There is no minimum age to start a business in California. A 10-year-old can sell handmade jewelry at a farmers’ market and a 16-year-old can run an online store. The real question behind how old you have to be to start a business in California is not age itself but legal capacity: anyone under 18 is a minor with limited power to sign contracts, and that limit shapes what you can and cannot do without adult help.
Why Being Under 18 Gets in the Way
California law lets a minor enter into contracts the same way an adult does, with one important exception: the minor can back out of almost any contract before turning 18 or within a reasonable time afterward.1California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 6710 The power runs one way. The adult on the other side stays bound. Landlords, banks, and suppliers know this, and most won’t sign an agreement someone can legally walk away from.
California also flatly restricts certain contracts involving minors. A minor cannot make a contract involving real property, or personal property that isn’t already in their possession or control.2California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 6700-6701 That alone rules out signing a commercial lease or buying inventory on credit.
What a Minor Cannot Do Alone
The contract rules translate into a set of practical blocks that touch most of the formal side of running a business:
- Business bank accounts. Most banks won’t open one for someone under 18 without an adult co-signer.
- Commercial leases. State law bars minors from real property contracts, so signing a storefront or office lease on your own isn’t an option.
- Loans and credit. No lender will extend money against a promise the borrower can revoke.
- Payment processors. Platforms set their own age floors. Stripe, for example, allows users as young as 13 but requires a legal guardian to be the account owner before the account can receive payments or transfer funds to a bank.3Stripe. Age Requirement to Create a Stripe Account
- Business insurance. Insurers generally expect the policyholder to have full legal capacity, so a minor usually needs an adult to hold the policy.
What You Can Do on Your Own
Plenty of the early work in a business doesn’t require signing a binding contract, and several steps are open to you at any age.
Self-Employment Without a Work Permit
California requires most working minors to get a work permit, but self-employed minors are exempt.4California Department of Industrial Relations. Child Labor Laws If you’re running your own business rather than working for someone else, no permit is needed. Self-employed minors are still barred from hazardous occupations.
Getting an EIN
The IRS sets no minimum age to apply for an Employer Identification Number. If your business needs one for tax purposes or to open a bank account, you can apply. The application asks for a “responsible party” who is an individual, and nothing in the IRS instructions limits that to adults.
Owning Copyrights
If your business involves creative work, you can register a federal copyright in your own name. The U.S. Copyright Office issues registrations to minors and places no age restriction on ownership.5U.S. Copyright Office. Who Can Register California law may still regulate deals involving those copyrights, but the underlying property is yours.
Bringing In a Parent or Guardian
The usual path for a young entrepreneur is having a parent or guardian handle the paperwork that requires full legal capacity. You still run the business day to day.
Co-Signing
A parent or guardian can co-sign bank account agreements, commercial leases, and loan documents. The adult takes on legal responsibility for those contracts, which removes the risk the other side faces from dealing with a minor.
A General Partnership
You can form a general partnership with an adult who signs the contracts and manages the formal obligations. You share ownership and profits. The catch is that general partners share unlimited personal liability, so both of you are on the hook for business debts.
Setting Up an LLC
An LLC offers more protection. California’s LLC statute doesn’t explicitly bar minors from being members or organizers, but the organizer signs the Articles of Organization, and that signature is itself a contract that a minor could later void.1California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 6710 The safer route is to have an adult act as organizer and sign the formation documents while you remain a member and co-owner.
Taxes Apply at Any Age
Your age has no effect on your tax obligations. If your net self-employment earnings reach $400 in a year, you must file a federal return.6Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501 – Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information That threshold is lower than most people expect, and small teenage side businesses cross it routinely.
Self-employment income also triggers self-employment tax at a combined 15.3% for Social Security and Medicare, and the IRS applies these rules regardless of age.7Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax – Social Security and Medicare Taxes Being claimed as a dependent on a parent’s return doesn’t shift this liability. You owe it yourself on Schedule SE. This is where a lot of young entrepreneurs get caught, sometimes after they’ve already spent everything they earned.
Emancipation as the Full-Independence Option
If you want to run every part of the business yourself, legal emancipation is the most complete solution and also the most demanding. It’s a court process that gives a minor many of the legal rights of an adult.
To petition for emancipation in California, you must be at least 14, live separately from your parents with their consent, manage your own finances with a completed income-and-expense declaration, and earn income from a lawful source. The court grants the petition only if these conditions are met and emancipation would serve your best interest.8California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 7122
An emancipated minor is treated as an adult for entering binding contracts, buying and selling property, suing and being sued, and applying for a work permit without parental consent.9California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 7050 You can sign your own lease, open a business bank account, and file for permits on your own.
The tradeoff is real. Parents are no longer legally obligated to support you financially, and California Courts’ self-help materials note that emancipated minors are still not legal adults for every purpose; some laws that apply to children still apply.10California Courts. Emancipation in California You also can’t undo it if the business fails. For most teenage entrepreneurs, bringing a parent into the paperwork is far simpler than seeking emancipation just to run a company.