(a) Every person subject to the tax hereby imposed who has commenced his or her business at least one full year prior to the beginning of the license year, shall determine his or her gross receipts for the license year from his or her actual gross receipts for the preceding year, or for that last fully completed fiscal year.
(b) Every person subject to the payment of the tax hereby imposed who has commenced or who commences his or her business less than one full year prior to the beginning of any license year, shall compute his or her annual gross receipt for such license year by dividing his or her actual gross receipt by the number of months in business and multiplying by 12.
(c) Every person subject to the tax hereby imposed who commences his or her business subsequent to the beginning of the license year shall determine his or her gross receipts for the license year by multiplying his or her actual gross receipts for the first month he engages in business by the number of months he or she engages in business for the license year.
(d) Where a receipt in its entirety cannot be subjected to the tax imposed by this article by reason of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, or any other provisions of law, including the exemptions with this article, the License Tax Officer shall establish rules and regulations and methods of allocation and evaluation so that only that part of such receipt which is properly attributable and allocable to the doing of business in the city shall be taxed hereunder. The License Tax Officer may make such allocation with due regard to the nature of the business concerned on the basis of millage division of the receipt according to the number of jurisdictions in which it may be taxed, the ratio of the value of the property or assets of the taxpayer owned and situated in the city to the total property or assets of the taxpayer wherever owned and situated, or any other method or methods of calculation other than the foregoing, calculated to effect a fair and proper allocation. The rules and regulations established shall be in writing and a copy filed with the City Clerk.
(e) Every person who ceases to carry on a business during any tax year after having paid the mercantile license tax for the entire year shall, upon making proper application to the License Tax Officer, be entitled to receive a refund of the pro rata amount of the tax paid based upon the period of time he or she was not in business during the license year. In the event that a person who discontinues business during any tax year does so before payment of his or her tax becomes due for such tax year, he or she shall be permitted to apportion his or her tax for such tax year and shall pay an amount to be computed by multiplying his or her gross receipts for the preceding full calendar year by a fraction whose numerator shall be the number of months such person was in business during the tax year and whose denominator shall be 12.
(f) Every person subject to the tax hereby imposed who engages in a business that is temporary, seasonal or itinerant in nature, shall determine his or her gross receipts for the license year from his or her actual gross receipts for the license year.
(Ord. 4725, passed 12-18-1975; Ord. 4873, approved 12-23-1977; Ord. 6337, approved 11-21-2017)