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New Business Services Offered by State of Hawaii - 10/12/2004

Hawaii has new online registration service for business

The Hawaii state government has launched a new online business service that allows business registration without multiple visits to different departments, even in cyberspace.

"The new service will enable people to start a new business in a single, online session, instead of having to apply separately with three different state departments and with the Internal Revenue Service," the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs said Monday.

The state government boasted in announcing the service that it would put Hawaii "at the forefront nationally" of online registration services for the business community. Gov. Linda Lingle said the service replaces standing in line at four separate state and federal departments.

"We've been working to make Hawaii a more business-friendly state and to reduce the cost of doing business in Hawaii," Lingle said. "We continue to make great strides toward those twin goals."

The service also discounts some filing fees 25 percent to 50 percent.

"More than half of all new companies created in Hawaii already register with DCCA through the Internet," the governor said. "This new system takes Hawaii to another level of sophistication by allowing a business owner to also apply for identification numbers from the state departments of Taxation and Labor and Industrial Relations, and from the IRS, in a single, online session."

Hawaii Business Express allows registration of a business name or trade name with DCCA, application for a state general excise tax license and an employee income tax withholding number from the Department of Taxation, and application for an unemployment insurance identification number from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Then it links directly to the IRS online system to quickly get a Federal employer identification number as soon as their state registrations are complete.

"Hawaii Business Express is a major leap forward toward a more streamlined government, with better service and less paperwork for the benefit of Hawaii's new businesses," DCCA Director Mark Recktenwald said.

The portal also permits a live chat session with a live human at the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism's Business Action Center. It reaches an actual person 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on state work days.

Hawaii Business Express: www.ehawaii.gov/bizex