The complete launch checklist
Check your state benefits before you form anything. That is the whole trick, and it is the step everyone skips. Several states waive the business formation filing fee entirely for veterans, and you cannot claim it after the fact — in Texas, filing without the paperwork attached means the Secretary of State simply charges you the $300. Everything below is in the order that costs you the least.
- 01
Check what your state gives you
Free
Formation fee waivers, franchise tax exemptions, state certifications, and procurement preferences vary enormously and change more often than you would think. Of the states we have verified, Kentucky and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Texas waive the formation filing fee outright for qualifying veterans.
Do this first. It is the single largest saving available and it is gone the moment you file without it.
- 02
Form the entity
State filing fee — $0 to $300 depending on your state and your veteran status
For a single-member LLC this is one form filed with your Secretary of State, and you can do it yourself in about twenty minutes. Pay for a service when you genuinely want the registered agent address — keeping your home address off a public record — or when you are forming out of state.
If your state waives the fee for veterans, filing yourself costs literally nothing, and no service can beat that.
- 03
Get an EIN from the IRS
Free. Always free.
Fifteen minutes, online, directly from the IRS. This is the single most commonly upsold free thing in the entire small business world — formation services routinely charge for it, and there are entire companies whose business model is charging you to fill in this one form. Do it yourself at irs.gov.
- 04
Register in SAM.gov — only if you want federal contracts
Free. Also always free.
You need a Unique Entity ID and an active registration before you can be awarded a federal contract. SAM's own registration checklist states there is no charge to get a UEI, register, or maintain registration (SAM.gov Entity Registration Checklist (Nov 2024)), and GSA says outright that you do not need to pay a third party to do it (GSA — Register your business).
Companies charging veterans to "handle your SAM registration" are a standing scam on new veteran businesses. The long pole is IRS validation of your TIN, and paying someone does not make that faster.
- 05
Open a business bank account
$0 at most fintechs; watch minimum balances at traditional banks
Do this before you take a single dollar of revenue. Mixing personal and business money is how people lose the liability protection they just paid to create, and it is the thing that turns bookkeeping into a forensic exercise at tax time.
Being straight with you: this is the category where we have the least to offer. Most business banking referral programs are built for accounting firms rather than publishers, so we have no relationship with any of them and no financial reason to point you at one over another.
- 06
Get certified — if federal contracting is the plan
Free
SDVOSB certification through SBA costs nothing (SBA Certify help pages) and opens set-asides across the whole federal government. VOSB certification gets you VA procurements specifically. There is no minimum disability rating.
Check whether you would qualify before you spend months on paperwork — the ownership and control tests catch a lot of people, and they are structural problems that are much cheaper to fix before you file.
- 07
Payroll — only when you actually hire someone
Typically $40–80/month plus a per-employee fee
Not before. A single-member LLC taking owner draws does not need payroll software, and buying it early is money spent on a problem you do not have yet. The moment you have a W-2 employee — or you elect S-corp treatment and start paying yourself a salary — the filings get genuinely hard to do by hand and this becomes worth paying for.
Questions people actually ask
What order should I do things in?
Check your state benefits first, before you form anything, because several states waive the formation filing fee for veterans and you cannot claim it retroactively. Then form the entity, get a free EIN from the IRS, register in SAM.gov for free, open a business bank account, and only then pursue SDVOSB certification. Payroll comes when you have your first employee, not before.
What does it actually cost to start a veteran-owned business?
In Texas or Pennsylvania, a veteran can form an LLC for $0 in state fees because both waive the formation filing fee. Elsewhere expect $70 in California to $300 in Texas for non-qualifying entities. An EIN is free, SAM.gov registration is free, and SDVOSB certification is free. The genuinely unavoidable costs are your state filing fee and any recurring annual report or franchise obligation.
Do I need an LLC before I get SDVOSB certified?
No. Certification requires a small business owned and controlled by a service-disabled veteran, with no particular entity type specified. A sole proprietorship can certify. Most people choose an LLC for liability separation rather than for certification.
When do I actually need payroll software?
When you hire someone who is not you. A single-member LLC taking owner draws does not need payroll. The moment you have a W-2 employee, or you elect S-corp treatment and start paying yourself a salary, you need proper payroll because the tax filings become genuinely difficult to do by hand.