Philadelphia license requirements

[Sudhir N.]

I live in California and my friend lives in the Philly area. We recently got together to buy a 3 unit new construction residential property in Philadelphia. The title will be held in 4 names (the two of us and our better halves) and so will be the mortgage. There is no LLC or any other business structure involved. I have been scratching my head trying to decipher the various Philadelphia requirements. Based on a certain understanding, my friend and I went ahead and created a Business Tax Account Number online listing my friend as an entity and the remaining 3 people as partners / officers. The process was simple and we got the ID by email. We are now second guessing if we should have created 2 IDs one per couple. The questions are,

1. Is one Business Tax Account ID covering all the 4 the right step?

2. Is one commercial activity license sufficient? I am reading on some forums that each owner should apply separately

Please help. Thanks.

[Sudhir N.]

Hi Tim,

My question is on the logistical part of applying for licenses. While framing the question quite possibly I set the context incorrectly. My friend and I (and our spouses) do have a General Partnership established. Since I posted the question I have found answers to my questions. This is what I have done to this point (posting for the potential benefit of others or feedback)

--Established a General Partnership

--Applied for federal EIN for the Partnership

--Used the EIN and General Partnership info to apply for Philadelphia Business Tax Account Number

--Used the Tax Number to apply for Commercial Activity License (just one license representing the Partnership). In fact the online form for CAL asks for EIN and Tax Account Number

--Applied for Rental License using the CAL and Business Tax Account Number

In effect, the business tax account number bearing all the four names of the partners along with EIN tie everything together for local, state and federal tax purposes. I think I have done it right. That said I am going to run it by a CPA for confirmation.