Bartholomew County, IN Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)
Key Facts
- Artist license
- Required before any procedure
- Facility permit
- Expires every Dec. 31, non-transferable
- Late permit penalty
- Doubled annual fee
- Inspections
- At least twice a year
- First offense fine
- Up to $500
- Repeat offense fine
- Up to $1,500
- Banned procedures
- Branding, scarification, tongue splitting, more
Summary
Tattoo artists and body piercers in Bartholomew County need a separate artist license and facility permit from the Health Department under Chapter 112, which also bans extreme procedures like branding, scarification and tongue splitting outright. The chapter incorporates the state's sanitary rules at 410 I.A.C. 1-5 and backs its own permit and inspection scheme with fines up to $1,500.
Every person that desires to perform any tattoo or body piercing activities shall, before doing so: (1) Obtain a tattoo/body piercing artist license from the Bartholomew County Health Department; ... No person may operate a tattoo parlor and/or body piercing facility without first obtaining a facility permit. ... The following activities are strictly prohibited: (A) Branding, as defined as a form of extreme body modification and scarification using a super-heated metal object, chemical, or electricity to bum an image onto the human body;
Full Breakdown
C. 02, then layers county-specific licensing on top. 08 requires every tattoo artist or body piercer to obtain an artist license from the Bartholomew County Health Department before performing any procedure or advertising as an artist, with fees set under the county's Fee Ordinance; the license must be posted where the work is performed. 09 separately requires a facility permit before anyone can operate a tattoo parlor or body piercing facility at all, expiring every December 31 and non-transferable to another person or location; a facility that opens before obtaining its permit faces a doubled annual fee, and temporary or mobile parlors that cannot meet the chapter's standards are barred from getting a permit at all.
10 flatly prohibits a list of extreme body-modification procedures regardless of licensing, including branding, cutting, implantation, scarification, skin peeling, suspension piercing, tongue bifurcation and tongue splitting, and any horizontal tongue piercing. 12, generally only after a hearing.
Violations & Fines
A violation of Chapter 112, including operating without a facility permit or artist license, or performing a prohibited procedure under § 112.10, is an infraction under § 112.99: a fine of up to $500 for a first offense and up to $1,500 for each subsequent offense. Each day past the deadline to correct an unsanitary condition ordered by the Health Department under § 112.11(D) counts as its own separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do tattoo artists need a personal license in Bartholomew County?
Can a shop operate while its permit application is pending?
Is scarification or branding legal at a Bartholomew County shop?
How often does the county inspect tattoo parlors?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bartholomew County
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