Huntsville
City of Huntsville Finance Department, Revenue Division
In short
City of Huntsville Finance Department, Revenue Division issues 6 permits we publish for Huntsville, last verified 2026-09-08. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal Business License — Schools (including Day Care)only if it applies to you | City of Huntsville Finance Department, Revenue Division | Schedule 76, by annual gross receipts: $65.00 up to $24,999, plus $1.00 per $1,000 over $25,000 and above. A facility caring for six or fewer children is exempt from this license tax entirely. | annual — calendar year, expires December 31 | 2026-09-08 |
| Municipal Business License — Retail Merchant | City of Huntsville Finance Department, Revenue Division | Schedule 56, by annual gross receipts: $35.00 up to $9,999; $65.00 for $10,000–$19,999; $65.00 plus $2.00 per $1,000 over $20,000 up to $249,999; $525.00 plus $1.00 per $1,000 over $250,000 and above. | annual — calendar year, expires December 31 | 2026-09-08 |
| Municipal Business License — Barbershop or Beauty Shop | City of Huntsville Finance Department, Revenue Division | Schedule 7: $50.00 for the first chair or station, plus $20.00 for each additional chair or station, required whether or not the chair is in use. Retail sale of product requires a separate merchant-retail license. | annual — calendar year, expires December 31 | 2026-09-08 |
| Municipal Business License — Restaurant, Cafe, Cafeteria | City of Huntsville Finance Department, Revenue Division | Schedule 74, by annual gross receipts: $65.00 up to $24,999; $65.00 plus $1.75 per $1,000 over $25,000 up to $249,999; $458.75 plus $1.25 per $1,000 over $250,000 up to $499,999; $771.25 plus $1.00 per $1,000 over $500,000 and above. A restaurant serving liquor pays an additional flat $1,200 a year under the separate Restaurant Retail Liquor schedule. | annual — calendar year, expires December 31, renews penalty-free January 1–31 | 2026-09-08 |
| Municipal Business License — Repairs | City of Huntsville Finance Department, Revenue Division | Schedule 73 (repairing or servicing property belonging to others), by annual gross receipts: $35.00 up to $4,999; $65.00 for $5,000–$9,999; $95.00 for $10,000–$24,999; $95.00 plus $1.00 per $1,000 over $25,000 and above. | annual — calendar year, expires December 31 | 2026-09-08 |
| Municipal Business License — General Building Contractor | City of Huntsville Finance Department, Revenue Division | Schedule 26, by annual gross receipts: $75.00 up to $24,999; $150.00 for $25,000–$99,999; $250.00 for $100,000–$999,999; $350.00 for $1,000,000–$4,999,999; $500.00 for $5,000,000–$9,999,999; $500.00 plus $0.25 per $1,000 over $10,000,000. Separate, identically-structured schedules apply to electrical, plumbing, gas-fitting, HVAC and specialty contractors. | annual — calendar year, expires December 31 | 2026-09-08 |
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
Municipal Business License — Schools (including Day Care)
On top of, not instead of, the state Department of Human Resources day care license recorded at the state layer.
Municipal Business License — Retail Merchant
Schedule 56 covers any business selling goods, wares or products to others for their consumption or use that no more specific schedule in the license list provides for; selling to others for resale is licensed instead under the wholesale schedule (58). For this schedule, gross receipts also include receipts from selling any registration, identification or other card a customer must hold to enter or to buy. A new business files a General Business Application, reviewed by several city departments for compliance with building codes and other ordinances in a process that can take up to 10 days, and its first-year fee is generally based on estimated gross receipts, adjusted at the second-year renewal. A separate license is required for each location inside the city limits, and moving within the city, changing form of ownership or federal ID number, or adding a line of business requires a new application. Licenses expire December 31 and must be renewed by January 31; a 15% penalty is added from February 1 and 30% from March 1.
Municipal Business License — Barbershop or Beauty Shop
On top of, not instead of, the state cosmetology/barbering board's own shop license recorded at the state layer.
Municipal Business License — Restaurant, Cafe, Cafeteria
Late renewal adds a 15% penalty from March 1 and 30% from April 1. Schedule 74's own definition sweeps in any business 'where a food permit is required by the county health department' — that separate county permit is administered by the Alabama Department of Public Health's Madison County office, whose own pages, read directly, publish no fee schedule for it.
Municipal Business License — Repairs
The published fee schedule's roughly 96 items were searched in full for 'automotive,' 'garage,' 'service/filling station,' 'body shop,' and 'mechanic': the only automotive-specific entries are Schedule 42 (Gasoline, Retail, priced per fuel dispenser, with no repair-services text) and the new/used Automotive Dealer schedules, neither of which fits a repair shop. Schedule 73's own text — 'repairing, installing, improving or servicing property which belongs to others' — is the only schedule in the document whose plain wording covers automotive repair work, and is the classification recorded here; the schedule list itself does not use the words 'auto repair,' so a shop owner should confirm the assigned schedule number on their own application with the Revenue Division (License-Tax@HuntsvilleAL.gov).
Municipal Business License — General Building Contractor
On top of, not instead of, the state General Contractors or Home Builders board license recorded at the state layer. A state general contractor's license is separately required for any commercial job of $50,000 or more.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Huntsville
- Phone
- Not verified — use the website
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.
- Alabama Department of Public Health — Madison County (Environmental Services / Food, Milk and Lodging)Alabama Department of Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- City of Huntsville — Business Licenses, license year and renewal penalty datesCity of Huntsville, Finance Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-08
- City of Huntsville — License Fees by Schedule, current through Ordinance 23-321 (effective April 27, 2023)City of Huntsville, Finance Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-08
- City of Huntsville — New Business License Application, General Business Application steps and first-year fee basisCity of Huntsville, Finance Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
Other offices serving Huntsville
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
Alabama jurisdictions
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