You should also be aware of potential changes to taxation laws for affiliate marketing: blogs.findlaw.com/free_enterprise/2009/07/the-amazon-tax-and-affiliate-marketing.html ---This post was edited to remove a commercial link. Read our discussion policies for more Community best practices.

If you're running the business yourself and have no plans of hiring employees, you don't actually need to setup an LLC, your SSN is all thats needed.   Zeeshan Rahim, CMO Healthcare Supply Pros

If you are starting an online business thats geared towards affillites, then its not that important to LLC yourself because you are merely the middle man, the actual sales, and shipping are done by other companies. You can get away with not really doing anything, and seeing how it plays out, if it becomes profitable, then I would form an LLC, as a foundation for growth. If you are merely experimenting with a new concept, I say let it go for six months then evaluate. Most affillites give you tax information based on your earnings, so they do most of the tax work for you, you just have to focas on traffic. But like the previous poster said, its very competitive, be prepared to work very hard, or learn some programing.

Well if you are a bigger affiliate earner then I think you should get yourself registered. Make sure you contact some legal advisor. You can also business.gov attorney members for more info. It would be better if you can consult some other affiliate users. He may guide more well. All the best. Do well.

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It's a complicated question simply because until this next tax year (either 2010 or 2011) affiliate earnings were not reported to the IRS. I'm not an attorney or accountant but have affiliates that sell wine club memberships for my site and they have not been happy about being sent a 1099 in upcoming years for any affiliate network in which they earn 20k or more. Although, I'm not sure if an LLC is the right choice in your situation, it probably makes sense to talk to other success affiliates to ask about their set ups. Of course an accountant and lawyer are worth their time whenever you start a new venture. Check out the Warrior Forum and you should be able to get some more information as I belive that's the best affiliate marketing forum on the net right now.

It is not required to set up an LLC for your business but if you are using different name to advertise your business other than personal name then you are required to register your business as DBA, corporation or an LLC. As far as the licenses are concerned you may need state identification number or employer identification number depends on your function or activities. If it is just commission then state id is not required. ---This post was edited to remove a commercial link. Read our discussion policies for more Community best practices.

You will need to register your business name and entity type with the Secretary of State's office. In Idaho business licenses are issued by cities, not by the state. Some cities license all businesses, including home-based ones. Others license only certain activities, such as restaurants and day cares. You might want to check the web site of Idaho Small Business Solutions if you haven't yet. It contains much information that should help you get started.

Hi handslikesecret. Based on your business description, it will be very hard to make money. There's a lot of competition and you would need a ton of traffic to make reasonable income. I suggest you start small in terms of business expenses during your startup phase untill you get a better idea of your income potential.

Hi handslikesecret, If you are starting a business, then you must register and obtain the necessary licenses. Here are the steps to starting an online business and a guide for starting and managing a business in Idaho. Are you familiar with other business structures? Be sure to weigh the pros and cons before you decide. Feel free to use the Permit Me Tool to find list of relevant licenses and permits.