Charleston
City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector
In short
City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector issues 9 permits we publish for Charleston, last verified 2026-09-11. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business and Occupation (B&O) Privilege Tax — Contracting | City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector | 2% of gross income from construction or installation contracts performed within the City of Charleston (Classification 10, 'Contracting,' on the City's own current rate table). No deduction from the measure of the tax is permitted even for a contractor domiciled outside the city, per the Handbook's own FAQ; conversely, income from a contract performed entirely outside Charleston is not taxed even if the contractor is based in the city. | ongoing — quarterly filing, or annual on written request below the $2,500/year threshold | 2026-09-11 |
| Auto Repair Shop Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
| Fitness Studio/Gym Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
| City Service Fee (CSF) | City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector | $3 per week, per full-time/part-time employee or self-employed individual working in Charleston | ongoing — remitted quarterly by the employer, or annually for a qualifying self-employed sole proprietor/single-member LLC on request | 2026-09-11 |
| Business Registration & General Business License | City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector | $20 annual, flat | annual — must be renewed by June 30 of each year | 2026-09-11 |
| Business and Occupation (B&O) Privilege Tax — General Classifications | City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector | A percentage of gross income/gross proceeds of sale, by classification, per the City's own current rate table: Retailers 0.5%, Wholesalers 0.15%, Amusement 0.5%, and Service/All Other Businesses 1% (Production of Natural Resources, Rents/Royalties, and Banking/Other Financial Institutions are also taxed at 1%; utility-specific classifications run 2%-4% but do not reach these industries). Filed quarterly (due the last day of the month following each calendar quarter), or annually on written request if total City tax liability is under $2,500.00/year. | ongoing — quarterly filing, or annual on written request below the $2,500/year threshold | 2026-09-11 |
| Barber/Beautician and Shop or School License | City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector | $2.00 per individual license for each barber, beautician, apprentice, or student working in the city (Sec. 18-112), plus $20.00 per shop license for each beauty shop or barbershop, and $20.00 per school license for each beauty-culture or barbering school (Sec. 18-113). | annual — expires June 30 | 2026-09-11 |
| Vending Permit (mobilized vending vehicle / food truck) | City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector | $20.00 administrative fee per vending permit per calendar year, or any portion thereof (§ 18-1037(c)), plus a $15.00 fee for any dishonored/returned check. Street vendors must additionally carry at least $1,000,000.00 in general liability insurance per occurrence, naming the City as an additional insured (§ 18-1038). | annual — calendar year, expires December 31 (§ 18-1037) | 2026-09-11 |
| Veterinary Facility Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Charleston, Office of the City Collector | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-11 |
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
Business and Occupation (B&O) Privilege Tax — Contracting
The B&O Tax Overview's own text singles out contractors for a specific extra instruction not given to other classifications: 'In addition to registering with the Office of City Collector, all contractors must also register with the City of Charleston Building Department' — recorded as its own separate record below because no additional dollar figure for that registration could be confirmed. This 2% city rate is layered on top of, not instead of, West Virginia's own state Contractor License fee recorded at the state layer.
Auto Repair Shop Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. Charleston City Code Chapter 18's own complete, 24-article table of contents (spanning Auctioneers through Residential Rental Properties) has no article for automotive repair anywhere in it, and the Zoning Ordinance defines 'Automotive Repair Establishment' purely as a land-use category carrying permitted/conditional status in specific zoning districts, not as a licensed business type. An auto repair shop's Charleston-specific obligations are the same General Business License, B&O Tax, and building/zoning/sign requirements recorded elsewhere in this file.
Fitness Studio/Gym Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. Chapter 18's own complete list of licensed business categories has no gymnasium, athletic club, or fitness-studio product anywhere in it — the Zoning Ordinance defines 'Gymnasium or Athletic Club' purely as a land-use category with permitted/conditional status by district, not as a licensed business type. A fitness studio's Charleston-specific obligations are the same General Business License, B&O Tax, and building/zoning/sign requirements recorded elsewhere in this file.
City Service Fee (CSF)
A flat $3.00-per-week fee the City imposes on every full-time or part-time employee and every self-employed individual who regularly reports to work at a physical location, or works from home, within Charleston — withheld from pay by the employer and remitted to the Collector's office, or remitted directly by a self-employed individual. The Handbook's own FAQ confirms this applies even to a business otherwise exempt from the B&O Tax, is never prorated, and applies to an employee working from a Charleston home office for either a Charleston or an out-of-city employer. This is a genuinely separate charge from the B&O Tax, not a duplicate of it.
Business Registration & General Business License
Every business with a storefront or physical location in Charleston, and every home-based business, must complete a Business Registration Application and purchase this General Business License — the City's own current application form states this directly, and requires prior inspection sign-off from the Planning/Zoning, Building, and Fire Departments before the Collector's office will issue it. This is separate from, and layered underneath, the Business and Occupation Privilege Tax recorded below. Charleston City Code § 18-31(b), read directly, fixes the figure itself: 'Except where a business license tax has been established elsewhere in Chapter 18 herein, licensees shall be issued a general business license for a fee of $20.00 per year, plus any applicable additional filing fees, license fees or service fees' (Bill No. 7571, 4-15-2013; Bill No. 7576, 5-20-2013) — matching the City's own current application form exactly.
Business and Occupation (B&O) Privilege Tax — General Classifications
This is Charleston's genuine, broadly-worded B&O Privilege Tax, applying 'upon all persons for the act or privilege of engaging in business activities within the City of Charleston' regardless of profit — the City's own Overview and Handbook both state this directly, and a business need not maintain a permanent Charleston location to owe it. Neither current document maps specific business types (e.g., 'restaurant' or 'veterinary clinic') to a named classification the way some other cities' schedules do; the Handbook says only that 'the business activity usually determines the taxable classification' and advises contacting the Collector's office directly if uncertain. Most of the industries listed here most plausibly fall under Retailers (0.5%) or Service/All Other Businesses (1%) depending on the specific nature of their income, although the City's own materials do not themselves state that mapping. Contracting is the one unambiguous classification, taxed at a flat 2%, and is recorded separately below.
Barber/Beautician and Shop or School License
A genuine, city-specific salon license dating to a 1938-era ordinance still in force: every individual practitioner (including apprentices and students) pays a personal $2.00 license, and the shop itself (or a barbering/cosmetology school) separately pays $20.00, both expiring June 30 annually and both required to be displayed at the workstation/premises. This sits on top of, not instead of, West Virginia's own state Salon License recorded at the state layer, and is layered under the General Business License and B&O Tax recorded above.
Vending Permit (mobilized vending vehicle / food truck)
Charleston City Code § 18-1031 defines a 'mobilized vending vehicle' as a readily movable motorized vehicle used to sell food or beverages, 'commonly referred to as "food trucks,"' and § 18-1037 conditions the permit itself on the applicant being 'in good standing with the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department and the West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration' before serving food or alcohol — naming the Health Department by its full joint city-county name directly in the codified ordinance. This City Collector-issued permit sits on top of, not instead of, the Health Department's own Mobile Food Permit recorded separately below; a Charleston food truck operator needs both. Operating outside 4:00 a.m.-6:00 a.m., staying at least 50 feet from any outdoor dining area, and complying with fire-hydrant clearance and ADA pedestrian-access rules are among the additional operational conditions in § 18-1061.
Veterinary Facility Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. Chapter 18's own complete list of licensed business categories has no veterinary-premises product anywhere in it, and the Zoning Ordinance's own definition of 'Hospital, Veterinary'/'Animal Hospital/Clinic' explicitly excludes boarding, training, and outdoor runs or kennels — meaning the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department's own kennel plan-approval requirement (confirmed elsewhere in this file for true boarding kennels) does not reach a typical veterinary clinic. West Virginia's own state Veterinary Facility Registration, recorded at the state layer, remains the real trade-specific credential; a Charleston veterinary practice's local obligations are otherwise the same General Business License, B&O Tax, and building/zoning/sign requirements recorded elsewhere in this file.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Charleston
- Phone
- (304) 348-8024
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 & Occupation Tax Overview — stating the B&O Privilege Tax applies broadly to all persons engaging in business activities within the CityCity of Charleston, Office of the City Collector · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Business Registration (revised 5/2024) — the City Collector's own current application, pricing the General Business License at $20.00 and requiring a Kanawha County Health Permit for any business selling or serving prepared foodCity of Charleston, Office of the City Collector · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- City of Charleston New Business Handbook — the Collector's own current handbook reprinting the full fourteen-classification B&O Tax rate table, the City Service Fee overview and FAQ, and the 'renew your Business Licence by June 30' reminderCity of Charleston, Office of the City Collector · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Code of the City of Charleston, Chapter 18 (Businesses) — table of contents confirming 24 articles including Licenses Generally (§ 18-31, General business license; license fee), Barbers and Beauticians, Hotels/Tourist Homes/Eating Places, and Street/Event/Private Property Vendors, and confirming the absence of any auto-repair, veterinary, or fitness-specific articleCity of Charleston, West Virginia (Code of Ordinances, via Municode) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Code of the City of Charleston, Chapter 18, Article II (Licenses Generally), Sec. 18-31 (General business license; license fee) — read directly: '[l]icensees shall be issued a general business license for a fee of $20.00 per year, plus any applicable additional filing fees, license fees or service fees' (Bill No. 7571, 4-15-2013; Bill No. 7576, 5-20-2013)City of Charleston, West Virginia (Code of Ordinances, via Municode) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Code of the City of Charleston, Chapter 18, Article IV (Barbers and Beauticians), §§ 18-111–18-113 — the $2.00 individual license and $20.00 shop/school license, both expiring June 30 annuallyCity of Charleston, West Virginia (Code of Ordinances, via Municode) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Code of the City of Charleston, Chapter 18, Article XXII (Street, Event, and Private Property Vendors), §§ 18-1031–18-1042 — defining 'mobilized vending vehicle' to include food trucks and pricing the $20.00/year vending permit under § 18-1037, naming the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department by its full nameCity of Charleston, West Virginia (Code of Ordinances, via Municode) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Starting a Business in Charleston, WV — the City's own four-step guide (Business Registration, Planning/Building/Fire inspection approvals, B&O Tax registration, City Service Fee registration)City of Charleston · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
- Zoning Ordinance of the City of Charleston, West Virginia (Ord. No. 7167, Nov. 21, 2005, as printed October 24, 2024) — the City's own complete current zoning text, including the $125.00 filing fee for Conditional Use Permits (§ 30-020), rezonings (§ 29-030), variances (§ 31-020), and appeals (§ 32-020); sign permit procedures (Article 24); the zoning Certificate of Compliance and fee-schedule deferral (§§ 28-030, 28-040); and use definitions for Automotive Repair Establishment, Animal Hospital/Clinic, Kennel, Gymnasium/Athletic Club, and Family Day CareCity of Charleston, West Virginia, Planning Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-11
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