For years, cities and towns across the state have worked to standardize business license processes to help make private investment in their communities easier and to demonstrate a commitment to business-friendly practices.
Business license taxes currently make up a significant part of municipal revenues — on average from 25% to 50% of a city or town's revenue.
Standardizing business licensing makes it easier for businesses to do business in multiple cities and towns, and there are several practices cities and towns can adopt in order to help:
- Accept the Municipal Association's standardized business license application, rather than only the city's application. The Association's standardized application is written to meet the needs of every city and town, and more than 100 municipalities are now accepting it.
- Adopt the Association's model business license ordinance, which includes the new 2019 class schedule. The class schedule is based on the most recent IRS data, which categorizes businesses by profitability.
- Calculate business license taxes based either on a business' gross income from the previous calendar year, or a business' previous fiscal year, if applicable.
- Issue business licenses on the standard license year of May 1 – April 30.
Learn more about business license taxes and find the standardized business license application, model ordinance and Business License Handbook online.