We have updated and streamlined the look of our renewal form this year as we continue to strive to serve you better. The update breaks the renewal form into 7 sections: (1) Taxpayer Information, (2) Tax Reform & Incentives, (3) Tax Worksheet, (4) Certifications, (5) Payment Info, (6) Information Update, and (7) Vendor / Subcontractor / Commercial Tenant Listing. (At minimum, all 2021 renewals should complete sections I, II, III and IV)
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Section I - Taxpayer Information
The Taxpayer Information section should be completed with the Account Number, current Legal Name, DBA (if applicable) Business Address and Mailing Address that the City of Los Angeles has on file for your business.
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If you either (1) received a pre-printed form that contains information that is no longer accurate or (2) are using a blank form and need to update information the Office of Finance has on file for your business, please check the Change of Information box and report changes or corrections on Section VI - Information Update.
You should also check the Change of Information box and complete Section VI if you have sold rental property, the business was either entirely or partially sold or discontinued, or would like to renew based on a fiscal year and need to report the beginning month of your fiscal year cycle.
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Section II - Tax Reform and Incentives
This section includes steps for the Small Business Exemption and Creative Activities Exemptions.
- Small Business Exemption - The City of Los Angeles provides a small business exemption to businesses that (1) have worldwide gross receipts that did not exceed $100,000 for the 2022 calendar year and (2) file/postmark their renewal by February 28, 2023. If you meet both the monetary and timing requirements, check the box on line 1 and enter your worldwide gross receipts, which includes gross receipts from all operations inside and outside the City of Los Angeles for 2020 on the space provided.
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- Creative Activities Exemption - The City of Los Angeles provides an exemption to "Creative Artists" if:
(1) the worldwide gross receipts from "Creative Artist" activities did not exceed $300,000 for the 2022 calendar year; and
(2) your renewal is filed on or before February 28, 2023.
A "Creative Artist" is defined as a person who operates whether
(i) as an individual;
(ii) through a corporation with one individual as the only shareholder and the only employee; or
(iii) through a limited liability company with one individual as the only member and the only employee.
Those who may be eligible for this exemption are: actor/announcers; art directors, costume designers, production designers, scenery/set designers; choreographers; cinematographers; musical conductors; directors; motion picture editors; sound dubbing, special effects, or titling artists; creative writing; music/lyrics arrangers, composers, or writers, authors; cartoon artists; lithographers/painters/sculptors of visual fine arts; drawing, graphic, illustration or sketch artists; and photographers (if primarily artistic and not journalistic or commercial). Please refer to LAMC §21.29(b) for more complete definitions or descriptions.
If you meet both requirements for the Creative Activities Exemption, check the box on line 2 and enter your worldwide gross receipts from Creative Artist Activities on the space provided.
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Application of Overpayment: Check this box only if you have an overpayment that you want to apply to your 2023 renewal. Please note that an overpayment cannot be applied if the original payment date was over three years ago. If applicable, check the box on line 3 and enter the overpayment amount. Deduct this amount from your Total Amount Due on Line 17.
Section III - Tax Worksheet
This section consists of a table that will be used to perform tax calculations for each fund/class associated with your business. Please follow the steps below for calculation of the tax due for each activity.
A. Business Activity - If using a pre-printed form, Column A should list all your taxable business activities that are currently reported to the City of Los Angeles.
i. If you are in a business activity not listed on the Renewal Form or are using a blank renewal form, write a description of the Business Activity on lines 4-10 under Column A.
ii. If you are still in business but have ceased one or more of the activities listed, or if you are no longer in business, check the Change of Information box in Section I and complete Section VI as shown above.
iii. If you purchased your business from the owner shown on this Renewal Form, please contact one of our offices listed here.
B. Fund/Class - Column B should list the fund/class that correlates to each taxable business activity listed in Column A. (A listing of Fund/Classes can be found in §21.41 et seq. of the LAMC. You may also refer to the business tax rate charts available here.)
C. Primary Class - If you have 2 or more Business Activities whose "Basis for Tax" is gross receipts listed on lines 4-10, and one activity constitutes at least 80% of your annual taxable gross receipts, you may then consolidate all gross receipts and report them under this one Primary Class by checking the appropriate box in Column C. This allows you to possibly lower your tax liability if your primary classification has a lower tax rate than other business activities. If electing to consolidate, leave Columns D, F and H blank for the activities which were not selected as the Primary Class. For more information on Single Primary Tax Classification Election, please refer to §21.06.1 of the LAMC.
The following example assumes a wholesale and retail business that had gross receipts in 2022 of $1,000,000.00. $800,000.00 was attributed to wholesale activities and $200,000.00 was attributed to retail activities. Since the wholesale business constituted 80% of all gross receipts from 2022, the business would be entitled to elect wholesale as its primary class and take advantage of the lower tax rate for wholesale activities.
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D. Basis for Tax - Column D describes the manner in which your fund(s)/class(es) are taxed. Please refer to the table below and enter your Basis for Tax for each Fund/Class code you are reporting on your renewal.
| FUND/CLASS |
BASIS FOR TAX |
| L055, L094, L108 |
Flat Rate |
| L062 |
Number of Tables |
| L063, L064, L265, L763 |
Number of Machines |
| L070 |
Number of Alleys, Machines, Tables and Courts |
| L109, L309, L142, L188, L193, L194, L195, L196 |
See Worksheet |
| All Other Funds/Classes |
Gross Receipts |
The term "gross receipts" shall mean gross receipts (including reimbursed expenses) from the previous calendar year or your previously designated fiscal year reported on an accrual or cash basis in accordance with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines. If reporting on an accrual basis, you may exclude from your reportable gross receipts any uncollectible amount ("bad debt") apportioned to the City of Los Angeles, which has been written off as a "bad debt" in compliance with IRS guidelines. Any portion of "bad debt" subsequently recovered by a taxpayer shall constitute taxable gross receipts in the year that it is recovered. Gross receipts associated with certain activities may be excluded from the basis for tax for businesses conducting only part of their activities within the City or whose gross receipts include amounts received from or paid to a related entity.
Small Business Exemption - If you checked the box on line 1 , as described above, and meet the requirements for the small business exemption,enter your taxable gross receipts in Col. D and enter "0" on line 17 .
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Creative Artist Exemption - If you checked the box on line 2 of Section II and meet both requirements of the Creative Artist Exemption, do one of the following for each fund/class listed:
- If all gross receipts for the fund/class are derived from "Creative Activities," enter "0" in Column D "Basis for Tax"
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- If all gross receipts are not derived from "Creative Activities," enter the taxable gross receipts (gross receipts not attributable to creative activities) in Column D, "Basis for Tax."
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Rental Income - If your LGR2 fund/class is rental income only and is less than $20,000 , you will receive an exemption and no tax will be due. Enter your taxable gross receipts in Col. D and enter “0” on line 17 .
E. Tax Rate - This is the rate of tax for the correlating activity. If you are using a preprinted form, the correct rates should be printed in Column E. If you are using a blank form or adding a new business activity, you can find tax rates from our Tax Rate Tables. If you see "WKST" in Column E or are renewing for business activities requiring a specialized worksheet, please go to the appropriate supplemental worksheet to calculate the tax.
F. Tax Computation
G. Back Tax - This column only applies to businesses or activities newly established in 2022. Copy the amount from Column F into Column G, unless "N/A" is printed in Column G.
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H. Tax Due - Add Columns F and G and enter the result in Column H
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- Add lines 4-11 in Column H and enter the sum on line 12.
- As a multimedia business located in the Hollywood/North Hollywood redevelopment areas, your tax liability is limited to $25,000 plus 10% of the amount in excess of $25,000. If line 12 is greater than $25,000, subtract $25,000 from line 12 and enter the result on line 14. If line 13 does not exceed $25,000, copy the figure from line 12 onto line 14 and skip both line 13 and line 13A.
13A. Multiply line 13 by 10% (.10) and enter the result on line 13A.
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- This line is the total tax due and should reflect either (1) the exact figure on line 12; or (2) the figure on line 13A plus $25,000.
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Timely Filing: Business Taxes are due January 1st of each year and are delinquent if not paid on or before the last day of February of each year. If February 28th falls on Saturday or Sunday, then the next business day will be considered timely. March 1st is the last day for timely filing for 2023 renewals. All 2023 payments received at any of our branch offices by 5:00 P.M. on March 1st postmarked by the U.S. Post Office, or filed electronically not later than 11:59 P.M. on March 1st, are considered timely. If you are completing your renewal after March 1, 2023, then compute interest and penalty on late payments as shown below.
As our staff is limited during this time period, please do not visit our branch locations.
- Interest - Interest at the rate of 0.5% per month applies as of March 2, 2023 and the first day of each month thereafter until paid. Interest applies only to the amount of principal tax due. To calculate, multiply 0.005 x number of months delinquent x amount on line 15.
Example (Using the same figures from the tax computation above):
| Date Filed |
Interest Rate |
Months Delinquent |
Principal |
Interest Due |
| 04/15/2021 |
0.5% |
2 |
$25,530.00 |
$255.30 |
- Penalty - A penalty of 5% applies to the amount of unpaid tax due as of March 1, 2019; 10% as of April 1st, 15% as of May 1st, 20% as of June 1st and caps at 40% as of July 1st. Penalty applies only to the amount on line 16.
Example (Using the same figures from the tax computation above):
| Date Filed |
Penalty Rate |
Months Delinquent |
Principal |
Penalty Due |
| 04/15/2021 |
10% |
2 |
$25,530.00 |
$2,553.00 |
- Total Amount Due - Add lines 12-16, and enter the result on line 17. This is the total amount due to the City of Los Angeles for your Business Tax Renewal.
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Section IV - Certifications
The owner, partner, or officer must sign and print their name. Indicate your title and daytime phone number, with extension if applicable. Enter the date and provide an email address where the City may contact you.
Section V - Payment Information
If payment is due, please check the appropriate box corresponding to the method of payment you will be using. Only one form of payment is allowed.
- If paying by check, please write your account number on your check.
- If the total amount due is $50,000 or more, you must remit your payment to the City electronically via Automated Clearing House (ACH) transaction through your bank in addition to submitting the completed Renewal Form. You must pre-register no later than February 7th in order to make an ACH transaction. Please click here for more details.
Make a copy of your completed Renewal Form to retain for your records. If mailing your form, please ensure that your check is enclosed and mail the original with required signatures to the following address:
City of Los Angeles
Office of Finance
P.O. Box 513996
Los Angeles, CA 90051-3996
The renewal MUST BE POSTMARKED NO LATER THAN MIDNIGHT on February 28th, 2023. Your cancelled check or ACH confirmation is your receipt if payment is due. Proof of mailing is highly recommended.
A new "Business Tax Registration Certificate" will not be mailed to you unless changes or corrections were required. The certificate you have remains valid unless it is suspended or revoked.