§ 10-3. License requirement.

(a)

Every person engaging in this jurisdiction in any business, trade, profession, occupation or calling (collectively hereinafter "a business" as defined in this article, unless otherwise exempted by law, shall apply for a license for each such business if (1) in the case of professional services, such person (i) maintains a definite office in this jurisdiction, or (ii) if such person does not maintain a definite office in the Commonwealth of Virginia but does maintain an abode in this jurisdiction, which abode for the purposes of this article shall be deemed a definite place of business, or (2) in the case of any other business, such person has a definite place of business or maintains an office in this jurisdiction; or (3) such person is engaged as a peddler or itinerant merchant, carnival or circus as specified in sections 58.1-3717, 3718, or 3728, respectively of the Code of Virginia, or is a contractor subject to section 58.1-3715 of the Code of Virginia, or is a public service corporation subject to section 58.1-3731 of the Code of Virginia. A separate license shall be required for each definite place of business. A person engaged in two or more businesses or professions carried on at the same place of business may elect to obtain one license for all such businesses and professions if all of the following criteria are satisfied: (1) each business or profession is licensable at the location and has satisfied any requirements imposed by state law or other provisions of the ordinances of this jurisdiction; (2) all of the businesses or professions are subject to the same tax rate, or, if subject to different tax rates, the licensee agrees to be taxed on all businesses and professions at the highest rate; and (3) the taxpayer agrees to supply such information as the assessor may require concerning the nature of the several businesses and their gross receipts.

(b)

Each person subject to a license tax shall apply for a license prior to beginning business, if he was not licensable in this jurisdiction on or before January 1 of the license year, or no later than March 1 of the current license year if he had been issued a license for the preceding license year. The application shall be on forms prescribed by the assessing official.

(c)

The tax shall be paid with the application in the case of any license not based on gross receipts or purchases. If, the tax is measured by the gross receipts or purchases of the business, the tax shall be paid on or before March 1.

(d)

The assessing official may grant an extension of time, not to exceed ninety days, in which to file an application for a license, for good cause. The extension may be conditioned upon the timely payment of a reasonable estimate of the appropriate tax, subject to adjustment to the correct tax at the end of the extension together with interest from the due date until the date paid and, if the estimate submitted with the extension is found to be unreasonable under the circumstances, a penalty of ten percent of the portion paid after the due date.

(e)

A penalty of ten percent of the tax may be imposed upon the failure to file an application or the failure to pay the tax by the appropriate due date. Only the late filing penalty shall be imposed by the assessing official if both the application and payment are late; however, both penalties may be assessed if the assessing official determines that the taxpayer has a history of noncompliance. In the case of an assessment of additional tax made by the assessing official, if the application and, if applicable, the return were made in good faith and the understatement of the tax was not due to any fraud, reckless or intentional disregard of the law by the taxpayer, there shall be no late penalty assessed with the additional tax. If any assessment of tax by the assessing official is not paid within thirty days the treasurer may impose a ten percent late payment penalty. The penalties shall not be imposed, or if imposed, shall be abated by the official who assessed them, if the failure to file or pay was not the fault of the taxpayer. In order to demonstrate lack of fault, the taxpayer must show that he acted responsibly and that the failure was due to events beyond his control.

"Acted responsibly" means that: (1) the taxpayer exercised the level of reasonable care that a prudent person would exercise under the circumstances in determining the filing obligations for the business; and (2) the taxpayer undertook significant steps to avoid or mitigate the failure, such as requesting appropriate extensions (where applicable), attempting to prevent a foreseeable impediment, acting to remove an impediment once it occurred, and promptly rectifying a failure once the impediment was removed or the failure discovered.

"Events beyond the taxpayer's control" include, but are not limited to, the unavailability of records due to fire or other casualty; the unavoidable absence (e.g., due to death or serious illness) of the person with the sole responsibility for tax compliance; or the taxpayer's reasonable reliance in good faith upon erroneous written information from the assessing official, who was aware of the relevant facts relating to the taxpayer's business when he provided the erroneous information.

(f)

Interest shall be charged on the late payment of the tax from the due date until the date paid without regard to fault or other reason for the late payment. Whenever an assessment of additional or omitted tax by the assessing official is found to be erroneous, all interest and penalty charged and collected on the amount of the assessment found to be erroneous shall be refunded together with interest on the refund from the date of payment or the due date, whichever is later. Interest shall be paid on the refund of any tax paid under this article from the date of payment or due date, whichever is later, whether attributable to an amended return or other reason. Interest on any refund shall be paid at the same rate charged under section 58.1-3916.

No interest shall accrue on an adjustment of estimated tax liability to actual liability at the conclusion of a base year. No interest shall be paid on a refund or charged on a late payment, in event of such adjustment, provided the refund or the late payment is made not more than thirty days from: (1) the date of the payment that created the refund, (2) or the due date of the tax, or (3) the date of the taxpayer's application for a refund, whichever is later. (11-16-95.)