A. Registration Required: No person shall transact, engage in, carry on or permit the operation of any business in the city without first registering and obtaining a current valid registration certificate from the department of finance administration. A violation of this section or of any other provision of this article is unlawful and constitutes a misdemeanor as provided in title 1, chapter 3, article 1 of this code.
B. Term Of Registration: Each registration, unless otherwise specified in this article, shall expire annually on December 31.
C. Revenue Measure; Tax Imposed: A business tax is hereby imposed in the amount prescribed in the applicable section. The required business tax is imposed pursuant to the taxing power of the city of Beverly Hills solely for the purpose of obtaining revenue. A business tax must be paid by every person engaged in any business or occupation conducted within the city of Beverly Hills.
D. Regulatory Permit May Also Be Required: Where this code requires a regulatory permit to engage in a specific type of business or activity, approval and issuance of a regulatory permit for such business or activity shall be a prerequisite to commencement of the business or activity.
E. Registration Certificate: A registration certificate shall be prepared and issued by the department of finance administration when the following conditions have been met:
1. The registration form has been completely filled out and signed by the owner, agent, corporate officer or other duly appointed and authorized person.
2. All taxes, penalties and interest owing have been received by the department of finance administration.
3. All required regulatory permits have been approved and issued.
F. Nontransferability Of Registration Certificate: Registration certificates issued pursuant to this article shall not be transferable by the registrant to any other person or registrant, nor shall any tax paid by any registrant under the provisions of this article be applied in whole or in part to the payment of tax due, or to become due, from any other person or registrant. This subsection shall not apply to a change in ownership of the registrant where the same business continues to be conducted thereafter.
G. Identification Sticker: Whenever the business tax for a business imposed under the provisions of this article is measured by the number of vehicles, devices, machines, or other pieces of equipment used, or whenever the business tax is measured by the gross receipts from the operation of coin operated devices, the department of finance administration shall issue, in addition to and concurrent with the registration certificate, for each tax period for which the business tax has been paid, one identifying sticker or symbol for each vehicle, device, machine or for each coin operated device used in a business where the tax is measured by the gross receipts from such coin operated devices. (Ord. 96-O-2255, eff. 3-22-1996)