Here’s a clever teenager finding a neat micro business: iPhone apps

Jonah,

Getting a vendor’s license would be the easiest. All the other options involve forming a corporation, something you do not need and are not ready for.

In Ohio you can apply for a vendor’s license at the Secretary of State’s website: http://tax.ohio.gov/divisions/sales_and_use/license.stm

There are several types vendors licenses depending on what you sell and if you travel around selling.  I recommend the Service Vendor license.  It costs $25.

A word of warning: the State of Ohio expects micro businesses to file sales tax returns every 6 months even if you do not have any  sales. One man was fined over $100 because he did not file a sales tax return, even though he didn’t have any sales yet; he was just getting started. He managed to talk them out of the fine.

Here is where you go to file the sales tax returns.
http://tax.ohio.gov/online_services/business_taxes_sales_filing.stm

Follow up: Jonah emailed me to say this:

I was able to join the iPhone development program without having to get a vendors license… Turns out if you sign up as a individual, you don’t need to provide any info.

That’s great, but Jonah may still need a vendor’s license and may need to collect sales tax on the sale of his apps.  It depends on the rules of his state and whether he sells to the final user. Jonah will only collect sales tax if he sells to the final purchaser. If Jonah is a wholesaler and sells to a company (like Apple) that resells his app, Jonah is not responsible for sales tax; the reseller is responsible for collecting sale tax.