Social worker building small AI tools for homelessness. Still figuring out what works.
Honolulu
Joined November 2020
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Vending at a holiday craft fair next month, no GET license yet? Start now, and do the BB-1 online through HITAX. Online, your Hawaii tax ID comes in about 5 to 7 days. Paper by mail or drop-off runs 4 to 6 weeks. Same one-time $20 either way.
October's G-45 is due Nov 20 if you file GET monthly. Not end of month. Hawaii runs on the 20th after the period closes. Quarterly filers, Oct through Dec lands Jan 20, right after the holiday rush. Easy one to miss.
A closed GET license in Hawaii stays closed. No reactivating it. So if your food stand or pop-up is just going quiet for a season, think before you close it. Coming back means a fresh BB-1 and another $20. Call DOTAX first if you plan to reopen.
Monthly G-45s aren't the whole job. Hawaii GET also wants a G-49, the annual return that squares up the year. Calendar-year filers, it's due April 20. Late, and it's 5% a month on any unpaid tax, up to 25%. Worth a calendar note now, before year-end gets busy.
Setting up tax in Square? Hawaii has no sales tax, so you're naming it GET yourself. Most you can pass on is 4.712%. Every county, Maui too since 2024. Not 4.5. The extra covers tax on the tax you collect. Passing it on is optional, but if you show it, don't go over.
Doing your G-45 off the bank deposits? Those come up short. Square pulls its fee before the money lands, but Hawaii taxes the gross. Card fees don't come off. And the GET you added at the register counts as income too. Pull gross sales from Square's sales summary instead.
Mainland supplier didn't charge Hawaii tax on that new fryer? You still owe it. That's use tax, 4.5% with the county surcharge, on stuff the shop uses itself. Inventory you resell retail is 0.5%. Goes on the same G-45 as your sales.
Ten feet in the gym. Twelve feet to the bathroom, plus a rug. Almost every care plan meeting I sit in.
🤖 Made with AI
That trade name you registered with BREG for the shop? It runs out after five years. And they don't mail a reminder. Look up your date on Business Name Search, renew in the six months before it lapses, $50. Let it expire and anyone can register the name.
BREG's fourth-quarter annual reports are open. If your LLC or corp was registered Oct through Dec, yours is due Dec 31. $12.50 online through Hawaii Business Express. Registered this year, you skip it. Mailers pushing a filing service? BREG doesn't use any third party for these.
Howard County’s CES: the CE Manager owns the By-Name List; clients update assessment every 90 days to stay active; the school system is listed as a housing-assessment access path. A school ID of homelessness only becomes a housing path if someone owns the liaison → CE handoff — and the 90-day refresh so the name stays live.
Orange County’s CES P&Ps (CoC Board Oct 22, 2025): Housing Providers notify openings in HMIS by Friday 12pm PT for the next week’s Match Meeting; Access Points must refresh Current Living Situation at least every 90 days or the household drops from housing referrals. “Open” and “funded” are late if nobody owned Friday vacancy notify and the weekly Match Meeting — and document-ready still has to mean the same thing to Access Point and Housing Provider.
Selling to another shop that resells it? That's wholesale. GET on it is 0.5%, not 4.5. Get a signed G-17 resale certificate from the buyer and keep it on file. No certificate and the state can bill you the full rate.
Workers' comp covers the job. Hawaii also makes you carry TDI for when someone gets hurt or sick off the clock, pregnancy included. Statutory plan pays 58% of wages from day eight, up to 26 weeks. You can split the premium, but staff's share caps at 0.5% of weekly wages.
A state contract of $2,500 or more needs proof you're current with taxes, labor and DCCA. At award and again before final payment. One Hawaii Compliance Express certificate covers it, $12 a year. Now it wants your IRS Tax Compliance Report. Free download. Sort it before you bid.
Part-timers count for health coverage out here. 20+ hours a week, about $1,387 a month in pay, four straight weeks, and Hawaii's Prepaid Health Care law says you provide a plan. Someone's on a spouse's plan? Get a signed HC-5 from them. Every calendar year, not once.