What qualifies a business as official/legal in the United States (federally), and in GA?

Question

I was wondering what makes a business official in the US as a whole (apart from getting a TIN).

Also, what makes it official as a whole in the state of Georgia. Say the business is internet based, but you are looking to expand it in the future and be able to accept and write checks and get a business account and what not.

Answer 1

If it isn't prohibited it's legal. You may want to go to the court house and check about licenses and registering a trade name, or you can just forget about that and they probably won't catch you. If they do, it's just like paying a traffic ticket.