Pomona, CA Local Taxes & Fees: Business Tax Classification (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- City Code Sec. 50-411
- Retail threshold
- 75% of gross receipts from sales
- Employee tiers
- 5 brackets, <6 to >60 employees
- Contractor job fee
- 30% of building permit / 100% MEP
- Operating unlicensed
- Infraction, separate violation per day
- Business promotion district cap
- Class III capped at $1,500
Summary
Pomona sorts businesses into gross-receipts and employee-count tiers under City Code Sec. 50-411, charging retailers, professionals and landlords based on scale rather than a flat citywide fee. Sec. 50-412 layers a separate itemized schedule onto specialty and entertainment-type businesses, from auctioneers and pawnbrokers to junk dealers and secondhand dealers.
Every person engaged in the business of making sales at retail, where 75 percent of the gross receipts of such business are derived from such sales, shall pay an annual business license tax (based upon the annual gross receipts of the business) in the amount indicated in the city's business license tax schedule available through the city's revenue division and available on the city's website.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: City Code: Supplement 31).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 50-411(a) taxes any retailer earning 75 percent or more of gross receipts from sales at retail based on the annual gross receipts schedule published by the revenue division. Subsection (b) sweeps in listed businesses such as hotels, kennels, laundries, mobile home parks and physical culture studios, and, for businesses that receive no direct city revenue, applies a five-tier employee count schedule: fewer than six, seven to 15, 16 to 30, 31 to 60, and more than 60 employees. Subsection (c) applies the same employee-tier structure to professionals including attorneys, accountants, engineers, physicians, real estate brokers and veterinarians.
Subsection (f) hits contractors with a job fee equal to 30 percent of the grading or building permit fee, or 100 percent of the mechanical, electrical or plumbing permit fee, due when the permit issues, unless the work is done by an owner-builder on their own property. Sec. 50-412 sets a parallel schedule for auction houses, billiard rooms, bowling alleys, dance studios, junk dealers and auto dismantlers, pawnbrokers, peddlers, secondhand dealers, and stock and bond brokers, among others. Within the business promotion district, Sec. 6 times the ordinary license tax, capped at $1,500 or three-tenths of one percent of gross annual receipts, whichever is less.
Violations & Fines
Sec. 50-336 makes conducting business without a required license an infraction, with each day of operation counted as a separate violation. Sec. 50-333(c) gives the business license division, its deputies and any police officer the power to enter a place of business, demand the license certificate, and cite anyone who willfully refuses to exhibit it as a misdemeanor. Refusing to permit an examination of business books and records under Sec. 50-340 is separately grounds for suspension, cancellation or revocation of the license under Sec. 50-381, on top of any other criminal or civil penalty.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Pomona decide how much business license tax a company owes?
What happens if a business operates in Pomona without a license?
Are pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers taxed differently than other Pomona businesses?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Pomona
California rules heatmap·Compare Pomona to another location·View the California local taxes & fees overview
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