shopify store, sell home goods. based in IL. sales nationwide. starting to hit the sales tax economic nexus thresholds. do i need to register and collect/remit in each state? do i also need a "business license" in each state?
sales tax registration: yes for any state where you exceed economic nexus thresholds (typically $100k or 200 transactions). no general "business license" required just to sell into a state — local licensing is for physical operations.
shopify + taxjar/avalara handles the registrations and filings for ~$50/month. cheap insurance.
also: home rule cities (chicago, NYC, etc) have their own sales tax on top of state. additional registration there if you ship into them frequently.
if you have inventory in fulfillment centers (FBA, etc), that creates physical nexus. that's a separate trigger from economic nexus and applies even at low sales volume.