§ 14-33. License requirement.

(a)

Every person shall apply for a license for each business or profession when engaging in a business in the county if (i) the person has a definite place of business in the county; (ii) there is no definite place of business anywhere and the person resides in the county; or (iii) there is no definite place of business in the county but the person operates amusement machines or is classified as an itinerant merchant, peddler, carnival, circus, contractor subject to Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3715, or public service corporation. A separate license shall be required for each definite place of business and for each business. A person engaged in two or more businesses or professions carried on at the same place of business may elect to obtain one license for all such businesses and professions if all of the following criteria are satisfied:

(1)

Each business or profession is subject to licensure at the location and has satisfied any requirements imposed by state law or other provisions of the ordinances of the county;

(2)

All of the businesses or professions are subject to the same tax rate, or, if subject to different tax rates, the licensee agrees to be taxed on all businesses and professions at the highest rate; and

(3)

The taxpayer agrees to supply such information as the assessor may require concerning the nature of the several businesses and their gross receipts.

(b)

Each person subject to a license tax shall apply for a license prior to beginning business if he was not subject to licensure in the county on or before January 1 of the license year, or no later than March 1 of the license year if he had been issued a license for the preceding year. The application shall be on forms prescribed by the assessing official.

(c)

The tax shall be paid with the application in the case of any license not based on gross receipts. If the tax is measured by the gross receipts of the business, the tax shall be paid on or before March 1 or a later date, including installment payment dates, or 30 or more days after beginning business, at the county's option.

(d)

The assessing official may grant an extension of time in which to file an application for a license, for reasonable cause. The extension may be conditioned upon the timely payment of a reasonable estimate of the appropriate tax; the tax is then subject to adjustment to the correct tax at the end of the extension, together with interest from the due date until the date paid and, if the estimate submitted with the extension is found to be unreasonable under the circumstances, with a penalty of ten percent of the portion paid after the due date.

(e)

A penalty of ten percent of the tax may be imposed upon the failure to file an application or the failure to pay the tax by the appropriate due date. Only the late filing penalty shall be imposed by the assessing official if both the application and payment are late; however, both penalties may be assessed if the assessing official determines that the taxpayer has a history of noncompliance. In the case of an assessment of additional tax made by the assessing official, if the application and, if applicable, the return were made in good faith and the understatement of the tax was not due to any fraud, reckless or intentional disregard of the law by the taxpayer, there shall be no late payment penalty assessed with the additional tax. If any assessment of tax by the assessing official is not paid within 30 days, the treasurer or other collecting official may impose a ten-percent late payment penalty. If the failure to file or pay was not the fault of the taxpayer, the penalties shall not be imposed or, if imposed, shall be abated by the official who assessed them. In order to demonstrate lack of fault, the taxpayer must show that he acted responsibly and that the failure was due to events beyond his control. As used in this subsection, the term "acted responsibly" means that: (i) the taxpayer exercised the level of reasonable care that a prudent person would exercise under the circumstances in determining the filing obligations for the business and (ii) the taxpayer undertook significant steps to avoid or mitigate the failure, such as requesting appropriate extensions where applicable, attempting to prevent a foreseeable impediment, acting to remove an impediment once it occurred, and promptly rectifying a failure once the impediment was removed or the failure discovered. The term "events beyond the taxpayer's control" include but are not limited to the unavailability of records due to fire or other casualty; the unavoidable absence (e.g., due to death or serious illness) of the person with the sole responsibility for tax compliance; or the taxpayer's reasonable reliance in good faith upon erroneous written information from the assessing official who was aware of the relevant facts relating to the taxpayer's business when he provided the erroneous information.

(f)

Interest shall be charged on the late payment of the tax from the due date until the date paid without regard to fault or other reason for the late payment. Whenever an assessment of additional or omitted tax by the assessing official is found to be erroneous, all interest and any penalties charged and collected on the amount of the assessment found to be erroneous shall be refunded together with interest on the refund from the date of payment or the due date, whichever is later. Interest shall be paid on the refund of any BPOL tax from the date of payment or due date, whichever is later, whether attributable to an amended return or other reason. Interest on any refund shall be paid at the same rate charged under Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3916. No interest shall accrue on an adjustment of estimated tax liability to actual liability at the conclusion of a base year. No interest shall be paid on a refund or charged on a late payment, provided the refund or the late payment is made not more than 30 days from the date of the payment that created the refund or the due date of the tax, whichever is later.

(g)

If any person ceases to engage in a business, profession, trade or occupation in the county during the year for which a license tax has been paid, such person shall be entitled, upon application, to a refund for that portion of the license tax already paid, prorated on a monthly basis so that the tax shall be paid only for that fraction of the year during which business was actually conducted. Refunds shall be processed in the same manner as other refunds of local taxes. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, no refund shall be made of any minimum flat tax or of any other flat license fee not based on gross receipts. Interest on any refund shall be paid at the rate of ten percent per year.

(h)

No license fee or license tax shall be imposed on the following:

(1)

On or measured by receipts of a charitable nonprofit organization, except to the extent the organization has receipts from an unrelated trade or business, the income of which is taxable under Internal Revenue Code section 511 et seq. For the purpose of this subsection, the term "charitable nonprofit organization" means an organization which is described in Internal Revenue Code section 170, except that education institutions shall be limited to school, colleges and other similar institutions of learning.

(2)

On or measured by gifts, contributions, and membership dues of a nonprofit organization. Activities conducted for consideration which are similar to activities conducted for consideration by for-profit businesses shall be presumed to be activities that are part of a business subject to licensure. For the purpose of this subsection, the term "nonprofit organization" means an organization exempt from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code section 501 other than charitable nonprofit organizations.

(Code 1988, § 6.1-3)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3703.1(A)(1), (2).

(Code 1988, § 6.1-3)

State law reference

Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3703.1(A)(1), (2).