Running a business in Utah? Here's what's different here.

Contractors: Utah raised the floor on your general liability

Utah licenses contractors by trade through DOPL, and since March 30, 2026 the general liability minimum has been $1 million per occurrence and $3 million aggregate (the most the policy pays in a year, all claims added up) — up from $100,000 and $300,000. It bites at renewal: if your policy still carries the old limits, DOPL won't issue or renew the license. Nearly every GC contract asks for a million anyway, so this mostly catches the smaller shops that were never asked. Send me your dec page and I'll tell you whether your limits clear it.

The $50 waiver — and the day it dies

Utah gives an owner-only business something a lot of states don't: a work comp coverage waiver from the Labor Commission, about $50, renewed every year. If you truly have no employees, it's the piece of paper a GC will accept in place of a work comp certificate, and for a sole proprietor, partnership, or corporation the statute lets him rely on it. Construction-licensed LLCs are the exception — that's two sections down. The fine print is automatic: the day you hire anyone, the waiver is void — not at renewal, that day, by law. If a helper is coming, the policy has to be in place before his first day, not after.

Hire a sub with no coverage and his crew can become yours

In Utah the liability climbs from your sub up to you. If you hire a sub who has no work comp of his own and no current waiver, his people can legally be treated as your employees when one of them gets hurt. And even when nobody gets hurt, the bill shows up at your audit: no certificate or waiver on file, and what you paid that sub gets charged as your payroll, at your rates. So the Utah rule of thumb is simple — every sub hands you a certificate or a current waiver before the first check. No exceptions, including your buddy.

1099 or W-2? How Utah actually decides →

Owners: in or out depends on how you're set up

This one surprises people, because it flips by entity. Sole proprietors and partners are out of their own work comp policy unless they choose, in writing, to be covered. Corporate officers and directors are in unless the corporation names them in writing as excluded — and when that notice goes to the Labor Commission instead of an insurance company, no more than five can be named. Construction-licensed LLCs and partnerships get an extra wrinkle, and it overrides the rule above: Utah presumes those owners need coverage themselves unless that's rebutted. Two things to take from it. Being out doesn't mean you're protected — it means the policy pays you nothing if you're the one who gets hurt, so it ought to be a decision and not a default nobody noticed. And if you changed your entity since the policy was written, ask your agent exactly who's on it today.

The work comp guide, including who's exempt →

Going without: what Utah charges

If you were supposed to carry work comp and didn't, Utah's penalty is the greater of $1,000 or three times the premium you should have paid. That's before the injury itself, which is the expensive part — with no policy behind you, the benefits are yours to pay.

Restaurants: if you pour, read this

Alcohol claims are excluded from general liability by name, and Utah law lets a lawsuit over an overserved customer reach the restaurant that served him. Liquor liability is its own line on the policy, and it's one of the first things I look for when a Utah restaurant owner sends me what they have. Send me your policy and I'll tell you what it actually says.

Restaurant insurance →

Work comp: staying put is a choice here

Some states force every business into one state-run work comp fund. Utah isn't one of them. Plenty of Utah businesses start their work comp wherever the door was open, and then nobody ever asks again. A couple of years in business and a decent claims record are usually enough to take a real look at what else is out there.

Do you have to stay where you started? →

Where I work in Utah

I'm based in South Jordan and I meet clients by appointment across the Wasatch Front — South Jordan, West Jordan, Riverton, Herriman, Draper, Sandy, Bluffdale, Salt Lake City, and Lehi. Most of it happens by text anyway: send me a photo of what you have and I'll read it and tell you what I see. Hablo español.

My Utah producer license is #646164. Don't take my word for it — the state's lookup is linked at the bottom of this page.