Fairbanks
City of Fairbanks Clerk's Office
In short
City of Fairbanks Clerk's Office issues 8 permits we publish for Fairbanks, last verified 2026-09-14. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Business License (gross-receipts tiered) | City of Fairbanks Clerk's Office | Priced on prior-year gross receipts across twelve tiers, regardless of how many physical locations the business has in the city: $50.00 up to $49,999; $120.00 from $50,000 to $249,999; $350.00 from $250,000 to $999,999; $580.00 from $1,000,000 to $2,999,999; $1,125.00 from $3,000,000 to $9,999,999; $2,200.00 from $10,000,000 to $19,999,999; $3,350.00 from $20,000,000 to $39,999,999; $4,500.00 from $40,000,000 to $59,999,999; $5,900.00 from $60,000,000 to $79,999,999; $11,500.00 from $80,000,000 to $99,999,999; $16,000.00 from $100,000,000 to $119,999,999; and $25,000.00 at $120,000,000 and above. A youth business license for anyone under eighteen is $1.00 and optional. A renewal received on or after March 1 incurs a $50.00 penalty, and violating the article carries a further $50.00 civil penalty. | the license expires on the last day of January following the licensing year; renewals are due the last business day of February, and fees and licenses are nontransferable and nonrefundable | 2026-09-14 |
| Auto Repair Shop — General Business License Applies (Fairbanks)only if it applies to you | City of Fairbanks Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Retail Store (covered by the general business license; nothing retail-specific)only if it applies to you | City of Fairbanks Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable beyond the general business license, which is listed as a separate requirement for Fairbanks | 2026-09-14 |
| Salon and Barber Shop — State Shop Owner License Applies (Fairbanks)only if it applies to you | City of Fairbanks Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Food Establishment License — State of Alaska DEC License Applies (Fairbanks)only if it applies to you | City of Fairbanks Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable locally; the state license is annual | 2026-09-14 |
| Food Truck Licensing — City of Fairbanks Position (transient vendor article repealed in 2014)only if it applies to you | City of Fairbanks Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable; the City Code's Chapter 14 contains no mobile vendor license article | 2026-09-14 |
| Veterinary Practice — State Practitioner Licensing and Local Obligations (Fairbanks)only if it applies to you | City of Fairbanks Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
| Fitness Studio — General Business License Applies (Fairbanks)only if it applies to you | City of Fairbanks Clerk's Office | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-14 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
City Business License (gross-receipts tiered)
Among Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks, this is the only true general business license — Anchorage and Juneau both enumerate the businesses they license instead. Its reach is deliberately broad: §14-601(a) captures any entity that 'maintains business premises within the city limits, delivers goods or provides services within the city limits, or otherwise does business in the city limits.' Two consequences catch people out. First, an out-of-area business with no premises anywhere in the Borough still needs one if it takes a contract in the city — §14-602(b) requires it 'prior to delivery of such products or services,' with the fee 'calculated based upon the estimated gross proceeds (receipts) of the products or services provided under each contract.' Second, the license dies with a change of ownership: the Clerk states that 'If a business is sold, the new owner must purchase a new license.' A business starting mid-year estimates its receipts and pays on the estimate. Renewals can be filed online from January 2026 through the Tyler Portico portal, but new applications cannot. The exemptions are few and narrow: FGC 14-604, last amended by Ord. No. 6280 in 2024, exempts only a business whose sole activity is shipping goods or providing intangible services to city buyers on order 'without the physical presence of any owner, employee, or agent in the city'; one present only for short visits such as trade shows or special events, 'so long as their presence is covered by a multi-vendor permit' under Article III; anyone making casual sales such as garage or yard sales; and a youth under eighteen doing business on a seasonal or temporary basis, who may take the optional $1.00 youth license instead. Non-profits get no exemption — the Clerk answers that a non-profit in the city must register because §§14-601 to 14-603 'do not allow any exemptions.' This license sits on top of the State of Alaska business license at $50 per year, which is described on the Alaska state page.
Auto Repair Shop — General Business License Applies (Fairbanks)
No fee applies beyond the general business license: the City Clerk's Licenses and Permits page lists no vehicle repair license, and the City's Chapter 14 licenses towing vehicles under Article X, a distinct activity from repair, with no article in its list reaching repair itself. A repair shop's obligations are the city general business license on gross receipts, a free Borough zoning permit, a Borough conditional use permit at $800.00 where the district makes the use conditional, the city building permit for any fit-out, the sign permit, and the $180.00 fire inspection. Which Borough districts treat vehicle service as conditional is now resolved for the two commercial districts: FNSBC 18.64.020 lists 'Automobile service and repair,' 'Automobile service stations' and 'Automobile car washes, self-service and automatic' as permitted uses in the GC general commercial district, and the LC light commercial district permits GC uses in a building of not more than 5,000 square feet, but expressly excludes 'gasoline, propane and diesel sales' — so a repair shop is permitted in LC while a shop that also dispenses fuel is not.
Retail Store (covered by the general business license; nothing retail-specific)
No fee applies beyond the general business license: the City Clerk's Licenses and Permits page lists no retail-specific license, so the general business license, listed as a separate requirement for Fairbanks and priced on prior-year gross receipts, is the whole of the City's licensing for a retailer. Chapter 74 of the City Code defines its taxes as covering 'alcoholic beverage, room rental, tobacco, marijuana, and gasoline sales' only, so under that chapter there is no city general sales tax registration. A retailer's remaining obligations are the free Borough zoning permit, a conditional use permit at $800.00 where the district requires it, the building permit for fit-out, the sign permit and the $180.00 fire inspection.
Salon and Barber Shop — State Shop Owner License Applies (Fairbanks)
No fee applies locally: the City Clerk's Licenses and Permits page lists no salon or barber license, and Chapter 14 of the City Code contains no cosmetology, salon or barber article. The State licenses the premises instead: a shop owner license is $150.00 application plus $260.00 license, biennially, expiring August 31 of odd-numbered years, and it covers a shop performing hairdressing, barbering, esthetics, manicuring, body piercing, tattooing or permanent cosmetic colouring. Shops must file a DEC certification of compliance with 18 AAC 23, or a DEC certificate of sanitary standards for body art. One stale reference is recorded rather than followed: the City Clerk's business license FAQ refers to the City licensing 'Massage Practitioners,' but no such license appears in the current Chapter 14 article list, the Clerk's own Licenses and Permits page or the June 2026 fee schedule, and the code's own editor's note records that Ord. No. 5968 repealed the former Article VII, which 'pertained to massage practitioners,' in its entirety effective July 1, 2015.
Food Establishment License — State of Alaska DEC License Applies (Fairbanks)
No fee applies locally: the City Clerk's Licenses and Permits page lists no food license, and the health chapters of both local codes contain no food-licensing provisions. The City's Chapter 34, HEALTH, comprises In General, two RESERVED articles, Pollution Control, Tobacco Smoke and Hydronic Heaters — no food-safety provisions at all. The Borough's Title 21, Health and Safety, as codified in the Borough Code, covers emergency communication services, street addressing, carbon monoxide, oxygenated fuel, fireworks, garbage and solid waste, vehicle plug-ins and air quality, with no food chapter in that list. Alaska DEC therefore licenses a Fairbanks restaurant, and its fee schedule runs $400.00 for a food service establishment seating twenty-five or fewer, $490.00 for twenty-six to one hundred and $580.00 for one hundred and one or more, with a mobile food service at $215.00, a limited food service at $190.00 and a retail mobile vendor at $190.00. DEC's own inspections page confirms the boundary by naming the single exception: its data covers 'those retail food establishments located outside the Municipality of Anchorage.' What Fairbanks does require of a restaurant is the general business license, the Borough zoning permit, a building permit for any fit-out including the grease trap and hood exhaust permits, and the $180.00 fire inspection.
Food Truck Licensing — City of Fairbanks Position (transient vendor article repealed in 2014)
No fee applies for a city mobile vendor license: three current official City sources each list no mobile vendor license. First, the City's Schedule of Fees and Charges for Services effective June 14, 2026 carries exactly two business license entries, both under Chapter 14: the gross-receipts license at §14-602 and the Youth Business License at §14-605 for $1.00. There is no transient vendor line. Second, the Clerk's own current license pages enumerate what the City issues — chauffeur, commercial refuse collector, master operator, private ambulance service, private detective, vehicle for hire, youth business, event permits and noise variance — and a transient vendor license is not among them. Third, Chapter 14's current article list contains no peddler, transient vendor or mobile food article, and the code dates the repeal itself: the editor's note to Article III records that 'Ord. No. 5943, § 1, effective April 26, 2014, repealed the former Art. III, §§ 14-71—14-86, and enacted a new Art. III as set out herein. The former Art. III pertained to transient vendors.' The Clerk's FAQ reference to a 'Transient Vendor' license is therefore more than a decade out of date. What does apply: a food truck needs the city general business license on gross receipts, a Borough zoning permit for its base of operations, and the Alaska DEC mobile food service license at $215.00, or $190.00 as a retail mobile vendor. One exemption matters to a visiting truck. §14-604(b) exempts business owners 'who are only physically present in the city for short visits (whether at trade shows, special events, sales visits, etc.), so long as their presence is covered by a multi-vendor permit' — a permit §14-72 places on the event's sponsor, not the vendor — so a truck whose only presence in the city is at permitted multi-vendor events needs no city business license, while one that also trades in the city outside such events does. Two City instruments may apply depending on how the truck trades — a Multi-Vendor Event permit, which the sponsor obtains, at $620.00 for twenty or more vendors, $620.00 for recurring non-consecutive events or $310.00 for events with fewer than twenty vendors, and a Special Event permit at $210.00 plus $140.00 per hour of permitting officer time where streets or sidewalks are used, with applications due twenty-one calendar days ahead.
Veterinary Practice — State Practitioner Licensing and Local Obligations (Fairbanks)
No fee applies locally: the City Clerk's Licenses and Permits page lists no veterinary license, and under 12 AAC 02.350 Alaska licenses the practitioner rather than the premises — that section sets fees for veterinarians and veterinary technicians only, with no facility line anywhere in the fee chapter. A clinic's obligations are the city general business license, a free Borough zoning permit, a Borough conditional use permit at $800.00 where required, the building permit for fit-out and the $180.00 fire inspection. The zoning half of this question is now settled: FNSBC 18.64.020 lists 'Animal hospitals and veterinary clinics' as a permitted use in the GC general commercial district, and the LC light commercial district permits GC uses in a building of not more than 5,000 square feet subject to its operating-hours and lighting standards, so a clinic is permitted rather than conditional in both commercial districts. Boarding is the exception and the distinction is worth planning around: 'Animal boarding and breeding facilities' is a conditional use in GC, so a clinic that adds boarding needs the $800.00 conditional use permit even though the clinic itself does not. Neither animal code adds a license to that. According to Borough Title 22, Animals, in its eight chapters as codified through Ord. 2026-20-1A of July 2026, there is no license, permit or inspection for a clinic or a boarding kennel: the one duty it places on a practice is that 'every licensed veterinarian' must report a rabies suspect to animal control 'as soon as practicable and no later than the end of the following business day' under 22.24.020, a veterinary hospital appears otherwise only as a place of rabies quarantine at the owner's expense, and its references to boarding concern the fees the Borough shelter charges for impounded animals. The City's own Chapter 6, Animals, has three sections — livestock stall-feeding, disposal of dead animals and pet excrement — and an editor's note applying the Borough's animal regulations inside the city.
Fitness Studio — General Business License Applies (Fairbanks)
No fee applies beyond the general business license: the City Clerk's Licenses and Permits page lists no fitness license, Chapter 14 of the City Code contains no fitness, gym or health club article, and the fee-section list of 12 AAC 02, under which Alaska sets its occupational license fees, contains no section for fitness or health clubs. A studio's obligations are the city general business license on gross receipts, a free Borough zoning permit, a Borough conditional use permit at $800.00 where the district requires it, the city building permit for fit-out, the sign permit and the $180.00 fire inspection.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Fairbanks
- Phone
- (907) 459-6702
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Business Licensing Forms and Fees — the State of Alaska's own $50 per year business licence required of every business under AS 43.70.020(a), with the $25 senior and disabled veteran rates and the December 31 expiryAlaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- City Business License — the Clerk's own current page confirming that city business licenses are valid for one calendar year only, that the standard new license fee is $50, that renewals received on or after March 1 incur a $50 penalty, and that a license is not transferable on sale of the businessCity of Fairbanks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- City of Fairbanks Schedule of Fees and Charges for Services, Resolution No. 5216, effective June 14, 2026 — the twelve-tier gross receipts business licence table, the fire inspection and fire plan review fees, the Engineering plat review and right-of-way fees, and the trade licence feesCity of Fairbanks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Fairbanks General Code — Chapter 14 (Businesses), including Article XIII §§14-601 to 14-605 general business licensing, §14-602(b) reaching out-of-town contractors, §14-603 penalties, Article III Multi-Vendor Events and Article VIII Plumbers; Chapter 34 (Health), whose Articles II and III are reserved; and the complete Chapter 1 to 86 structure establishing the absence of any zoning, planning or subdivision chapterCity of Fairbanks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Fairbanks General Code §14-604, Exemptions, as last amended by Ord. No. 6280 (May 25, 2024), read in the Municode version of January 28, 2026 — the four classes exempt from §§14-601 to 14-603: remote sellers with no physical presence in the city, short-visit vendors covered by a multi-vendor event permit, casual sales such as garage or yard sales, and youths under eighteen doing business on a seasonal or temporary basisCity of Fairbanks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Fairbanks General Code Chapter 14, Article III, Multi-Vendor Events (§§14-71 to 14-74), read in the Municode version of January 28, 2026 — the editor's note recording that Ord. No. 5943, effective April 26, 2014, repealed the former Article III on transient vendors and enacted the multi-vendor event article, and §14-72 placing the permit on the event's sponsorCity of Fairbanks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Fairbanks General Code Chapter 14, Article VII, Reserved, read in the Municode version of January 28, 2026 — the editor's note recording that Ord. No. 5968, effective July 1, 2015, repealed the former Article VII on massage practitioners in its entiretyCity of Fairbanks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Fairbanks General Code Chapter 6, Animals — three sections only (§6-1 stall-feeding livestock, §6-2 dead animals, §6-3 pet excrement) and an editor's note that the Borough's animal regulations apply in the city; nothing on veterinary premises or animal boardingCity of Fairbanks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Fairbanks North Star Borough Code — Title 18 (Zoning) including §18.100.010 vesting administration in the Department of Community Planning and the CBD Central Business District chapter, Title 17 (Subdivisions), Title 15 (Buildings and Construction, comprising only floodplain management), Title 21 (Health and Safety, containing no food or health inspection chapter) and Title 9, which contains no business licensing chapterFairbanks North Star Borough · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Fairbanks North Star Borough Code Title 22, Animals, chapters 22.04 to 22.32, current through Ordinance 2026-20-1A (July 1, 2026) — the 22.04.010 definition of a veterinary hospital, the 22.24.020 duty on every licensed veterinarian to report a rabies suspect by the end of the following business day, quarantine in a veterinary hospital at the owner's expense under 22.24.030 and 22.24.040, and shelter boarding fees for impounded animals under 22.16.070; no licence, permit or inspection for veterinary premises or boarding kennelsFairbanks North Star Borough · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Licenses and Permits — the City Clerk's own list of the licenses and permits the City issuesCity of Fairbanks · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
Other offices serving Fairbanks
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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Alaska jurisdictions
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