Taunton, MA Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

' It applies in every zoning district for a $25 application fee, but only professional offices and storage of materials for other businesses qualify; the home's primary use must remain residential. The subsection then lists ten standing requirements that apply at all times, including that the business use can't exceed 20% of the residential structure or unit, or use more than 75% of the gross floor area of an existing accessory building such as a garage or shed, that no additions or new buildings may be built to conduct the activity, that all storage and business activity must stay inside existing structures with no outdoor activity ever, and that the business can't employ anyone who doesn't live at the location.

The last requirement is procedural rather than physical: the accessory business use must be registered with and approved by the City Planner's office before it can operate, which functions as Taunton's permitting step for this use. Because the rule sits in the Table of Use Regulations rather than a separate home-occupation chapter, it applies uniformly whether the residence sits in a single-family, two-family or multifamily district, and it stacks with the separate no-client-visits and no-signage restrictions in the same subsection, so an approved home occupation in Taunton is, by design, invisible from the street.