La Habra, CA Local Taxes & Fees: Business Tax Classification (2026)

Section 5.04.380 makes classifying every business tax license an administrative function of the director of finance, who assigns each applicant to Class A (retail or service), Class B (wholesale or manufacturing), Class C (professional or consulting), Class D (no fixed place of business in the city), or Class E (enumerated businesses such as amusements, auctions, circuses, contractors and coin-operated machines). Class A pays a minimum thirty-five dollars a year plus twenty-five cents per one thousand dollars of gross annual receipts, capped at five hundred dollars a year under Section 5.04.410.

Class B pays the same thirty-five dollar minimum plus seven and one-half cents per one thousand dollars of receipts, also capped at five hundred dollars under Section 5.04.430. Class C professionals pay thirty-five dollars per partner or professional employee, five dollars for each other employee, plus thirty-five cents per one thousand dollars of receipts under Section 5.04.450, with the same five hundred dollar ceiling. If a licensee believes its individual business does not belong in the classification it was given because of circumstances peculiar to it, as distinguished from other business of the same kind, Section 5.04.390 lets it apply to the director of finance for reclassification, triggering an investigation.

Section 5.04.400 requires the director to notify the applicant by mail of the outcome, and the applicant then has fifteen days from that mailing to appeal the classification decision to the city council under Section 15.04.130. A license issued under any class remains subject to Section 5.04.290's misdemeanor penalty for violations of Chapter 5.04.