virginia requirement for the business's size.

The Virginia renewal calendar

Official sources

• Board for Barbers and Cosmetology, DPOR
• Board fee schedule, 18VAC41-20-140
• Shop and salon license rules, 18VAC41-20-120
• Code of Virginia section 54.1-704.1, facility licenses
• Code of Virginia section 59.1-70, assumed names
• SCC annual registration fees
• Virginia Tax, retail sales and use tax
• Virginia Employment Commission, employer information

This guide is general information about starting a barbershop in Virginia, not legal, tax or licensing advice for a specific business. Fees, forms and rules change, and local ordinances add their own layer. Confirm your exact obligations with the Virginia Board for Barbers and Cosmetology, the State Corporation Commission and your locality before signing a lease or enrolling in a program.