[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Colonial Heights: Art. I, 12-10-1996 by Ord. No. 96-23.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Taxation — See Ch. 258.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also provided for the repeal of former Ch. 186, Licenses, Article I, Business, Professional and Occupational License Taxes, adopted 11-10-1981 by Ord. No. 81-46, and provided an effective date of 1-1-1997.
[Adopted 12-10-1996 by Ord. No. 96-23]
Except as may be otherwise provided by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and notwithstanding any other current ordinances or resolutions enacted by the Council of the City of Colonial Heights, whether or not compiled in the Code of the City of Colonial Heights (1993), as amended, to the extent of any conflict, the following provisions shall be applicable to the levy, assessment and collection of licenses required and taxes imposed on businesses, trades, professions and callings and upon the persons, firms and corporations engaged therein in the City of Colonial Heights.
For the purposes of this article, unless otherwise required by the context, the following words and terms are defined as follows:
AFFILIATED GROUP
A. 
One or more chains of includable corporations connected through stock ownership with a common parent corporation which is an includable corporation if stock possessing at least 80% of the voting power of all classes of stock and at least 80% of each class of the nonvoting stock of each of the includable corporations, except the common parent corporation, is owned directly by one or more of the other includable corporations; and the common parent corporation directly owns stock possessing at least 80% of the voting power of all classes of stock and at least 80% of each class of the nonvoting stock of at least one of the other includable corporations. As used in this subsection, the term "stock" does not include nonvoting stock which is limited and preferred as to dividends. The term "includable corporation" means any corporation within the affiliated group irrespective of the state or country of its incorporation; and the term "receipts" includes gross receipts and gross income.
B. 
Two or more corporations if five or fewer persons who are individuals, estates or trusts own stock possessing at least 80% of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock entitled to vote or at least 80% of the total value of shares of all classes of the stock of each corporation; and more than 50% of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock entitled to vote or more than 50% of the total value of shares of all classes of stock of each corporation, taking into account the stock ownership of each such person only to the extent such stock ownership is identical with respect to each such corporation. When one or more of the includable corporations, including the common parent corporation, is a nonstock corporation, the term "stock" as used in this subsection shall refer to the nonstock corporation membership or membership voting rights, as is appropriate to the context.
ASSESSING OFFICIAL
The Commissioner of Revenue and, for the purposes of § 187-6 herein, the Commissioner of Revenue or Director of Finance of the City of Colonial Heights.
ASSESSMENT
A determination as to the proper rate of tax, the measure to which the tax rate is applied and ultimately the amount of tax, including additional or omitted tax, that is due. An assessment shall include a written assessment made pursuant to notice by the assessing official or a self-assessment made by a taxpayer upon the filing of a return or otherwise not pursuant to notice. Assessments shall be deemed made by an assessing official when a written notice of assessment is delivered to the taxpayer by the assessing official or an employee of the assessing official or mailed to the taxpayer at his last known address. Self-assessments shall be deemed made when a return is filed or, if no return is required, when the tax is paid. A return filed or tax paid before the last day prescribed by ordinance for the filing or payment thereof shall be deemed to be filed or paid on the last day specified for the filing of a return or the payment of tax, as the case may be.
BASE YEAR
The calendar year preceding the license year, except for contractors subject to the provisions of the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3715.
BUSINESS
A course of dealing which requires the time, attention and labor of the person so engaged for the purpose of earning a livelihood or profit. It implies a continuous and regular course of dealing rather than an irregular or isolated transaction. A person may be engaged in more than one business. The following acts shall create a rebuttable presumption that a person is engaged in a business:
A. 
Advertising or otherwise holding oneself out to the public as being engaged in a particular business; or
B. 
Filing tax returns, schedules and documents that are required only of persons engaged in a trade or business.
CONTRACTOR
The meaning prescribed in § 58.1-3714.B of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended, whether such work is done or offered to be done by day labor, general contract or subcontract.
DEFINITE PLACE OF BUSINESS
An office or a location at which occurs a regular and continuous course of dealing for 30 consecutive days or more. A definite place of business for a person engaged in business may include a location leased or otherwise obtained from another person on a temporary or seasonal basis and real property leased to another. A person's residence shall be deemed to be a definite place of business if there is no definite place of business maintained elsewhere, and the person is not licensable as a peddler or itinerant merchant.
FARM PRODUCE SELLERS OR PEDDLERS
Any person who sells or offers for sale in person or by employees, ice, wood, charcoal, meats, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, fish, oysters, game, vegetables, fruits or other family supplies of a perishable nature; or farm products grown or produced by them and not purchased by them for sale.
[Added 12-13-2016 by Ord. No. 16-24]
FINANCIAL SERVICES
The buying, selling, handling, managing, investing and providing of advice regarding money, credit, securities and other investments and shall include the service for compensation by a credit agency, an investment company, a broker or dealer in securities and commodities or a security or commodity exchange, unless such service is otherwise provided for in this article.
A. 
"Broker" shall mean an agent of a buyer or a seller who buys or sells stocks, bonds, commodities or services, usually on a commission basis.
B. 
"Commodity" shall mean staples such as wool, cotton, etc., which are traded on a commodity exchange and on which there is trading in futures.
C. 
"Dealer," for purposes of this article, shall mean any person engaged in the business of buying and selling securities for his own account, but does not include a bank or any person insofar as he buys or sells securities for his own account, either individually or in some fiduciary capacity, but not as part of a regular business.
D. 
"Security," for purposes of this article, shall have the same meaning as in the Securities Act (§ 13.1-501 et seq.,) of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended, or in similar laws of the United States regulating the sale of securities.
E. 
Those engaged in rendering financial services include, but without limitation, the following:
Buying installment receivables.
Chattel mortgage financing.
Consumer financing.
Credit card services.
Credit unions.
Factors.
Financing accounts receivable.
Industrial loan companies.
Installment financing.
Inventory financing.
Loan or mortgage brokers.
Loan or mortgage companies.
Safety deposit box companies.
Security and commodity brokers and services.
Stockbrokers.
Working capital financing.
GROSS RECEIPTS
The whole, entire, total receipts attributable to the licensed privilege, without deduction, except as may be limited by the provisions of Chapter 37 of Title 58.1 of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended.
LICENSE YEAR
The calendar year for which a license is issued for the privilege of engaging in business.
PERSONAL SERVICES
The rendering for compensation of any repair, personal, business or other services not specifically classified as "financial, real estate or professional service" under this article or rendered in any other business or occupation not specifically classified in this article, unless exempted from local license tax by Title 58.1 of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Services performed by architects, attorneys at law, certified public accountants, dentists, engineers, land surveyors, surgeons, veterinarians and practitioners of the healing arts (the arts and sciences dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure or alleviation of human physical or mental ailments, conditions, diseases, pain or infirmities) and such occupations, and no others, as the Virginia Department of Taxation may list in the BPOL guidelines promulgated pursuant to the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3701. The Department shall identify and list each occupation or vocation in which a professed knowledge of some department of science or learning, gained by a prolonged course of specialized instruction and study, is used by its practical application to the affairs of others, either advising, guiding or teaching them and in serving their interests or welfare in the practice of an art or science founded on it. The word "profession" implies attainments in professional knowledge as distinguished from mere skill and the application of knowledge to uses for others rather than for personal profit.
PURCHASES
All goods, wares and merchandise received for sale at each definite place of business of a wholesale merchant. The term shall also include the cost of manufacture of all goods, wares and merchandise manufactured by any wholesaler or wholesale merchant and sold or offered for sale. Such merchant may elect to report the gross receipts from the sale of manufactured goods, wares and merchandise if it cannot determine or chooses not to disclose the cost of manufacture.
REAL ESTATE SERVICES
Rendering a service for compensation as lessor, buyer, seller, agent or broker and providing a real estate service, unless the service is otherwise specifically provided for in this article, and such services include, but are not limited to, the following:
A. 
Appraisers of real estate.
B. 
Escrow agents, real estate.
C. 
Fiduciaries, real estate.
D. 
Lessors of real property.
E. 
Real estate agents, brokers and managers.
F. 
Real estate selling agents.
G. 
Rental agents for real estate.
RETAILER or RETAIL MERCHANT
Any person or merchant who sells goods, wares and merchandise for use or consumption by the purchaser or for any purpose other than resale by the purchaser, but does not include sales at wholesale to institutional, commercial and industrial users.
SERVICES
Things purchased by a customer which do not have physical characteristics or which are not goods, wares or merchandise.
WHOLESALE or WHOLESALE MERCHANT
Any person or merchant who sells wares and merchandise for resale by the purchaser, including sales, when the goods, wares and merchandise will be incorporated into goods and services for sale and also includes sales to institutional, commercial, government and industrial users which, because of the quantity, price or other terms, indicate that they are consistent with sales at wholesale.
A. 
Every person engaging in the City in any business, trade, profession, occupation or calling (collectively hereinafter, "a business") as defined in this article, unless otherwise exempted by law, shall apply for a license for each such business if:
[Amended 11-18-2009 by Ord. No. 09-18[1]]
(1) 
Such person maintains a definite place of business in the City;
(2) 
Such person does not maintain a definite office anywhere but does maintain an abode in the City, which abode for the purposes of this article shall be deemed a definite place of business; or
(3) 
There is no definite place of business but such person operates amusement machines, is engaged as a peddler, an itinerant merchant as defined in § 286-2 of this Code, a carnival or circus as specified in the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3717, 3718 or 3728, respectively, or is a contractor subject to the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3715 or is a public service corporation subject to the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3731. An itinerant merchant shall not be issued a license that is valid for more than 30 consecutive days, and each itinerant merchant shall comply with the standards specified in §§ 286-77 and 286-99 of this Code.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also provided that it shall be in full force and effect on and after 1-1-2010.
B. 
A separate license shall be required for each definite place of 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 licensable at the location and has satisfied any requirements imposed by state law or other provisions of the ordinances of the city.
(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.
(3) 
The taxpayer agrees to supply such information as the assessing official may require concerning the nature of the several businesses and their gross receipts.
C. 
Each person subject to a license tax shall apply for a license prior to beginning business if he was not subject to licensing in the City on or before January 1 of the license year or no later than March 1 of the current license year if he had been issued a license for the preceding license year. The application shall be on forms prescribed by the assessing official.
D. 
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.
E. 
The assessing official may grant an extension of time, not to exceed 90 days, in which to file an application for a license for reasonable cause. The extension shall be conditioned upon the timely payment of a reasonable estimate of the appropriate tax, 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, a penalty of 10% of the portion paid after the due date.
F. 
A penalty of 10% 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 Director of Finance may impose a ten-percent-late-payment penalty. The penalties shall not be imposed or, if imposed, shall be abated by the official who assessed them if the failure to file or pay was not the fault of the taxpayer. 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. For the purposes of this section:
[Amended 6-14-2016 by Ord. No. 16-20]
(1) 
"Acted responsibly" means that 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 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.
(2) 
"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.
G. 
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 penalty 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 tax paid under this article 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 the 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 in the event of such adjustment, provided that 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.
H. 
No business license under this chapter shall be issued until the applicant has produced satisfactory evidence that all delinquent business license, personal property, meals, transient occupancy, severance and admissions taxes owed by the business to the City have been paid.
[Added 4-13-2010 by Ord. No. 10-3]
A. 
General rule. Whenever the tax imposed by this article is measured by gross receipts, the gross receipts included in the taxable measure shall be only those gross receipts attributed to the exercise of a licensable privilege at a definite place of business within the City. In the case of activities conducted outside of a definite place of business, such as during a visit to a customer location, the gross receipts shall be attributed to the definite place of business from which such activities are initiated, directed or controlled. The situs of gross receipts for different classifications of business shall be attributed to one or more definite places of business or offices as follows:
(1) 
The gross receipts of a contractor shall be attributed to the definite place of business at which his services are performed or, if his services are not performed at any definite place of business, then the definite place of business from which his services are directed or controlled, unless the contractor is subject to the provisions of the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3715.
(2) 
The gross receipts of a retailer or wholesaler shall be attributed to the definite place of business at which sales solicitation activities occur or, if sales solicitation activities do not occur at any definite place of business, then the definite place of business from which sales solicitation activities are directed or controlled; however, a wholesaler or distribution house subject to a license tax measured by purchases shall determine the situs of its purchases by the definite place of business at which or from which deliveries of the purchased goods, wares and merchandise are made to customers. Any wholesaler who is subject to license tax in two or more localities and who is subject to multiple taxation because the localities use different measures may apply to the Department of Taxation for a determination as to the proper measure of purchases and gross receipts subject to license tax in each locality.
(3) 
The gross receipts of a business renting tangible personal property shall be attributed to the definite place of business from which the tangible personal property is rented or, if the property is not rented from any definite place of business, then the definite place of business at which the rental of such property is managed.
(4) 
The gross receipts from the performance of services shall be attributed to the definite place of business at which the services are performed or, if not performed at any definite place of business, then the definite place of business from which the services are directed or controlled.
B. 
Apportionment. If the licensee has more than one definite place of business and it is impractical or impossible to determine to which definite place of business gross receipts should be attributed under the general rule, and the affected jurisdictions are unable to reach an apportionment agreement, except as to circumstances set forth in the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3709, the gross receipts of the business shall be apportioned between the definite places of businesses on the basis of payroll. Gross receipts shall not be apportioned to a definite place of business unless some activities under the applicable general rule occurred at or were controlled from such definite place of business. Gross receipts attributable to a definite place of business in another jurisdiction shall not be attributed to the City solely because the other jurisdiction does not impose a tax on the gross receipts attributable to the definite place of business in such other jurisdiction.
C. 
Agreements. The assessing official may enter into agreements with any other political subdivision of Virginia concerning the manner in which gross receipts shall be apportioned among definite places of business. However, the sum of the gross receipts apportioned by the agreement shall not exceed the total gross receipts attributable to all of the definite places of business affected by the agreement. Upon being notified by a taxpayer that its method of attributing gross receipts is fundamentally inconsistent with the method of one or more political subdivisions in which the taxpayer is licensed to engage in business and that the difference has or is likely to result in taxes on more than 100% of its gross receipts from all locations in the affected jurisdictions, the assessing official shall make a good faith effort to reach an apportionment agreement with the other political subdivisions involved.
A. 
Where, before the expiration of the time prescribed for the assessment of any license tax imposed pursuant to this article, both the assessing official and the taxpayer have consented, in writing, to its assessment after such time, the tax may be assessed at any time prior to the expiration of the period agreed upon. The period so agreed upon may be extended by subsequent agreements in writing made before the expiration of the period previously agreed upon.
B. 
Notwithstanding the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3903, the assessing official shall assess the local license tax omitted because of fraud or failure to apply for a license for the current license year and the six preceding years.
C. 
The period for collecting any local license tax shall not expire prior to the period specified in the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3940, two years after the date of assessment if the period for assessment has been extended pursuant to this subdivision, two years after the final determination of an appeal for which collection has been stayed pursuant to § 187-6B or 187-6D of this article or two years after the final decision in a court application pursuant to the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3984, or similar law for which collection has been stayed, whichever is later.
A. 
Any person assessed with a licensing tax under this article as the result of an audit may apply within 90 days from the date of the assessment to the assessing official for a correction of the assessment. The application must be filed in good faith and sufficiently identify the taxpayer, audit period, remedy sought, each alleged error in the assessment, the grounds upon which the taxpayer relies and any other facts relevant to the taxpayer's contention. The assessing official may hold a conference with the taxpayer if requested by the taxpayer or require submission of additional information and documents, further audit or other evidence deemed necessary for a proper and equitable determination of the applications. The assessment shall be deemed prima facie correct. The assessing official shall undertake a full review of the taxpayer's claims and issue a determination to the taxpayer setting forth its position. Every assessment pursuant to an audit shall be accompanied by a written explanation of the taxpayer's right to seek correction and the specific procedure to be followed in the City (e.g., the name and address to which an application should be directed).
B. 
Provided that an application is made within 90 days of an assessment, collection activity shall be suspended until a final determination is issued by the assessing official, unless the assessing official determines that collection would be jeopardized by delay or that the taxpayer has not responded to a request for relevant information after a reasonable time. Interest shall accrue in accordance with the provisions of § 187-3G of this article, but no further penalty shall be imposed while collection action is suspended. The term "jeopardized by delay" includes a finding that the application is frivolous or that a taxpayer desires to depart quickly from the city, to remove his property therefrom, to conceal himself or his property therein or to do any other act tending to prejudice or to render wholly or partially ineffectual proceedings to collect the tax for the period in question.
C. 
Any person assessed with a license tax under this article as a result of an audit may apply within 90 days of the determination by the assessing official on an application pursuant to Subsection A herein to the Tax Commissioner for a correction of such assessment. The Tax Commissioner shall issue a determination to the taxpayer within 90 days of receipt of the taxpayer's application, unless the taxpayer and the assessing official are notified that a longer period will be required. The application shall be treated as an application pursuant to the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-1821, and the Tax Commissioner may issue an order correcting such assessment pursuant to the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-1822. Following such an order, either the taxpayer or the assessing official may apply to the appropriate circuit court pursuant to the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3984. However, the burden shall be on the party making the application to show that the ruling of the Tax Commissioner is erroneous. Neither the Tax Commissioner nor the Department of Taxation shall be made a party to an application to correct an assessment merely because the Tax Commissioner has ruled on it.
D. 
On receipt of a notice of intent to file an appeal to the Tax Commissioner under Subsection C herein, the assessing official shall further suspend collection activity until a final determination is issued by the Tax Commissioner, unless the assessing official determines that collection would be jeopardized by delay or that the taxpayer has not responded to a request for relevant information after a reasonable time. Interest shall accrue in accordance with the provisions of § 187-3G, but no further penalty shall be imposed while collection action is suspended. The term "jeopardized by delay" shall have the same meaning as set forth in Subsection B herein.
E. 
Any taxpayer may request a written ruling regarding the application of the tax to a specific situation from the assessing official. Any person requesting such a ruling must provide all the relevant facts for the situation and may present a rationale for the basis of an interpretation of the law most favorable to the taxpayer. Any misrepresentation or change in the applicable law or the factual situation as presented in the ruling request shall invalidate any such ruling issued. A written ruling may be revoked or amended prospectively if there is a change in the law, a court decision, or the assessing official notifies the taxpayer of a change in the policy or interpretation upon which the ruling was based. However, any person who acts on a written ruling which later becomes invalid shall be deemed to have acted in good faith during the period in which such ruling was in effect.
Every person who is assessable with a license tax shall keep sufficient records to enable the assessing official to verify the correctness of the tax paid for the license years assessable and to enable the assessing official to ascertain what is the correct amount of tax that was assessable for each of those years. All such records, books of accounts and other information shall be open to inspection and examination by the assessing official in order to allow the assessing official to establish whether a particular receipt is directly attributable to the taxable privilege exercised within the City. The assessing official shall provide the taxpayer with the option to conduct the audit in the taxpayer's local business office if the records are maintained there. In the event that the records are maintained outside the city, copies of the appropriate books and records shall be sent to the assessing official's office upon demand.
A. 
General rule. Gross receipts for license tax purposes shall not include any amount not derived from the exercise of the licensed privilege to engage in a business or profession in the ordinary course of business or profession.
B. 
The following items shall be excluded from gross receipts:
(1) 
Amounts received and paid to the United States, the Commonwealth or any county, City or town for the Virginia retail sales or use tax or for any local sales tax or any local excise tax on cigarettes or for any federal or state excise taxes on motor fuels.
(2) 
Any amount representing the liquidation of a debt or conversion of another asset to the extent that the amount is attributable to a transaction previously taxed (e.g., the factoring of accounts receivable created by sales which have been included in taxable receipts even though the creation of such debt and factoring are a regular part of its business).
(3) 
Any amount representing returns and allowances granted by the business to its customer.
(4) 
Receipts which are the proceeds of a loan transaction in which the licensee is the obligor.
(5) 
Receipts representing the return of principal of a loan transaction in which the licensee is the creditor or the return of principal or basis upon the sale of a capital asset.
(6) 
Rebates and discounts taken or received on account of purchases by the licensee. A rebate or other incentive offered to induce the recipient to purchase certain goods or services from a person other than the offeror and which the recipient assigns to the licensee in consideration of the sale of goods and services shall not be considered a rebate or discount to the licensee, but shall be included in the licensee's gross receipts, together with any handling or other fees related to the incentive.
(7) 
Withdrawals from inventory for purposes other than sale or distribution and for which no consideration is received and the occasional sale or exchange of assets other than inventory, whether or not a gain or loss, is recognized for federal income tax purposes.
(8) 
Investment income not directly related to the privilege exercised by a licensable business not classified as rendering financial services. This exclusion shall apply to interest on bank accounts of the business and to interest, dividends and other income derived from the investment of its own funds in securities and other types of investments unrelated to the licensed privilege. This exclusion shall not apply to interest, late fees and similar income attributable to an installment sale or other transaction that occurred in the regular course of business.
C. 
The following shall be deducted from gross receipts or gross purchases that would otherwise be taxable:
(1) 
Any amount paid for computer hardware and software that are sold to a United States federal or state government entity, provided that such property was purchased within two years of the sale to said entity by the original purchaser who shall have been contractually obligated at the time of purchase to resell such property to a state or federal government entity. This deduction shall not occur until the time of resale and shall apply to only the original cost of the property and not to its resale price, and the deduction shall not apply to any of the tangible personal property which was the subject of the original resale contract if it is not resold to a state or federal governmental entity in accordance with the original contract obligation.
(2) 
Any receipts attributable to business conducted in another state or foreign country in which the taxpayer is liable for an income or other tax based upon income.
[Amended 6-9-1998 by Ord. No. 98-6; 11-18-2009 by Ord. No. 09-08[1]]
Every person or business subject to licensure under this section shall be assessed and required to pay annually:
A. 
A fee in the amount of $30 for a person or business included in Subsection B(1), (2), (3) and (4) of this section, whose gross receipts are less than $15,000 in a license year, for the issuance of such license; and
B. 
Except as may be otherwise provided in Virginia Code §§ 58.1-3712, 58.1-3712.1 and 58.1-3713 and Subsection C of this section, every such person or business shall be assessed and required to pay annually a license tax on all the gross receipts of such persons includable as provided in this chapter at a rate set forth below for the class of enterprise listed:
(1) 
For contractors and persons constructing for their own account for sale, $0.15 per $100 of gross receipts;
(2) 
For retailers, $0.20 per $100 of gross receipts;
(3) 
For financial, real estate and professional services, $0.57 per $100 of gross receipts;
(4) 
For repair, personal and business services and all other businesses and occupations not specifically listed or exempted in this chapter or otherwise by law, $0.35 per $100 of gross receipts;
(5) 
For wholesalers, $0.05 per $100 of purchases;
(6) 
For carnivals, circuses and speedways, $500 for each performance held in the City; except no license tax shall be imposed on any activity conducted or sponsored by a department of the City government or for charitable purposes;
(7) 
For fortune tellers, clairvoyants and practitioners of palmistry, $500 per year, subject to the provisions of § 187-17 herein;
(8) 
For itinerant merchants, $500 per year, except as otherwise provided herein:
(a) 
No license tax shall be imposed on any itinerant merchant who sells or offers for sale in person or by his employees only the following items, or any of them, if such items were grown or produced by him or by his employees and were not purchased by them for sale: ice, wood, charcoal, meats, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, game, vegetables, fruits or other family supplies of a perishable nature or farm, domestic or nursery products.
(b) 
A license tax of $500 for each location used during the tax year shall be imposed on any itinerant merchant who sells or offers for sale in person or by his employees only the following items, or any of them, if such items were not grown or produced by him or his employees: wood, meats, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, fish, oysters, seafood, game, vegetables, fruits or other edible family supplies of a perishable nature.
(c) 
A license tax of $500 for each location used during the tax year shall be imposed on any itinerant merchant who sells or offers for sale Christmas trees or Christmas greens not grown or produced by him.
(d) 
An itinerant merchant whose activities are conducted solely for charitable purposes and who is not paid for his services shall not be required to pay any license tax hereunder.
(e) 
No license tax shall be imposed on an itinerant merchant whose activities are conducted as part of an event conducted or sponsored by any department of the City government.
(9) 
For peddlers, $500 per year, except as otherwise provided herein:
(a) 
Any person who sells or offers to sell goods, wares or merchandise to licensed dealers, other than at a definite place of business operated by the seller, and at the time of such sale or exposure for sale delivers or offers to deliver the goods, wares or merchandise to the buyer is a "peddler at wholesale." Any delivery on the day of sale shall be construed as a delivery at the time of sale. Each peddler at wholesale shall pay a license tax for the tax year. The license tax rate for each peddler at wholesale shall be the same as the license tax rate applicable to a wholesale merchant selling similar goods, wares or merchandise at one definite place of business.
(b) 
No license tax shall be imposed on any peddler who sells or offers for sale in person or by his employees only the following items, or any of them, if such items were grown or produced by him or by his employees and were not purchased by them for sale: ice, wood, charcoal, meats, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, fish, oysters, game, vegetables, fruits or other family supplies of a perishable nature or farm, domestic or nursery products.
[Amended 12-13-2016 by Ord. No. 16-24]
(c) 
A license tax of $50 for the tax year shall be imposed on any peddler who sells or offers for sale in person or by his employees only the following items, or any of them, if such items were not grown or produced by him or his employees: wood, meats, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, fish, oysters, seafood, game, vegetables, fruit or other edible family supplies of a perishable nature.
(d) 
A license tax of $50 for the tax year shall be imposed on any peddler who sells or offers for sale Christmas trees or Christmas greens not grown or produced by him.
(e) 
A peddler whose activities are conducted solely for charitable purposes and who is not paid for his services shall not be required to pay any license tax hereunder.
(f) 
No license tax shall be imposed on any peddler whose activities are conducted or sponsored by a department of the City government.
(10) 
For direct sellers as defined in Virginia Code § 58.1-3719.1 with total annual sales in excess of $4,000, $0.20 per $100 of total annual retail sales or $0.05 per $100 of total annual wholesale sales, whichever is applicable.
C. 
No license tax imposed pursuant to the provisions of this section upon gross receipts shall be imposed on any person whose gross receipts from a business, profession or occupation subject to licensure are less than $15,000 in a license year. This limitation shall not be applicable to license taxes on wholesalers, carnivals, circuses and speedways, fortune tellers, clairvoyants and practitioners of palmistry, itinerant merchants or peddlers and direct sellers.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also provided that it shall be in full force and effect on and after 1-1-2010.
Every person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of furnishing heat, light and power and gas for domestic, commercial and industrial consumption in the City shall pay for the privilege an annual license tax of 1/2 of 1% of the gross receipts derived from business within the City excluding, however, such service furnished federal, state and local public authorities, their offices or agencies and sales for resale to other electric utilities.
Each and every telegraph company having a place of business in the City and delivering messages without additional charge to any point within the City limits for the business done exclusively within the City and not including any business done to or from points without the state and not including any business done for the United States government or its officers and agents shall pay an annual license tax equal to 1/2 of 1% of the gross receipts of the business accruing to such person, firm or corporation in the city.
A. 
Each and every telephone company conducting a telephone business in the City and using and occupying the streets, avenues and alleys in the City and conducting or maintaining the works of the telephone company or any part thereof along, over and under said streets, avenues and alleys in the City shall pay for the privilege an annual license tax of 1/2 of 1% of the gross receipts derived from business within the City excluding, however, such service furnished federal, state and local public authorities and their offices and agencies.
B. 
This license is for the privilege of doing business for local services in the City and does not include any license charge for business done to and from points outside the Commonwealth and does not include any license charge for any business done for the government of the United States or its officers or agents and does not include any license charge for any interstate business. This license charge is restricted exclusively for local services and is no attempt to tax, regulate or hinder interstate commerce.
Every person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of retailing tobacco or any of its by-products shall pay a specific license tax of $5 per year which shall be in addition to the merchant's license or other licenses required to be paid by them under the provisions of this article.
A. 
Every person, firm or corporation engaged in manufacturing, bottling and/or dispensing alcoholic beverages shall become liable of license taxes as follows:
(1) 
For each distiller's license, if more than 5,000 gallons of alcohol or spirits, or both, are manufactured during said license year, including bottling, the license tax shall be $600.
(2) 
For each winery license, the license tax shall be $600.
(3) 
For each brewery, including bottling, the license tax shall be $600.
(4) 
For each bottler's license, the license tax shall be $500.
(5) 
For each wholesale beer license, the license tax shall be $250.
(6) 
For each wholesale wine license, the license tax shall be $50.
(7) 
For each retail on-premises wine license, the license tax shall be $25.
(8) 
For each retail on-premises beer license, the license tax shall be $50.
(9) 
For each retail off-premises wine and beer license or wine or beer license, the license tax shall be $50.
(10) 
For each retail on- and off-premises wine and beer license or beer license, the license tax shall be $60.
(11) 
Every person, firm or corporation holding a mixed beverage or mixed alcoholic beverage restaurant and caterer's license for establishments located within the City shall pay a local license tax as follows:
(a) 
Persons operating restaurants, including restaurants located on premises of and operated by hotels or motels:
[1] 
Two hundred dollars per year for each restaurant with a seating capacity at tables for 50 to 100 persons.
[2] 
Three hundred fifty dollars per year for each restaurant with a seating capacity at tables for more than 100 but not more than 150 persons.
[3] 
Five hundred dollars per year for each restaurant with a seating capacity at tables for more than 150 persons.
[4] 
Five hundred dollars per year for each caterer.
(b) 
A private nonprofit club operating a restaurant on the premises of such club: $350 per year.
B. 
The aforesaid licenses shall be as respectively defined by the Act of the General Assembly of Virginia, as heretofore and hereafter amended, known as the "Alcoholic Beverage Control Act,"[1] and the terms "alcoholic beverage," "alcohol," "spirits," "beer" and "wine," wherever used in this section, shall have the meanings respectively prescribed to them by said Act.
[1]
Editor's Note: See the Code of Virginia, § 4.1-100 et seq.
C. 
No license shall be issued under this section to any person unless such person shall hold or shall secure simultaneously therewith the proper state license required by said Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which state license shall be exhibited to the assessing official.
D. 
Any such license may be amended to show a change in the place of business within the City. Any such license may be transferred from one person to another, provided that the person to whom transferred holds at the time a similar license from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
A. 
Every person engaged in the business of organizing, promoting or managing a flea market or craft show shall obtain a license for the privilege of doing such business in the City and shall pay a license tax of $30.
[Amended 12-13-2016 by Ord. No. 16-24]
B. 
"Flea market or craft show" shall include any show consisting of a group of persons or merchants selling goods, wares or merchandise such as hobby crafts, antiques, art works or secondhand articles or any combination of these.
C. 
No individual participating in a flea market or craft show as a merchant shall be liable for any license taxation on his gross receipts generated at such show under this article if the promoter, manager or organizer of the show obtains a license and pays the license tax as provided in this section and if the merchant reports to such promoter, manager or organizer the merchant's total gross receipts from such show.
D. 
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to relieve any promoter, manager or organizer of a flea market or craft show of the obligation to pay any other license taxes that may be imposed by this article.
A. 
Every person, firm or corporation selling, leasing, renting or otherwise furnishing or providing a coin-operated machine or device operated on the coin-in-the-slot principle shall be deemed to be a coin machine "operator"; provided, however, that the term "operator" shall not include a person, firm or corporation owning less than three coin machines and operating such machines on property owned or leased by such person, firm or corporation.
B. 
Every operator operating 10 or more coin machines shall pay for the privilege an annual license tax of $200. Every operator operating more than two and fewer than 10 coin machines shall pay for the privilege an annual license tax of $175. The license tax on an operator shall not be prorated and an operator's license shall not be transferred.
C. 
The coin machine operator's license tax imposed by this section shall not be applicable to operators of weighing machines, automatic baggage or parcel-checking machines or receptacles, nor to operators of vending machines which are so constructed as to do nothing but vend goods, wares and merchandise or postage stamps or provide service only, nor to operators of viewing machines or photomat machines, nor to operators of devices and machines affording rides to children or for the delivery of newspapers.
A. 
No license issued pursuant to the provisions of Subsection B(7) of § 187-9 herein shall be granted to any person, except upon a certificate to the Chief of Police that such person has appeared at police headquarters and given such general description of himself or herself as is required by the Chief of Police and has presented to him a certificate signed by five citizens of the City that such person is of good character and honest demeanor and has resided in the City for at least 12 months prior to the granting of such certificate, and except and until the Chief of Police shall be satisfied from his own knowledge and from an independent investigation to be made by him that the statements contained in the certificate required to be signed by the citizens of the City are true. Upon presentation of such certificates to the assessing official by any such applicant, the assessing official shall issue a license in which shall be stated the day, month and year on which the license expires; and upon the payment of the license tax and issuance thereof, a duplicate shall be transmitted to the Chief of Police.
B. 
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to apply to persons pretending to tell fortunes or practicing palmistry, phrenology, handwriting analysis or as clairvoyants in a regular licensed theater, as part of any show or exhibition presented therein or as a part of any play, exhibition, fair or show presented or offered in aid of any benevolent, charitable or educational purpose.
[Amended 6-13-2006 by Ord. No. 06-14; 6-14-2011 by Ord. No. 11-14]
No business license shall be issued hereunder to any person to be a tattoo operator, engage in the practice or business of tattooing as a tattoo artist, or engage in the practice or business of body piercing, unless and until there is presented to the assessing official a license from the Board for Barbers and Cosmetology permitting the person to engage in tattooing or body piercing. Any tattoo artist or tattoo operator shall also be a member in good standing of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists, Inc. (APT) and shall provide the assessing official with proof of such membership. As used in this chapter, the following words shall have the following meanings:
BODY PIERCING
Means the creating of an opening in an individual's body, other than an individual's ear, to insert jewelry or another decoration.
TATTOO ARTIST
Means any person who actually performs the work of tattooing.
TATTOOING
Means the placing of designs, letters, scrolls, figures, symbols or any other marks upon or under the skin of any person with ink or any other substance, resulting in the permanent re-coloration of the skin, including permanent makeup or permanent jewelry, by the aid of needles or any other instrument designed to touch or puncture the skin.
TATTOO OPERATOR
Means any person who controls, operates, conducts, or manages any tattoo studio, whether actually performing the work of tattooing or not.
[Amended 6-8-2004 by Ord. No. 04-12]
Any person who shall offer for sale any items of tangible property at sales, commonly known as "yard, garage or backyard sales," whereby such items are offered for sale on property classified as "residential" by Chapter 286, Zoning, of the Code of the City of Colonial Heights, shall pay a specific license tax of $5 for the privilege of conducting such a sale. No more than four licenses, for two consecutive days each, shall be issued in any calendar year to the same person or for a sale on the same property, and no sale shall be held on Sunday. No license shall be issued except upon sworn statement or affidavit of the applicant or applicants that only secondhand or used items owned by an applicant shall be offered for sale.
Any person, firm or corporation prosecuting, conducting or engaging in any business, trade, profession, occupation, vocation or calling and any person, firm or corporation who shall open an office for a place of business or who shall by the use of signs or otherwise advertise any business, trade, profession, occupation, vocation or calling within said City shall make application to the assessing official for a license pursuant to § 187-3, and any person, firm or corporation failing to make such application shall be punished as provided in § 58.1-3916.1 of the Code of Virginia. It shall be the duty of the assessing official to keep a record of all such applications.
A. 
Any person, firm or corporation prosecuting, conducting or engaging in any business, trade, profession, occupation, vocation or calling for which a license tax is required under this article without obtaining such license shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor as provided by § 18.2-11 of the Code of Virginia.
B. 
Such conviction shall not relieve any such person, firm or corporation from the payment of any license tax, penalty or interest imposed by this article.
C. 
Failure to pay the license tax within 60 days after the due date will result in automatic revocation of such license, and the business, trade, profession, occupation, vocation or calling shall be immediately discontinued.