Commercial Compliance Hub
Check requirements

Hamilton County

Hamilton County Auditor

In short

Hamilton County Auditor issues 4 permits we publish for Hamilton County, last verified 2026-09-30. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.

What this agency issues

Permits required, with issuing agency, fee, renewal term and the date each record was last verified against its source
County Vendor's LicenseHamilton County Auditor$50 one-time, for each fixed place of business in the county that will be the situs of retail sales — a combined state and county amount, of which the Auditor transmits $25 to the Treasurer of State for the organized crime commission fund and credits $25 to the Hamilton County general fundone-time registration at the licensed location; under ORC 5739.17(B) a new license is required when the vendor's identity changes or the business moves to another county, and a move within Hamilton County needs either a new license or a transfer authorised by the Tax Commissioner2026-09-30
Retail Dealer's Cigarette Licenseonly if it applies to youHamilton County Auditor$125 a year, for each physical place where cigarettes are sold at retail — a state-set fee collected by the County Auditor, prorated when the application is filed after 1 June but never below $25 in any one year; a duplicate license is $5 and a transfer to another place of business in the same county is $5one year commencing on the first day of June under ORC 5743.15(B)(2); the application is due annually on or before the first day of June, and a license issued later in the year is prorated to the remainder of the license year2026-09-30
Junk Yard License (outside a municipality)only if it applies to youHamilton County Auditor$25 for the initial license, then $10.00 for each annual renewal paid to the county auditor — a statutory amount set by ORC 4737.07, not a county-set figurethe license expires on the first day of January following the date of issue, and may be renewed from year to year on paying the auditor ten dollars for each renewal; the auditor may revoke a license after reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard2026-09-30
Weights and Measures Device Inspection (Auditor's inspection duty)Hamilton County AuditorNo feea continuing inspection programme rather than a license with a term; devices are inspected on the Auditor's own cycle and re-checked after a rejection2026-09-30

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

County Vendor's License

This is the closest thing Hamilton County has to a general business registration, and it is the county record that reaches the widest range of businesses: any operation making taxable retail sales from a fixed location registers with the County Auditor at 138 East Court Street in Cincinnati before making sales, whether the address is in Cincinnati, a village or an unincorporated township. The amount is statutory rather than county-set. ORC 5739.17(A) requires the applicant to pay into the county treasury 'a license fee in the sum of fifty dollars for each fixed place of business in the county that will be the situs of retail sales', and directs the auditor to transmit twenty-five dollars to the Treasurer of State for the organized crime commission fund and credit the remaining twenty-five to the county general fund — so the $50 is a combined state and county figure, and the $25 still widely quoted is the county's share. The current version of the statute took effect on 9 April 2025 under House Bill 366 of the 135th General Assembly, which doubled it, and the Auditor's own page prints the same $50 and asks for 'a certified check, business check, or money order for $50.00 for a Vendor's License'. Application is on Ohio Department of Taxation form ST-1 and may also be filed through the Ohio Business Gateway. Two statutory details matter for this site's industries: ORC 5739.17(C) provides that for a vendor with no fixed place of business 'each vehicle intended to be used within a county constitutes a place of business for the purpose of this section', which is what makes a food truck a taxable place of business; and a transient vendor with no fixed place of business in the county takes a $50 transient vendor's license from the Tax Commissioner under ORC 5739.17(D), a state registration rather than a county one. A holder of a Division of Liquor Control permit must hold the vendor's license 'in the identical name and for the identical address as shown on the permit', and the license is displayed in clear sight of the public. Collision, auto glass, airbag, paintless dent, window tint and mobile repair operators need this license twice over: ORC 4775.07(A) makes a valid vendor's license issued under ORC 5739.17 a condition of the state motor vehicle repair registration. One caution about the county's own business pages: the item labelled Vendor Registration on them leads to the county's procurement bid portal for suppliers selling to the county, which is a different thing from this sales-tax license.

Retail Dealer's Cigarette License

A convenience store, cafe, restaurant or service station selling cigarettes at retail in Hamilton County needs this license for each physical place of business, and the Auditor issues it alongside the vendor's license. ORC 5743.15(B)(1) requires 'every person desiring to engage in the retail business of trafficking in cigarettes' to pay 'an application fee in the sum of one hundred twenty-five dollars for each physical place where the person proposes to carry on such business', applying annually on or before the first day of June; ORC 5743.15(B)(2) issues the license 'for one year commencing on the first day of June' and prorates a later application, though the amount 'shall not be less than twenty-five dollars in any one year'. The figure is fixed by statute rather than by Hamilton County, and the county's share of it is small: ORC 5743.15(D)(2) distributes the fee 30 per cent to the municipal corporation or township where the place of business sits, 10 per cent to the county general fund and 60 per cent to the state cigarette tax enforcement fund. A lost, destroyed or defaced license is replaced for $5, and a move to another place of business inside the same county transfers for $5. The version of the statute in force was amended by House Bill 33 of the 135th General Assembly, effective 3 October 2023. Wholesale dealers are a separate matter: a wholesale cigarette license costs $1,000 and comes from the state Tax Commissioner, not from the Auditor.

Junk Yard License (outside a municipality)

This is a narrow record with a hard scope gate, and it is worth stating the gate before the fee. ORC 4737.07 provides that 'No person shall operate and maintain a junk yard outside of a municipality, except in zoned or unzoned industrial areas adjacent to the interstate or primary systems, without first obtaining a license to do so from the county auditor of the county in which such junk yard is located.' Inside a municipality the license comes from that municipality's chief executive officer instead, and is in addition to whatever the municipal ordinances require. The scope turns on the statutory definitions in ORC 4737.05: 'junk' means 'old or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, trash, waste, batteries, paper, rubber, iron, steel, and other old or scrap ferrous or nonferrous materials', excluding scrap tires, and a 'junk yard' is 'an establishment or place of business that is maintained or operated for the purpose of storing, keeping, buying, or selling junk'. An ordinary mechanical repair shop is not that; an auto-repair or salvage operation in unincorporated Hamilton County that stores, keeps, buys or sells junk as defined is. Yards within one thousand feet of an interstate or primary right of way that are zoned industrial, or unzoned but used for industrial activities as the director of transportation determines, are exempt from ORC 4737.05 to 4737.99 altogether. The fee is statutory: 'The fee for a license issued under this section is twenty-five dollars', licenses 'shall expire on the first day of January following the date of issue', and renewal costs 'the sum of ten dollars for each such renewal', all of which is retained by the county that issues it. Screening is a condition of operating rather than of licensing: a yard established after 1 January 1964 within one thousand feet of a state or county highway right of way, or within three hundred feet of a township road right of way, must be sited so the view from the road is obscured by natural objects or by a non-transparent fence at least six feet high.

Weights and Measures Device Inspection (Auditor's inspection duty)

This is an obligation with nothing to apply for and no fee, and it is listed here because the county lists 'Weights and Measures' under Permits on its own Forms, Permits and Licenses page, which sends readers looking for a permit that does not work that way. The Auditor's own page states that 'The County Auditor is required by Ohio law to inspect all commercial devices used in retail trade for weighing or measuring. This includes checking price verification systems (scanners) and packages, such as meats, firewood, mulch, and milk', and that 'If a device is found to be inaccurate, the Auditor, through their Inspectors, can reject the device, condemn the device, or in extreme cases, confiscate the device.' There is no application form and no fee published for it: the county charges no fee for the inspection, which is funded as an Auditor function. Scanners get a graduated response rather than an instant penalty — the page states that 'the Auditor will normally give a merchant three chances to reduce the error rate to below 2%. If the error rate is still over 2% on the third inspection, a written Notice of Inaccuracy is given to the store manager, with a copy sent to the corporate headquarters.' Practically, this reaches a grocery or convenience store with scales and scanners, a deli or coffee counter selling by weight, and a service station with fuel dispensers; the test procedures themselves are set by the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Division of Weights and Measures rather than locally.

Contact

Jurisdiction
Hamilton County
Phone
513-946-4015

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.

  1. Forms, Permits and Licenses — the county's own list of what it issues: Food Service (fixed, mobile, temporary), Pools and Spas, Tattoo and Piercing Facilities and Vendor's License under Licenses; Buildings + Inspections, Engineer's Office, Soil & Water, Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency, Stormwater + Infrastructure, Earth Movement Permit and Weights and Measures under PermitsHamilton County, Ohio · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  2. Ohio Constitution Article X, Section 3 — a county obtains municipal-style powers only by framing and adopting a county charterOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  3. ORC 4737.05 — 'junk yard' means an establishment or place of business maintained or operated for the purpose of storing, keeping, buying or selling junkOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  4. ORC 4737.07 — junk yard/secondhand dealer license issuance and the $25 license feeOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  5. ORC 5739.17, Vendor's License — $50 fee ($25 to the state Organized Crime Commission Fund, $25 to the county general fund), effective April 9, 2025Ohio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  6. ORC 5743.15 — retail cigarette dealer's license, $125 application fee per physical place, license year commencing 1 June, $25 proration floor, $5 duplicate and transfer fees, and the 30/10/60 distribution of the feeOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  7. ORC Chapter 4775 — motor vehicle repair: registration with the Ohio Board of Motor Vehicle Repair for collision, auto glass, airbag, paintless dent, window tint and mobile repair operators, the requirement in 4775.07(A) that a registrant hold a valid vendor's licence under ORC 5739.17, and the local preemption limit in 4775.11Ohio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  8. Overview of Local Government in Ohio, Members Brief Volume 136 (2 September 2026) — counties and townships are creatures of statute with only the authority the Revised Code states, and Cuyahoga and Summit are the only two charter countiesOhio Legislative Service Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  9. Service Directory — the county's complete A-to-Z list of services, whose licence-shaped entries are the Dog License, Marriage License, Park Permit, Special Flood Hazard Area Permit and Vendor's License, plus state itemsHamilton County, Ohio · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  10. Vendor's License — the Hamilton County Auditor's own page: the $50 fee, the certified check or money order payable with the application, and the Cigarette License application linkHamilton County Auditor, Ohio · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
  11. Weights and Measures — the Hamilton County Auditor's own page: inspection of all commercial weighing and measuring devices, price-verification scanner checks, the 2 per cent scanner error threshold and the rejection, condemnation and confiscation powersHamilton County Auditor, Ohio · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30

Other offices serving Hamilton County

The full permit list for this jurisdiction

Industry permit lists that include this agency

Ohio jurisdictions

Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.