Online Startup Services Cut Red Tape
Published Apr 07, 2006
With 16,000 new businesses sprouting up each year in Tennessee, the state government decided to cut back on some of the entrepreneurial red tape.
In November 2005, the governor’s office announced its newest online filing system, One-Stop Business Resource, to reduce the sometimes slow-moving paperwork involved in starting a new business.
“‘One-Stop,’ that’s the key word,” says Rick Meredith, assistant commissioner of Department of Economic and Community Development’s Business Services Division.
“It gives you the sole resource and the sole tools to get your business started.”
Among the site’s offerings, filers can receive a federal identification number, a state tax ID and a company name in a matter of hours.
If a filer doesn’t have time to finish the application in one sitting, he or she is given a transaction number to complete the project when convenient.
Also, if the filer’s business crosses over into more than one department, a single filing with OSBR will be sufficient – rather than filings with multiple departments.
“The minute you hit submit, it will send [your application] to each division where your business is applicable,” Meredith says.
Between November 2005 and February 2006, the site had more than 900 applications for a transaction number.
Not only does this new program add to the government’s ever –expanding laundry list of more than 150 other online services, but it also holds the distinguished honor of being the first service of its kind in the Southeast.
For More Information
One-Stop Business Resource, tennesseeanytime.org/osbr
Story by Jenni Betts
Current Weather Conditions In Nashville, TN (37243)
Partly Cloudy, and 56 ° F. For more details?
Click here...
