Volusia County, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)
Key Facts
- Local hook
- itinerant merchant host license
- State law cross-referenced
- F.S. § 877.04
- Scope
- temporary/event tattoo booths only
- License term
- 1 year, expires Sept. 30
- Zoning limit
- commercial/industrial parcels only
- Enforcement
- county + sheriff health/safety review
Summary
Volusia County's only tattoo-specific text sits inside its itinerant merchant licensing article: § 26-54(h) requires any temporary tattoo booth operating at a recognized event like Bike Week to follow Florida's tattooing law, F.S. § 877.04, on top of the standard one-year itinerant merchant host license the property owner must hold.
(a)Requirement. No itinerant merchant may operate on any site or parcel of property unless the owner of said property has obtained an itinerant merchant host license. ... (d)Term. All itinerant merchant host licenses shall be issued for a one-year term. The initial term will be from July 1, 2007, to September 30, 2008, and from October 1 to September 30 for every year thereafter. ... (h)Tattoo services. Tattoo services must operate in compliance with the provisions set forth in F.S. § 877.04, as amended, and any other applicable state laws.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 108 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
04, as amended, and any other applicable state laws, the only place the county code mentions tattooing. That clause lives inside the itinerant merchant article (Ch. 26, Art. III), which applies only in the unincorporated county (§ 26-52) and only to temporary vendors tied to 'recognized events' such as Bike Week, Biketoberfest, Speed Weeks and the Pepsi 400 (§ 26-51). Before a tattoo booth can set up, the property owner must first hold an itinerant merchant host license under § 26-54(a), pay the county-council-set fee (c), and post the license where the public can see it (f); the license runs a one-year term expiring September 30 (d).
Because tattooing involves needles and bodily fluids, a booth is also likely to fall under the health-and-safety review in § 26-54(j), which lets the sheriff's office impose conditions on activities affecting public health or safety and treat a violation of those conditions as grounds to revoke the host license. 04 directly, not to Volusia County's itinerant merchant licensing.
Violations & Fines
A tattoo vendor operating without the property's itinerant merchant host license, or in violation of the F.S. § 877.04 compliance duty in § 26-54(h), exposes the host license to the revocation process in § 26-57; the county also bars a new license for 12 months after a code-enforcement noncompliance finding, or 24 months after a repeat revocation, under § 26-54(k).
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Volusia County have its own tattoo shop licensing scheme?
Does this rule reach a permanent tattoo studio in DeLand or Ormond Beach?
What must a temporary tattoo booth at Bike Week actually do to be legal?
Can the county shut down a noncompliant tattoo vendor's license?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Volusia County
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Volusia County to another location·View the Florida business licensing & operations overview
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