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(Amended by Ord. No. 181,051, Eff. 1/31/10.)
(a) No claim for refund shall be allowed in whole or in part unless filed by the person claiming the overpayment, or the person’s authorized agent on the person’s behalf, with the City Clerk within a period of one year from the date of the claimed overpayment, and all such claims for refund of overpayment must be filed with the City Clerk on forms furnished by the City and in the manner prescribed by the City.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to bring into being or validate any claim for refund arising from a cause heretofore existent if such claim, whether filed or not, was or would have been invalid because of the then existing statutory term, and nothing in this section shall be deemed to validate, revive, restore or continue any claim for refund heretofore filed and denied.
(d) The City shall pay interest on the amount of each allowed claim for refund of overpayment of tax, from the date of filing the claim for refund or, in the case of a payment under protest or pursuant to a billing from the Office of Finance, from the date of overpayment, until the date the overpayment is paid, during each calendar year at the rate per month determined by dividing by 12 the sum of the average Federal short-term rate during the months of July, August and September of the prior calendar year. Unless the monthly rate is evenly divisible by one-tenth of a percentage point, it shall be rounded up to the next highest one-tenth of a percentage point.
(a) Each business tax registration certificate shall be prepared and issued by the Director of Finance and shall state upon the face thereof the following:
1. The name of the person to whom issued.
2. The classification of business engaged in and the section of this article in which the business taxed is described.
3. The address of the location from which the business is conducted, and, where it is different, the mailing address of the business taxed; or where no fixed place of business is maintained, the mailing address of the person to whom the registration certificate has been issued. The mailing address so appearing shall be the address to which all notices required or authorized in this article shall be sent unless the registrant shall request in writing that another address be used for such purpose.
4. The period for which the certificate has been issued.
(b) Each business tax registration certificate shall state on the back thereof the following:
This business tax registration certificate signifies that the person named on the face hereof has fulfilled the requirements of Article 1 of Chapter II of the Los Angeles Municipal Code by registering with the Director of Finance for the purpose of paying business tax for the classification of business for which this certificate is issued. This certificate does not authorize the person to conduct any unlawful business or to conduct any lawful business in an illegal manner or to conduct within the City of Los Angeles the business for which this certificate has been issued without strictly complying with all the provisions of the ordinances of said City, including but not limited to those requiring a permit from any board, commission, department or office of the City. THIS BUSINESS TAX REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A PERMIT. Any failure to comply with the requirements of Article 1 or Article 1.11 of Chapter II of the Los Angeles Municipal Code shall constitute grounds for suspension of this certificate. (Amended by Ord. No. 160,389, Eff. 10/21/85.)
(a) Every person engaged in a business subject to tax under the provisions of this article and which business is conducted at or from a fixed place of business shall keep the registration certificate issued therefor posted in a conspicuous place upon the premises at or from which the business is conducted.
(b) Every person engaged in a business subject to tax under the provisions of this article but not operating from a fixed place of business shall keep the registration certificate issued therefor upon their person at all times while engaging in the business for which it is issued.
(c) Whenever identifying stickers or symbols have been issued for each vehicle, device, machine, or other piece of equipment included in the measure of a business tax, or for each coin-operated machine the gross receipts from which are the measure of the tax, the person to whom such stickers or symbols have been issued shall keep firmly affixed upon each vehicle, device, machine, piece of equipment or coin-operated machine the identifying sticker or symbol which has been issued therefor. Such sticker or symbol shall not be removed from any vehicle, device, machine, piece of equipment or coin-operated machine kept in use, during the period for which the sticker or symbol is issued.
(d) It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to fail to affix as required herein any identifying sticker or symbol to the vehicle, device, machine, piece of equipment, or coin- operated machine for which it has been issued, or to give away, sell or transfer such identifying sticker or symbol to another person, or to permit its use by another person.
(Amended by Ord. No. 179,984, Eff. 8/3/08.)
Duplicate registration certificates may be issued by the Director of Finance to replace any previously issued certificate, which has been lost or destroyed, upon the filing of an affidavit by the registrant or an authorized representative attesting to that fact and upon paying to the Director of Finance a fee of $5.00.
No registration certificate shall be transferable except where the business taxed is transferred, whether by sale or otherwise, to another person under such circumstances that the real or ultimate ownership of the business after the transfer is substantially similar to the real or ultimate ownership existing before the transfer. For the purposes of this section, stockholders, bond-holders, partners, or other persons holding an interest in a corporation or other entity herein defined to be a person are regarded as having the real or ultimate ownership of such corporation or other entity.
(Title and Section Amended by Ord. No. 160,389, Eff. 10/21/85.)
(a) Whenever any person fails to comply with any provision of this article pertaining to business tax or Article 1.11 of this chapter pertaining to payroll expense tax, or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto, the Director of Finance, upon hearing, after giving such person ten days’ notice in writing specifying the time and place of hearing and requiring the person to show cause why their registration certificate or certificates should not be suspended, may suspend any one or more of the registration certificates held by such person. The notice shall be served in the same manner as notices of assessment are served under Section 21.16 of this article.
(b) Any person who engages in any business after the registration certificate issued therefor has been suspended, and before such suspended certificate has been reinstated, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(Amended by Ord. No. 177,246, Eff. 2/18/06, Oper. 1/1/06.)
(a) Except in cases where this article prescribes a different method to compute and pay the business tax for a newly established business, the business tax shall be obtained and paid in accordance with whichever of the following applies to the classification of newly established business:
1. When the annual business tax is measured by any of the following: gross receipts, gross production costs and gross receipts, gross cost of the work done, or gross receipts and salaries, wages, fees or other compensation paid, the applicant for a business tax registration certificate shall at the time of making application, pay a minimum amount of tax that will apply for the first year of operation. This minimum tax cannot be pro-rated. At the end of the business tax period, the taxpayer shall file a written statement as prescribed in Section 21.14 disclosing all the particulars required for the classification of that business. At the time of renewal, the taxpayer shall pay the actual tax owed for the first year of operation deducting any minimum tax previously paid for that year. This additional tax is computed at the current rate specified for the classification of that particular business. This tax is then measured and paid in the manner prescribed in Section 21.14. In all cases, the business tax shall be determined and paid in all business tax periods subsequent to the first business tax periods in the manner prescribed in Section 21.14.
2. When the annual business tax is measured by any of the following: the number of vehicles, machines, devices or articles of equipment used, the number of persons employed, square foot area, seating capacity, the scale of fees or other charges collected, the applicant for a business tax registration certificate shall file with the Director of Finance, a statement setting forth the applicable factors in use, expected to be in use, employed, or collected. The taxpayer is required to pay the business tax at the time of making the application when the business is started. The required application and the tax payment is due as follows: when the business tax period is daily, tax is due on or before the close of business on the day on which the business was started; when the business tax period is monthly or quarterly, the tax is due on or before the last day of the month in which the business was started; when the business tax period is annual, the tax is due on or before the last day of the month following the month in which the business was started. After the start of the business, the factor by which the tax is measured is increased in the first business tax period, an additional amount of tax becomes due, and this increase shall be reported and the additional amount of business tax paid in accordance with the provisions of Section 21.14. Business taxes in these cases for subsequent business tax periods shall be paid in accordance with the provisions of Section 21.14.
3. (i) When the provisions of this article impose a flat rate tax for a business tax period or a fractional part of a period, the applicant of a business tax registration certificate for a newly established business shall pay the business tax required at the time the application is made, without proration for any portion of the business tax period expired at the time the business started.
(ii) When the provisions of this article impose a flat rate tax for a business tax period without the requirement that the full amount of the tax be paid for the business tax period or any fractional part of the period, the applicant for a business tax registration certificate for a newly established business shall, at the time the application is made, pay the business tax required to be paid prorated for the even monthly portion of the business tax period, which is unexpired at the time the business is started.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in the foregoing cases, application by a newly established business for a business tax registration certificate and payment of the required business tax shall be made as follows: whenever the business tax period is daily, on or before the close of business on the day on which the business is started; whenever the business tax period is monthly or quarterly, on or before the last day of the month in which the business is started; whenever the business tax period is annual, on or before the last day of the month following the month in which the business started. In these cases, the business tax for subsequent business tax periods shall be paid when due and prior to the delinquency date provided in Section 21.05.
(a) Except where a provision of this article specifically provides a different method for the filing of a statement and payment of the business tax for a designated classification of business, statements required hereunder shall be filed and payment of the tax made in the following manner:
1. Whenever an annual business tax is measured by gross receipts, gross cost of production and gross receipts, gross cost of the work done, or gross receipts and salaries, wages, fees or other compensation paid, the person subject to the business tax shall, before the tax becomes delinquent, file with the Director of Finance a written statement setting forth whichever of the following is applicable to the classification of business being engaged in: The gross receipts of the preceding year; the gross cost of production and gross receipts of the preceding year; the gross cost of the work done in the preceding year; or gross receipts and salaries, wages, fees or other compensation paid in the preceding year; and such person shall pay at such time the amount of the business tax computed upon the measure of the tax reported in the statement.
2. Whenever a quarterly business tax is imposed upon the number of oil wells operated and the number of barrels of oil produced, the person subject to the tax shall, before the business tax for each quarter becomes delinquent, file with the Director of Finance a written statement setting forth the number of wells in operation and the number of barrels of oil produced by each well in the preceding calendar quarter and such person shall pay at such time the amount of the business tax computed upon the measure of the tax reported in the statement.
3. Whenever the business tax is measured by the number of vehicles, machines, devices, tables, articles of equipment used or persons employed, or whenever the business tax is measured by square foot area, seating capacity, the scale of fees or other charges collected, the person subject to the tax shall before the tax becomes delinquent file with the Director of Finance a written statement setting forth the then applicable factor or factors that constitute the measure of the tax and shall pay at such time the amount of the business tax computed thereon. In each case where the factor by which the tax is measured is increased during the business tax period and an additional amount of business tax becomes due, the person subject to the tax shall notify the Director of Finance and pay the additional tax due in the following manner: When the business tax period is daily, on the day the increase occurs; when the business tax period is monthly or quarterly, within 30 days of the date on which the increase occurred; when the business tax period is annual, on or before the last day of the month following the month in which the increase occurred.
(b) The written statements shall be made upon forms prescribed by the Director of Finance and shall include a declaration substantially as follows:
“I declare, under penalty of making a false declaration, that I am authorized to make this statement, and that to the best of my knowledge and belief it is a true, correct and complete statement made in good faith for the period stated, in compliance with the provisions of the Los Angeles Municipal Code.”
(c) Such statements shall not be conclusive against the City as to the information set forth therein, nor shall the filing of a statement preclude the City from collecting by appropriate action any additional tax that is later determined to be due and payable under the provisions of this article.
(d) The Director of Finance and all of the Director’s deputies shall have the power and authority to require the person subject to the tax to provide any other information including a list of subcontractors, vendors and tenants that will help enforce the business tax. The operative date of this [sub]section will be January 1, 2005. (Added by Ord. No. 177,216, Eff. 2/8/06.)
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