Davenport
City of Davenport, Finance Department, Revenue Division
In short
City of Davenport, Finance Department, Revenue Division issues 5 permits we publish for Davenport, last verified 2026-09-10. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tent Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Davenport, Finance Department, Revenue Division | $20 per tent | one-time, per event/installation | 2026-09-10 |
| Retail Merchant License | City of Davenport, Finance Department, Revenue Division | Banded by physical floor space rather than gross sales: $25 for a seasonal retail license; $50 for a retailer with no floor space at all; and $75 for a store with 4,000 square feet or less of floor space, plus a further $50 for each additional 5,000 square feet beyond that base. | annual — calendar April 1 through March 31 | 2026-09-10 |
| Public Garage License (Auto Repair) | City of Davenport, Finance Department, Revenue Division | $50 annual | annual — calendar April 1 through March 31 | 2026-09-10 |
| City Business License — Title 5 Categories and Exemptions (Davenport)only if it applies to you | City of Davenport, Finance Department, Revenue Division | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-10 |
| Reflexology Business License (Massage Therapy Regulated, Not Licensed)only if it applies to you | City of Davenport, Finance Department, Revenue Division | Massage Therapy: $0.00 — the City's Business Licenses page states 'Regulations only, the City of Davenport does not issue a license,' and requires the practitioner to hold a valid State of Iowa massage therapist license. Reflexology, a physically separate service category under a different code chapter, carries its own genuine $100.00 annual City of Davenport business license. | annual — April 1 through March 31 | 2026-09-10 |
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
Tent Permit
Required for any tent of 400 square feet or larger set up for public or event use — a sidewalk sale, an outdoor fitness class, or a restaurant patio event tent, for example — before the space may open to the public. Reviewed jointly by Development and Neighborhood Services, the Fire Department and Finance; confirmed at a flat $20 on the City's own licensing page.
Retail Merchant License
A genuine, mandatory local retail business license — the ordinance requires it of 'every person engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property to the ultimate consumer.' It does NOT apply to bars, restaurants, taverns, clubs, food services, salons, barbershops, nail shops, tattoo and massage parlors or mortuaries, which the ordinance expressly exempts by name. A 10% penalty applies if the annual renewal (due April 1) is not paid by May 1; a new license acquired between October 1 and March 31 is charged half the annual rate. Requires approval of Zoning/Land Development, the Fire Department and the Police Department before issuance.
Public Garage License (Auto Repair)
The ordinance licenses 'the business of operating a public garage for the purpose of performing repair work on motor-powered vehicles in exchange for a charge, fee or remuneration' at a flat $50 a year — a genuine, mandatory local license for auto-repair shops that neither Cedar Rapids nor Des Moines was found to have. A shop that also sells motor fuel at retail needs a second, separately priced Gasoline Station license under the same chapter, also $50. The same 10% late penalty and October-March half-year discount described for the Retail Merchant License applies here too.
City Business License — Title 5 Categories and Exemptions (Davenport)
The City's Business Licenses page sets out roughly fifteen Title 5 license categories, and none of them prices these six industries, so there is no city license fee for them. Restaurants, coffee shops and salons are expressly named as exempt from the Chapter 5.17 retail license itself ('bars, restaurants, taverns, clubs, food services, salons, barbershops, nail shops, tattoo and massage parlors and mortuaries'), and the page's named categories (retail, public garage/gas station, alarms, billboards/signs/canopies, tobacco, auctions, pawnbrokers, metal recyclers, public amusements/dancehalls, mobile food/ice cream vending, tree trimming and massage/reflexology) include no childcare, fitness-studio or veterinary category. Each still pays the generic building permit and sign permit recorded above where applicable, and a Davenport salon offering reflexology specifically triggers the separate license recorded below.
Reflexology Business License (Massage Therapy Regulated, Not Licensed)
Only reaches a salon or spa that offers reflexology services specifically — the license is location-specific, so a business with multiple locations needs a separate reflexology license at each one, and requires Zoning, Police and Fire Department approval. A salon offering only massage, hair, nail or barbering services triggers no fee under either chapter; a State of Iowa-licensed massage therapist providing reflexology as part of a massage practice does not need this separate city reflexology license either.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Davenport
- Phone
- (563) 326-7707
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 Licenses — the City's own 'multi-business license fee code structure' framing, the April 1-March 31 license period with a 10% penalty after May 1 and half-year new-license pricing from October 1, and the full list of named license categories (retail/transient merchant, gasoline station/public garage, alarms, billboards/signs/canopies, cigarette/tobacco/vapor, closing-out sales, auctions, live entertainment, metal recyclers/salvage, pawnbrokers/secondhand/junk/antique dealers, public amusements/dancehalls, mobile food/mobile ice cream vendors, massage/reflexology, tent permits, tree trimmers)City of Davenport, Finance Department (Revenue Division) · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-08
- Municipal Code Chapter 5.07, Gasoline Stations and Repair Garages — the license requirement for retail motor-fuel sales and for 'operating a public garage for the purpose of performing repair work on motor-powered vehicles in exchange for a charge, fee or remuneration'City of Davenport · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-08
- Municipal Code Chapter 5.17, Retail Sales and Transient Merchants — the retail license requirement for 'every person engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property to the ultimate consumer,' and the express exemption for 'bars, restaurants, taverns, clubs, food services, salons, barbershops, nail shops, tattoo and massage parlors and mortuaries'City of Davenport · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-08
- Standard Business License Application, including the Fee Schedule confirming Retail (no floor space $50, seasonal $25, 4,000 sq. ft. or less $75 plus $50 per additional 5,000 sq. ft.), Public Garage ($50) and Gasoline Station ($50) dollar figuresCity of Davenport, Business Licensing · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-10
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Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.