The General Assembly’s passage of the Business License Tax Standardization Act, or Act 176, in 2020 has led to an ongoing effort for cities and towns to standardize their business licensing practices to the state requirements.
With the technical aspects of business licensing now a greater topic of discussion than ever before, the Municipal Association has updated and expanded its webpage gathering together all of its business licensing resources, found online.
Here are some of the page’s offerings:
- An explanation of state law – This includes the full text of Act 176 and a one-page summary of it.
- The Association’s primary training and guidance resources – Municipal staff throughout the state take advantage of the meetings and networking of the SC Business Licensing Officials Association as well as the courses of the BLOA Training Institute. The Business License Handbook is a reference for every aspect of the process, and serves as the text for the Training Institute.
- Update schedules for the model business license ordinance, the class schedule and North American Industry Classification codes – Act 176 requires regular updates of all of these.
- Sample documents – This includes an appeals and assessment process, notices of assessment and appeal, and the standard business license application.
- Training videos for the Local Business License Renewal Center – Act 176 requires local jurisdictions to use this online renewal portal.
- Resources for businesses – This includes frequently asked questions as well as list of those cities and counties that require a business license.
Local Revenue Services offers regular “Business Licensing Essentials” virtual training sessions for local officials to learn licensing practices and ask questions. Learn more and find recordings from previous sessions online.