Jacksonville Beach, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

The only provisions of the Jacksonville Beach Code that name tattooing are the definition in section 15-1 and the rate line in section 15-13. Section 15-1 reads a tattoo parlor and a body piercing salon as an establishment that engages in permanently defacing the anatomy or a place where body piercing occurs, so one definition covers both businesses.

Section 15-13 fixes the annual business tax for each classification and directs that the Standard Industrial Classification Manual (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1987) be used to establish the business class and the tax. Tattoo parlors sit under SIC code 7292 at 2,500.00. The same schedule prints 132.00 for tax return preparation services (7291) for the first preparer and 79.20 for miscellaneous personal services not elsewhere classified (7299).

The receipt itself follows chapter 15. Section 15-2(b) bars carrying on a business until a city local business tax receipt is procured, and the receipt is signed by the city clerk and city manager and posted in a conspicuous place on the premises. Section 15-3 requires a Federal Employer Identification Number or Social Security Number, and no receipt issues to an applicant whose address does not comply with the zoning laws of the city. Receipts are sold beginning August 1, are due on or before September 30, and expire on the last day of September. A person not liable before April 1 can buy a second-half receipt for one-half of the annual amount. Moving to a new location in the city or selling the business costs a ten dollar ($10.00) transfer fee under section 15-5, and section 15-8(b) treats each location as a separate business needing its own receipt. Section 15-11 applies the exemptions in F.S. §§ 205.054 through 205.193.