Davis, CA Local Taxes & Fees: Business Tax Classification (2026)
Key Facts
- Tax groups
- Group I through Group V
- Basis
- Gross receipts, by bracket
- Flat registration tax
- $10 per year
- Late penalty
- 10% plus 10% per month
- Multi-business owners
- May pick one highest-rate schedule
Summary
Davis sorts every business into one of five gross-receipts tax groups, Group I through Group V, under Municipal Code Article 19.04. The group a business falls into, from grocery stores to attorneys, sets which bracket schedule calculates its annual business license tax.
The amount of business license taxes to be paid to the city by any person engaged in or carrying on any profession, trade, calling, occupation or business hereinafter designated is hereby fixed and established as hereinafter in this chapter provided. ... To compute the total tax due for gross receipts in excess of one million dollars, find the appropriate bracket for each one million dollars or increment thereof, adding the total tax due for each one million dollars or increment thereof. (For example, a grocery store (Group I) has receipts of two million and fifty-five thousand dollars. The total tax due is three hundred one dollars and fifty cents for the first million plus three hundred one dollars and fifty cents for the second million plus sixteen dollars and fifty cents for the fifty-five thousand dollars, yielding a business license tax of six hundred nineteen dollars and fifty cents)
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4915048; v22 updated 2026-05-19).
Full Breakdown
04 of the Davis Municipal Code divides taxed businesses into five gross-receipts groups. Group IV covers licensed professionals such as attorneys, physicians, architects, engineers, real estate brokers and CPAs. Group III covers amusements, general contractors and subcontractors, and business or personal services. Group II covers ambulance services, artists, commercial printing, finance companies, hospitals, newspapers, restaurants, vending machines, commercial property rental, and hotels, motels and apartment houses. Group I covers auto and boat dealers, gas stations, grocery stores, and food wholesaling, manufacturing, and public utilities. Group V is reserved for businesses the city council designates by resolution.
020, on top of whichever group's gross-receipts tax applies, and that registration tax is non-refundable and not prorated. 080 sets the tax owed per gross-receipts bracket, in roughly ten-thousand-dollar increments, for each group. For gross receipts above a million dollars, the code applies the bracket total once per million-dollar increment: the code's own worked example, a Group I grocery store with two million and fifty-five thousand dollars in receipts, computes a six hundred nineteen dollar and fifty cent tax by adding the per-million bracket twice, plus the bracket for the remaining fifty-five thousand dollars.
Violations & Fines
It is unlawful under Section 19.02.010 to transact business in Davis without first paying the applicable business license tax and complying with the article's other requirements. A late annual tax carries a ten percent penalty on the amount due, plus another ten percent for every additional month it stays unpaid, under Section 19.02.080.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Davis decide my business's tax rate?
Is there a flat fee on top of the gross-receipts tax?
What happens if I pay my business license tax late?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Davis
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