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Prince William County

Prince William County Tax Administration Division

In short

Prince William County Tax Administration Division issues 7 permits we publish for Prince William County, last verified 2026-10-02. 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
BPOL Business License — Retail MerchantsPrince William County Tax Administration DivisionNo BPOL tax is due on gross receipts under $500,000. At $500,000 or more, a business classified as a Retail Merchant pays $0.17 per $100 of gross receipts.annual; renew by March 12026-10-02
BPOL Business License — Business, Personal, Repair and Other ServicesPrince William County Tax Administration DivisionNo BPOL tax is due on gross receipts under $500,000. At $500,000 or more, a business in the Business, Personal, Repair and Other Services classification pays $0.21 per $100 of gross receipts.annual; renew by March 12026-10-02
BPOL Business License — Financial, Professional and Real Estate ServicesPrince William County Tax Administration DivisionNo BPOL tax is due on gross receipts under $500,000. At $500,000 or more, a veterinary practice's medical-services revenue is taxed at $0.33 per $100 of gross receipts under the Financial, Professional and Real Estate Services classification.annual; renew by March 12026-10-02
BPOL Business License — Peddlers (Mobile Food Vendors)Prince William County Tax Administration Division$500 a year, flat, Peddlers classification — not a percentage-of-receipts rateannual; renew by March 12026-10-02
Food and Beverage (Meals) TaxPrince William County Tax Administration Division3% of the total cost of food and beverages sold. The rate was 4% from July 1, 2022 through December 31, 2025, and dropped to 3% effective January 1, 2026, which remains the current rate.ongoing monthly filing obligation; returns and payment due on or before the 20th of the month following collection2026-10-02
Mixed Drink License (County BPOL Add-On)only if it applies to youPrince William County Tax Administration Division$200–$500 a year, flat, by license type — the Tax Rates page publishes only the $200-$500 range and does not break it into a seating-capacity or license-type tier tableannual, tied to the BPOL license cycle; renew by March 12026-10-02
BPOL Business License — Contractors, Builders, DevelopersPrince William County Tax Administration DivisionNo BPOL tax is due on gross receipts under $500,000. At $500,000 or more, a contractor pays $0.13 per $100 of gross receipts under the Contractors, Builders, Developers classification.annual; renew by March 12026-10-02

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

BPOL Business License — Retail Merchants

A retail store, restaurant or coffee shop operating in unincorporated Prince William County is classified as a Retail Merchant for BPOL purposes, paying $0.17 per $100 of gross receipts once gross receipts reach $500,000 a year; below that threshold the tax due is $0.00, though a license application is still required. Classifying a restaurant or coffee shop as a Retail Merchant rests on general Virginia BPOL practice, which treats the sale of prepared food and beverages for on- or off-premises consumption as a retail sale, and on PWC's own 2023 Business License Instructions, which groups retailers and restaurants together for sales-tax-registration purposes — not on a current, restaurant-specific PWC ordinance citation. The county's own Business License Brochure describes licensing as required of all businesses regardless of gross receipts, while the county's live Business License page frames filing below $500,000 as optional for a non-contractor business; this page states the $500,000 tax-due threshold without adopting either framing as the sole rule on who must file. This rate does not apply inside the Towns of Dumfries, Haymarket, Occoquan or Quantico, which run their own BPOL schedules. Renewal is due annually by March 1.

BPOL Business License — Business, Personal, Repair and Other Services

A salon, a childcare facility, a fitness studio, or an auto-repair shop operating in unincorporated Prince William County pays $0.21 per $100 of gross receipts under this classification once gross receipts reach $500,000 a year, below which the tax due is $0.00 but a license application is still required. The Commonwealth's own BPOL implementing regulation, 23VAC10-500-500, names 'barber shops, beauty parlors, and hairdressing establishments, schools and services' (item 8) and 'child care attendants or schools' (item 18) explicitly within this category, so the salon and childcare classifications rest on named statutory examples. Fitness studios and auto-repair shops are not themselves named anywhere in that regulation or in a PWC-specific citation found during research; they are placed in this same category because it is the regulation's own catch-all for repair and personal/recreation services and no other classification describes either business, a weaker basis than the named examples for salon and childcare. This rate does not apply inside the Towns of Dumfries, Haymarket, Occoquan or Quantico.

BPOL Business License — Financial, Professional and Real Estate Services

A veterinary practice operating in unincorporated Prince William County pays $0.33 per $100 of gross receipts on its veterinary medical-services revenue once gross receipts reach $500,000 a year, below which the tax due is $0.00 but a license application is still required. Va. Code §58.1-3700.1 and the Commonwealth's own implementing regulation, 23VAC10-500-450, both name 'veterinarians' explicitly under the Professional Services category. The same state regulation, 23VAC10-500-500, separately carves out non-veterinary services at the same practice — grooming, boarding, kenneling — from this professional-services category and places them instead in the Business, Personal, Repair and Other Services bucket recorded as a separate requirement at $0.21 per $100. This classification does not apply inside the Towns of Dumfries, Haymarket, Occoquan or Quantico.

BPOL Business License — Peddlers (Mobile Food Vendors)

A mobile food vendor, including a food truck, operating in unincorporated Prince William County is classified as a Peddler for BPOL purposes, paying a flat $500 a year rather than a percentage of gross receipts, as published on the county's current Tax Rates page and confirmed by the county's own Mobile Food Vendor Policy Requirements document, which lists 'Peddler Business License & Tax (Section 11.1-5 & 11.1-17)' as a requirement for one to four mobile food units. This BPOL fee is separate from, and in addition to, the Police-issued Peddler/Solicitor/Itinerant Vendor license and the Food and Beverage Tax, each recorded as a separate requirement; none of the three substitutes for either of the others. This fee does not apply inside the Towns of Dumfries, Haymarket, Occoquan or Quantico.

Food and Beverage (Meals) Tax

A restaurant, coffee shop or food truck preparing and serving food or beverages to customers in Prince William County must collect and remit this tax, currently 3% of the total sale price, filed monthly through the county's online Taxpayer Portal or by paper return, due on or before the 20th of the month following collection. The rate was 4% from July 1, 2022 through December 31, 2025 and dropped to 3% effective January 1, 2026, the rate in effect today. The county's own page names restaurants, coffee shops, food trucks and vendors, cafes, caterers, convenience stores and delicatessens as covered establishments. Late filing or payment carries a 10% late-filing penalty, a 10% late-payment penalty and 10%-a-year interest computed daily. This tax is separate from, and in addition to, the BPOL business license each of these three industries also holds.

Mixed Drink License (County BPOL Add-On)

A restaurant serving mixed drinks in Prince William County holds a Virginia ABC mixed-beverage license from the Virginia ABC Authority, the sole statewide alcohol-licensing authority — once that application is filed, the Board notifies the county, which has 30 days to submit an objection under Va. Code §4.1-230. Separately, and on top of that state license, the county itself levies a Mixed Drink License (Flat Fee) of $200 to $500 a year as part of its own BPOL rate schedule, authorized as a local option by Va. Code §4.1-233.1, and published directly on the county's own current Tax Rates page. This county-levied fee is a real, current charge; this page does not state that the county charges no alcohol fee. The Tax Rates page publishes only the $200-$500 range itself, without a seating-capacity or license-type table breaking down which figure applies to a given restaurant.

BPOL Business License — Contractors, Builders, Developers

A contractor operating in unincorporated Prince William County pays $0.13 per $100 of gross receipts under this named classification once gross receipts reach $500,000 a year, below which the tax due is $0.00 but a license application is still required. This is the county's sole county-level BPOL obligation for a contractor: the separate Home Improvement Contractor License once layered on top of this classification was repealed by Ordinance No. 26-45, effective July 7, 2026, and the county has stopped accepting or processing HICL applications and renewals, so no HICL fee is recorded on this page. State contractor licensing (Class A, B or C) runs separately through Virginia DPOR. This rate does not apply inside the Towns of Dumfries, Haymarket, Occoquan or Quantico.

Contact

Jurisdiction
Prince William County
Phone
703-792-6710

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. 2023 Business License Instructions — groups retailers and restaurants together for sales-tax-registration purposesPrince William County Tax Administration Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
  2. 23VAC10-500-450 — statutory list of Professional Occupations under the BPOL Guidelines, including veterinariansVirginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
  3. 23VAC10-500-500 — statewide BPOL classification of businesses (90-item enumeration), including item 8 "Barber shops, beauty parlors, and hairdressing establishments" and item 4 "Amusements and recreation services"Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Taxation (Virginia Administrative Code) · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
  4. Code of Virginia § 4.1-233.1, local mixed-beverage license tax ceilings by seating tierVirginia Law Library (Code of Virginia) · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
  5. Code of Virginia §4.1-230 — Board notice to local governing body, 30-day objection periodVirginia Law Library (Code of Virginia) · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
  6. Code of Virginia §58.1-3700.1 — statewide BPOL classification scheme binding every local ordinanceVirginia Law Library (Code of Virginia) · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
  7. Food and Beverage Tax — current 3% rate, effective-date history, covered establishments and filingPrince William County Tax Administration Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
  8. Getting Your Prince William County Business License (PUB150-25, Feb. 2025) — town referral note, exemptionsPrince William County Tax Administration Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
  9. Mobile Food Vendor Policy Requirements (July 2021) — Peddler BPOL and Solicitor/Peddler/Itinerant Vendor Permit requirements for food trucksPrince William County Zoning Administration · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
  10. Tax Rates — current BPOL per-$100 rates, Mixed Drink License and Peddlers flat feesPrince William County Tax Administration Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02

Other offices serving Prince William County

The full permit list for this jurisdiction

Industry permit lists that include this agency

Virginia jurisdictions

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