{"id":36179,"date":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/uncategorized\/what-is-a-small-business.html"},"modified":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","modified_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","slug":"what-is-a-small-business","status":"publish","type":"corporate","link":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/law-library\/what-is-a-small-business.html","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Small Business?"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline\">\n    <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-content\">\n                    <p><em>This article was edited and reviewed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team.html\" rel=\"noopener\">FindLaw Attorney Writers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n                | Last reviewed\n        <time>\n                            May 07, 2026\n                    <\/time>\n    <\/div>\n\n    \n    <details class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle fl-gutenberg-byline-legally-reviewed\">\n        <summary>\n            <i class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n            Legally Reviewed\n        <\/summary>\n\n        <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle-content\">\n            <p><em>This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team.html\" rel=\"noopener\">FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/company-history\/editorial-policy.html\" rel=\"noopener\">our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/details>\n\n    <details class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle fl-gutenberg-byline-fast-checked\">\n        <summary>\n            <i class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n            Fact-Checked\n        <\/summary>\n\n        <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle-content\">\n            <p><em>The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team\/contributing-authors.html\" rel=\"noopener\">contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please <a href=\"https:\/\/lawyers.findlaw.com\/?fli=bylinelink\" rel=\"noopener\">contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/details>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rxbodyfield\" xmlns:o=\"urn:www.microsoft.com\/office\" xmlns:st1=\"urn:www.microsoft.com\/smarttags\" xmlns:w=\"urn:www.microsoft.com\/word\" xmlns:x=\"urn:www.microsoft.com\/excel\"><p><font size=\"2\"\/><\/p><div style=\"margin-left: 2em\"><font size=\"2\"><font color=\"green\">We must get a little bit &quot;legal&quot; with you here because it is important that you be able to determine if you qualify as a small business for purposes of loans, etc. Bear with us&#8230;<\/font><\/font><p><font size=\"2\">The following is extracted from &quot;THE SBA ACT&quot; &#8211; when in doubt go to the whole thing. The &quot;Administrator&quot; is mentioned a few times &#8211; for clarification, that is referring to the SBA Administrator.<\/font><\/p><p><font size=\"2\">&quot;Sec. 3(a) (1) For the purposes of this Act, a small-business concern, including but not limited to enterprises that are engaged in the business of production of food and fiber, ranching and raising of livestock, aquaculture, and all other farming and agricultural related industries, shall be deemed to be one which is independently owned and operated and which is not dominant in its field of operation: Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision of law, an agricultural enterprise shall be deemed to be a small business concern if it (including its affiliates) has annual receipts not in excess of $500,000.<\/font><\/p><p><font size=\"2\">(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sba.gov\/regulations\/siccodes\" rel=\"noopener\">SIZE STANDARDS<\/a>.&#8211;<\/font><\/p><div style=\"margin-left: 2em\"><p><font size=\"2\">(A) IN GENERAL.&#8211; In addition to the criteria specified in paragraph (1), the Administrator may specify detailed definitions or standards by which a business concern may be determined to be a small business concern for the purposes of this Act or any other Act.<\/font><\/p><p><font size=\"2\">(B) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.&#8211; The standards described in paragraph (1) may utilize number of employees, dollar volume of business, net worth, net income, a combination thereof, or other appropriate factors.<\/font><\/p><p><font size=\"2\">(C) REQUIREMENTS.&#8211;Unless specifically authorized by statute, no Federal department or agency may prescribe a size standard for categorizing a business concern as a small business concern, unless such proposed size standard&#8211;<\/font><\/p><p><font size=\"2\"\/><\/p><div style=\"margin-left: 2em\"><font size=\"2\">(i) is proposed after an opportunity for public notice and comment;<\/font><p><font size=\"2\">(ii) provides for determining&#8211;<\/font><\/p><p><font size=\"2\"\/><\/p><div style=\"margin-left: 2em\"><font size=\"2\">(I) the size of a manufacturing concern as measured by the manufacturing concern&#39;s average employment based upon employment during each of the manufacturing concern&#39;s pay periods for the preceding 12 months;<\/font><p><font size=\"2\">(II) the size of a business concern providing services on the basis of the annual average gross receipts of the business concern over a period of not less than 3 years;<\/font><\/p><p><font size=\"2\">(III) the size of other business concerns on the basis of data over a period of not less than 3 years; or<\/font><\/p><p><font size=\"2\">(IV) other appropriate factors; and<\/font><\/p><\/div><p><font size=\"2\">(iii) is approved by the Administrator.<\/font><\/p><\/div><\/div><p><font size=\"2\"\/><\/p><center><font size=\"2\">Last Modified: 11-18-97<\/font><\/center><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> We must get a little bit &#8220;legal&#8221; with you here because it is important that you be able to determine if you qualify as a small business for purposes of loans, etc. Bear with us&#8230;The following is extracted from &#8220;THE SBA ACT&#8221; &#8211; when in doubt go to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":true,"_modified_date":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"corporate_categories":[6508,6497],"class_list":["post-36179","corporate","type-corporate","status-publish","hentry","corporate_categories-law-library__government-law","corporate_categories-law-library"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate\/36179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/corporate"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"corporate_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate_categories?post=36179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}