How to start a lawn care business in Nebraska
Nebraska has no state licence to mow a lawn for money. It does licence anyone who applies lawn pesticides for hire, general-use product included, and that catches most operators the first time they sell a weed treatment. Mowing is not a taxable service here; grub control is. The rest, in order, is below.
Every figure below was verified against the agency or statute that publishes it on September 8, 2026. Sources are listed at the foot of the page.
| State licence to mow | None. The Department of Labor's list of licensed occupations contains no lawn care or landscaping credential, and the Secretary of State states there is no general business licence in Nebraska. source |
| Licence to spray for hire | Required, including for general-use product. Commercial applicator licence, Category 04 Ornamental and Turf. source |
| Applicator licence fee | $90 for a three-year term. No extra fee per category. source |
| LLC filing fee | $100 online, $110 in office. Certificate of Organization, reviewed in 1 to 2 business days. source |
| LLC publication | Notice published three successive weeks in a legal newspaper near the designated office, then $25 online or $30 in office to file the proof. source |
| Sales tax on mowing | Not taxable. Mowing, trimming, aeration, raking, dethatching and snow removal are exempt services. source |
| Sales tax on pest control | Taxable. 7.0% total in Omaha, 7.25% in Lincoln, on the 5.5% state rate plus local. source |
| Workers' compensation | Required from the first employee. Owners are not required to cover themselves and may elect in, in writing. source |
| USDOT number | Required for intrastate operation over 10,000 lbs gross combination weight, before operations begin. No CDL until 26,001 lbs. source |
| Contractor registration | $40 a year, and it turns on construction work, not mowing. Hardscape, irrigation and drainage installation are the parts of a landscape business that reach it. source |
Fees and thresholds change, and some of these changed this year. Each row points at the office that publishes the current answer. CrewPlaybook does not give legal advice and is not a law firm; where a decision turns on your specific facts, an attorney licensed in Nebraska is the right call.
What to do, in order
- 1
Register the entity with the Secretary of State
A Certificate of Organization for an LLC is $100 filed online, $110 in office, and the filing office acts on electronic submissions within one to two business days. Nebraska has no form number; the form is identified by name. A sole proprietor operating under anything other than their own name registers a trade name instead, at the same $100 and $110.
- 2
Publish the notice, which Nebraska still requires
Nebraska is one of the few states that still requires new LLCs to publish. The notice runs three successive weeks in a legal newspaper of general circulation near the designated office, and the proof of publication is then filed with the Secretary of State for $25 online or $30 in office. The newspaper sets its own rate for the notice itself. A trade name follows a different rule: published once, in the city or village where the business sits, with the proof filed free within forty-five days or the registration is cancelled.
- 3
Name a registered agent and keep a Nebraska office
An LLC must continuously maintain a designated office in Nebraska and an agent for service of process. The agent must be a Nebraska resident or an entity authorised to transact business here, so an owner living in the state can be their own agent. Losing the agent leads to administrative dissolution.
- 4
Get the EIN, then register for tax
The EIN is free from the IRS and usually issued the same day online. Nebraska tax registration is the Nebraska Tax Application, Form 20, revised June 2026, and the form states no application fee. Register before the first taxable sale, which for a lawn business usually means the first pest control job rather than the first mow.
- 5
Get the applicator licence before you sell a spray
Nebraska law reaches anyone who uses lawn care general-use pesticides on another person's property for hire, regardless of whether any restricted-use pesticide is involved. The licence is $90 for three years and covers all categories the holder tests into; Category 04 is Ornamental and Turf. The exam is General Standards plus at least one category, passing at 70%, free at Department of Agriculture sessions or $55 per exam at Pearson VUE. A person aged 16 or over may apply under the direct supervision of a licensed applicator, and there is a one-time 60 day window for a new employee if the employer files within ten days of the first application.
- 6
Sort insurance in the right order
Workers' compensation applies to an employer with one or more employees in the regular trade or business, which means the first hire, not the fifth. Owners are outside it unless they elect in, in writing, filed with the insurer. Willful failure is a Class I misdemeanour, carries civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation with each day a separate violation, and exposes members personally. Nebraska does not require general liability insurance to run a lawn business, and does not require it for the applicator licence either; commercial and HOA contracts are what require it in practice.
- 7
Check the truck and trailer against 10,000 lbs, not 26,000
Nebraska applies the federal motor carrier rules to intrastate carriers over 10,000 lbs gross combination weight, which a three-quarter ton truck and a loaded landscape trailer will normally exceed. That means a USDOT number obtained before operations begin, the number displayed on both sides, driver qualification files, medical cards, Nebraska intrastate hours of service and annual inspections. It does not mean a CDL, which starts at 26,001 lbs, and it does not mean apportioned plates for a carrier operating only in Nebraska.
Nebraska State Patrol, Nebraska Truck Information Guide 2025-2026
- 8
Price off the burdened rate before quoting anything
Take a wage and add payroll tax, workers' compensation at the class code for the work, insurance, the truck and the hours nobody pays you for. What comes out is the number every quote has to beat. Landscaping and lawn maintenance carry a very different comp rate from tree work, which is one reason the arborist side of the business is priced separately.
The pricing step is the one most people skip. The burdened-rate calculator is free, runs in your browser, and tells you the number you have to beat on every quote.
Mowing is not taxable in Nebraska. Grub control is.
Nebraska taxes some services and not others, and lawn work falls on both sides of the line. The Department of Revenue's guide for landscapers is the document that settles it, and the split is not intuitive: fertilising and weed control are exempt, while insect control is taxable pest control.
Not taxable
- Mowing, trimming and edging
- Aeration, dethatching and raking
- Applying fertilizer to live plants
- Applying weed control to live plants
- Tree trimming
- Snow removal and de-icing
- Sprinkler winterization and blowout
Taxable
- Grub, bag worm and other insect control
- Deer, rabbit and other animal control
- Gutter cleaning and power washing of siding
- Selling live plants, planted or not
- Installing live plants, even customer-supplied
- Mulch and landscape fabric installed with planting
- Low voltage and solar landscape lighting
The itemization trap, which is worth real money
A single application containing both pest control chemicals and other chemicals is taxable in full. The same logic runs through a season program: the Department's own worked example takes a five step lawn program that includes grub control and, when the invoice shows one lump sum, taxes the entire amount. Itemized, only the grub control line is taxed. On a $400 program with $100 of grub control, that is tax on $400 against tax on $100. The invoice format decides it, not the work.
Nebraska Sales and Use Tax Guide for Landscapers (rev. Nov 2022)
What most sources get wrong about Nebraska
These are the points where the widely repeated answer is out of date or borrowed from another state. Each one is checked against the primary source.
Contractor registration is $40, not $25. The Department of Labor raised the application and renewal fee effective 1 August 2026. Most pages still quote the old $25, including the state's own older report. The registration turns on construction work, so mowing and spraying sit outside it, while retaining walls, irrigation and drainage installation generally reach it.
Nebraska Department of Labor, contractor registration fee effective 1 Aug 2026
The intrastate USDOT threshold is 10,000 lbs, not 26,001. Nebraska statute applies the motor carrier regulations to intrastate vehicles over ten thousand pounds, and the State Patrol's own truck guide says the same thing in plain words. Compliance sites routinely publish 26,001, which is the CDL threshold, not the USDOT one. The gap between those two numbers is where most lawn care rigs sit.
Nebraska State Patrol, Nebraska Truck Information Guide 2025-2026
There is no deadline on the LLC proof of publication, and it is not free. The forty-five day deadline that appears on most sites is the trade name rule, not the LLC rule, and the two are genuinely different statutes. The LLC statute sets no deadline and expressly validates prior acts once publication and filing happen. Filing that proof costs $25 online or $30 in office. The free proof of publication is the trade name one.
Nebraska does not require insurance for the applicator licence. A figure of $100,000 / $100,000 / $300,000 circulates as a Nebraska requirement for commercial pesticide applicators. The Pesticide Act contains no insurance, bond or financial responsibility requirement, and neither do the Department of Agriculture's pesticide regulations. It appears to be borrowed from another state.
Local chemical ordinances are preempted. Nebraska preempts local regulation of both pesticides and fertilizer, so an operator working across several towns is not managing a city by city chemical patchwork. Tree work is the opposite, and is regulated city by city.
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 2-2625, local preemption of pesticide regulation
City rules
Omaha
| Business licence | None. The city's own business portal states there is no business licence requirement with the City of Omaha. |
| Occupation tax on lawn care | None. The occupation tax schedule covers arborists, plumbers, house movers and others, and does not list lawn care or landscaping. |
| Arborist licence | Required to do tree work for hire. First class $150, second and third class $75, exam $20, employee of a certified firm $50. Three year term. First and third class require the state applicator certificate, and firms file a liability policy with the city forester. |
| Mowing hours | Normal property maintenance noise is exempt between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Outside that window a 55 dBA limit applies at a residential property line, which no commercial mower meets. |
| Trailer parking | A trailer may not be parked on the street unless attached to a vehicle suitable for towing it, at all times, with no size threshold. |
Lincoln
| Business licence | None. The occupation taxes are vending machines, telecommunications and theaters, and there is no general business licence chapter. |
| Arborist certificate | Required for trimming, pruning, tree surgery or removing any tree for hire. $35 exam, $35 a year. All work must be under the personal supervision of a certificate holder who is present, and the city requires workers' compensation plus $500,000 combined single limit liability on file. |
| Irrigation installation | Anyone installing an irrigation system anywhere other than their own residence is an irrigation system contractor and needs a permit. The backflow preventer permit issues only to a registered master plumber contractor, who must be named on the application. Installing without a permit doubles the fee. |
| Door to door sales | Canvassing for signups is peddling under the city code, which reaches offering to perform services and taking orders for future work. Application, photograph, fingerprints, police investigation and a $25 nonrefundable fee, with no calls before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. |
| Clippings | Discharging gathered yard waste into the storm drainage system, which includes streets, curbs and gutters, is prohibited. Blowing clippings into the street is a code violation. |
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a licence to mow lawns in Nebraska?+
No. Nebraska has no state occupational licence for mowing or general lawn maintenance, and the Secretary of State states there is no general business licence in Nebraska. Neither Omaha nor Lincoln licenses lawn care either. The licence people run into is the pesticide applicator licence, which applies the moment you apply lawn chemicals on someone else's property for money.
Do you need a pesticide licence to spray weeds for customers in Nebraska?+
Yes. Nebraska requires a commercial applicator licence for anyone who uses lawn care general-use pesticides on another person's property for hire, regardless of whether any restricted-use pesticide is involved. Most states only licence restricted-use product, so operators moving here or reading national advice get this wrong. The licence is $90 for a three-year term, and Category 04 is Ornamental and Turf.
Is lawn mowing taxable in Nebraska?+
No. The Department of Revenue's landscaper guide lists mowing, tree trimming, fertilizer and weed control application, aeration, raking, dethatching and snow removal as exempt services. Pest control is taxable, and so are sales and installation of live plants. If a single invoice mixes a taxable line into an unitemized program price, the whole invoice becomes taxable.
Does a lawn care business need a USDOT number in Nebraska?+
Over 10,000 lbs gross combination weight, yes, even operating only inside Nebraska. Nebraska applies the federal motor carrier regulations to intrastate carriers above that weight, and the State Patrol's truck guide says a DOT number is needed for any vehicle or combination over 10,000 lbs used in the furtherance of business. A three-quarter ton truck with a loaded landscape trailer normally exceeds it. A CDL is separate and starts at 26,001 lbs.
When does a Nebraska lawn care business need workers' compensation?+
From the first employee. The Workers' Compensation Act applies to every resident employer who employs one or more employees in the regular trade or business, and the agricultural exemption does not reach a company selling mowing to the public. Owners are not required to cover themselves and may elect in, in writing, filed with the insurer.
How much does it cost to register a lawn care LLC in Nebraska?+
$100 online or $110 in office for the Certificate of Organization, plus the newspaper's own charge for three weeks of published notice, plus $25 online or $30 in office to file the proof of publication. The biennial report is $30 on paper, due in odd-numbered years between 1 January and 1 April and delinquent after 15 June.
Sources, checked September 8, 2026
- Nebraska Secretary of State, new business information
- Nebraska Secretary of State, forms and fee information
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 21-193, publication of notice
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 21-113, designated office and agent
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 2-2638, commercial applicator licence
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 2-2625, local preemption of pesticide regulation
- Nebraska Department of Agriculture, pesticide certification
- Nebraska Department of Agriculture, reciprocal licences
- Nebraska Sales and Use Tax Guide for Landscapers (rev. Nov 2022)
- Nebraska Department of Revenue, sales tax rate schedule
- Nebraska Tax Application, Form 20 (rev. June 2026)
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-106, employers subject to the act
- Nebraska Department of Labor, contractor registration fee effective 1 Aug 2026
- Nebraska State Patrol, Nebraska Truck Information Guide 2025-2026
- Omaha Municipal Code, and the City of Omaha ONEBiz portal
- Lincoln Municipal Code
The version written for your company
This page is the Nebraska road in general. CrewPlaybook writes the whole pack for your trade, your state and your numbers: the plan, the filings in order, the pricing math, the first-hire plan. Read the example pack before you decide.