James City County, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

00 of gross receipts (or the applicable flat fee for lower-earning businesses). The license is not proratable, meaning it cannot be prorated for a partial year. Before the commissioner of the revenue can issue that license, the applicant must present a certificate from the county administrator permitting operation of the tattoo business; without that administrator sign-off, the commissioner cannot license the business at all. The tattoo license sits within Article II, 'Specific Businesses and Activities,' of Chapter 12 (Licenses), alongside other named trades such as detective agencies, bondsmen and coin-operated machine operators that likewise route through § 12-21's rate table but carry their own certificate or character-review requirement.

Because tattooing is licensed as a personal service enterprise rather than a retail or business service, gross receipts from the tattoo work itself, not merchandise sales, drive the tax computation, and the situs rules in § 12-17 attribute those receipts to the definite place of business where the tattooing is performed.