Commissioner of the Revenue
Obtaining a Business License
According to Frederick County Code §155 a business is:
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: advertising or otherwise holding oneself out to the public as being engaged in a particular business; or filing tax returns, schedules and documents that are required only of persons engaged in a trade or business.
Most entities anticipating a profit in Frederick County are required to have a business license with 30 days of opening, but the process of obtaining one is not always clear.
If you need assistance at any time during the process, please contact us.
You need to make sure you can do what you want to do where you want to do it. Properties are zoned for different uses. Some zoning rules may prohibit certain uses of your property. Before moving ahead in the process of obtaining a business license, you should call the Zoning Division of the Frederick County Planning and Development Department at (540) 665-5651 for a general idea of the zoning rules for your property. You will eventually return to the Zoning Division for a formal application, but it could help you in advance to know whether or not a specific use of your property is explicitly disallowed in the zoning code.
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