Business Licenses and Permits

County officials in Amherst County, Virginia are considering implementing a gross receipts based business license.  The county currently has a merchant’s capital tax in place to gain revenue from local businesses.  By being based on gross receipts, the new business licenses would be a more consistent way to gain revenue as the fee is based on the total revenue of the business.

The County Board will now consider the proposed business license in a future workshop session according to the News & Advance.  There has been no talk about what the tax rate may be, but County Commissioner of Revenue, Linda Byers, said the highest the rate could be is 22 cents.  Byers is hoping the County Board will make a decision soon so the change can be implemented before the end of the year.

Basing business license fees on gross receipts is common across the country.  While fees can be difficult to calculate, many local governments prefer using gross receipts to determine the fee because the fee paid is more in proportion to the size of the business.

Amy Lee, Business License Research Analyst, Corporation Service Company

Tags: business license, Virginia