Yuba City, CA Local Taxes & Fees: Business Tax Classification (2026)

Sec. 27 divides every for-profit activity conducted in the City into eleven primary business categories, taxed on a gross-receipts basis, and four special categories, taxed on a flat-fee or square-footage basis under Sec. 28. The primary list runs from administrative headquarters, contractors, manufacturing and professions through public utilities, recreation and entertainment, rental of residential and nonresidential property, retail, services, and wholesaling; the special list covers itinerant merchants and peddlers, special events, transportation of persons and goods, and warehousing. The City Council, not the Municipal Code, fixes the dollar rates and fee schedules for each category by resolution, and can amend that resolution at any time.

Sec. 2, owners of three or fewer residential rental units, and any person 16 or under earning $2,500 or less a year from all business activity. Nonprofit organizations exempt from federal or state income tax under Sec. 24 must still apply for a license, which the Collector stamps 'Tax-Exempt,' and that exemption can be revoked if the organization is later found ineligible. Operating without first obtaining the required license triggers a 20% penalty of the tax owed under Sec. 18(a), calculated back to the month business began, capped at three years.

A violation is a criminal infraction unless the chapter specifically makes it a misdemeanor, and each day of continued violation is a separate offense under Sec. 18(b).