Business licenses and permits in Alabama

What applies everywhere in Alabama

15 requirements are set by Alabama itself and apply whichever city you open in. Local permits sit on top of them.

Sources

Every statewide figure above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.

1. Alabama Department of Revenue — notice on the full exemption from business privilege tax where the tax due is $100 or lessAlabama Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
2. Alabama Department of Revenue — 2026 business privilege tax quick preparation reference, confirming no filing requirement below the $100 thresholdAlabama Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
3. Alabama Secretary of State — domestic LLC certificate of formation, showing the $200 fee and the $100 remitted to the countyAlabama Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
4. Alabama Secretary of State — filing fee schedule, revised 23 August 2023Alabama Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
5. Alabama Secretary of State — domestic entity name reservation request formAlabama Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
6. Alabama Secretary of State — domestic business corporation certificate of incorporationAlabama Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
7. Alabama Administrative Code chapter 420-3-22 — food establishment sanitation, permits issued by the county health officerAlabama Department of Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
8. Alabama Secretary of State — business entities page, stating corporations no longer file an annual reportAlabama Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
9. Alabama Administrative Code chapter 660-5-26 — day care centre and nighttime centre licensing, with the two-year termAlabama Department of Human Resources · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
10. Alabama Administrative Code chapter 660-5-27 — day care home and group day care home licensingAlabama Department of Human Resources · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
11. Alabama Administrative Code chapter 420-1-5 — the exhaustive list of fees the health department collects at state level, which contains no food establishment feeAlabama Department of Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
12. Russell County Health Department — environmental fee schedule, revised 27 March 2025, an example of a state-run county's food permit feesAlabama Department of Public Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
13. Mobile County Health Department — board of health fee schedule, 5 December 2025, an independent county department's food permit feesMobile County Health Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
14. Alabama Department of Revenue — Handbook of Privilege and Store Licenses, October 2022, with the fee schedule for each business typeAlabama Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
15. Alabama Department of Revenue — the complete list of state regulatory boards requiring permits or licenses, which contains no auto repair boardAlabama Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
16. Alabama State Licensing Board for General Contractors — renewal information and current feesAlabama State Licensing Board for General Contractors · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
17. Alabama Act 2024-277 as enrolled — raising the general contractor licensing threshold to $100,000 from 1 October 2024Alabama Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
18. Alabama Administrative Code rule 465-X-4-.04 — Home Builders Licensure Board fee schedule, effective 17 March 2025Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
19. Alabama Department of Revenue — FAQ confirming there is no cost to renew an Alabama tax account licenseAlabama Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
20. Alabama Administrative Code rule 810-6-5-.01.01 — annual license renewal for sales and use tax accountsAlabama Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
21. Alabama Administrative Code rule 250-X-2-.01 — Board of Cosmetology and Barbering fee schedule, effective 15 May 2026Alabama Board of Cosmetology and Barbering · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
22. Alabama Board of Cosmetology and Barbering — renewal FAQ, with the odd-year expiry and late feeAlabama Board of Cosmetology and Barbering · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
23. Alabama Department of Revenue — business privilege license briefing, on the $1 issuance fee and county-by-county issuanceAlabama Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
24. Alabama Administrative Code rule 930-X-1-.06 — Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners fee scheduleAlabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
25. Alabama Administrative Code rule 930-X-1-.31 — every veterinary facility must hold a premises permit, and the eight permit typesAlabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03

Which Alabama city are you opening in?

• Montgomery County, ALMontgomery County, Alabama's state capital county, runs no privilege-license fee schedule of its own: its own local-acts chapter, Title 45, Chapter 51, Article 20 ('Licenses and Licensure'), contains only one section, §45-51-200, marked 'Reserved,' so the Probate Court, Licenses Division collects the same statewide Alabama Department of Revenue (ALDOR) Title 40-12 classification schedule used across most of the state. The identical 'Reserved' pattern in Article 4 ('Business, Labor, and Occupations,' §45-51-40) and Article 3 ('Boards and Commissions,' §45-51-30) independently confirms Montgomery County has no local barber commission and no local junk-dealer ordinance — a barber classification fee still applies, it is just collected under the statewide schedule rather than by a separate county board. Because Montgomery (population roughly 200,000) is the nearest incorporated municipality for nearly all of unincorporated Montgomery County, most population-tiered Title 40-12 classifications fall in the highest tier of their respective tables. The Montgomery County Health Department (MCHD) administers food, day care, mobile-food and pool/spa permits county-wide under a fee schedule printed 'Effective Date July 1, 2004' that Wayback Machine snapshots confirm has not changed since at least August 2024, and the county's Board of Health separately holds real rule-making authority under Ala. Code §§22-3-2(4) and 22-3-2(10). The Engineering Department issues building permits only in unincorporated Montgomery County outside the three-mile police jurisdictions of both the City of Montgomery and the Town of Pike Road. Montgomery County is Wet per the Alabama ABC Board's own Wet Cities list.18 published records
• Baldwin County, ALBaldwin County runs no county-specific business-license ordinance or fee schedule of its own. Its Judge of Probate collects Alabama's statewide occupational privilege license, Title 40, Chapter 12, Code of Alabama 1975, using the same classification codes and combined state+county fee amounts published in the Alabama Department of Revenue's Handbook of Privilege and Store Licenses — this reaches every industry covered on this site, including contractors, veterinarians and salons, each of which appears as its own numbered classification on Baldwin's own application form even without a separate, industry-specific county credential. This county-level privilege license stacks with, rather than substitutes for, each incorporated city's own municipal business license (Fairhope, Daphne, Foley, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Spanish Fort, Robertsdale, Loxley, Bay Minette and others) — a business inside city limits owes both. A second, separate county revenue mechanism, the special county privilege license tax under §45-2-244.072, adds a 1% gross-receipts tax on top of the flat classification fee. Baldwin County has no independent county health department; the Alabama Department of Public Health's Southwestern District, operating locally as the Baldwin County Health Department, administers food, mobile-food, temporary-event and pool/spa permits county-wide, including inside every city. The County's own Building Inspection Department and Planning & Zoning Department, by contrast, reach only unincorporated Baldwin County — every incorporated city runs its own building and zoning process instead. Baldwin County is Wet countywide per the Alabama ABC Board's current wet/dry list; alcohol licensing itself is a state ABC Board function, recorded at the state layer.17 published records
• Calhoun County, ALCalhoun County, Alabama, home to Anniston, consolidated its business-licensing functions into a single elected Commissioner of Licenses: Ala. Code §45-8-200.10 transferred the Judge of Probate's licensing powers, and §45-8-200.12/.14 transferred the Tax Assessor/Collector's and license inspector's powers, to that one office, rather than splitting license issuance across the several offices most Alabama counties use. One function was carved out of that transfer by its own statute: the county's retail spirits/wine special license and tax under §45-8-22 remains, by the statute's own express language, the sole responsibility of the Judge of Probate, and the county's current practice confirms that carve-out is still live today. The Calhoun County Board of Health under §45-8-171.20 has only narrow cost-recovery, fee-setting authority, not independent regulatory power, and the county's health department operates as a plain Alabama Department of Public Health field office (Northeastern District) rather than an independently run county department. Article 4 of the county's local-acts chapter, covering contractor, barber and junk-dealer licensing, is entirely Reserved (§45-8-40) — confirmed absent, with no county-specific layer beyond the general privilege license and applicable statewide licensing. Anniston, Oxford, Jacksonville, Piedmont, Weaver, Ohatchee and Hobson City each also require a separate municipal business license on top of this county license.16 published records
• Elmore County, ALElmore County, Alabama, seat Wetumpka, issues its general business privilege license through the Revenue Commissioner's License Division (Tag and Title) under Ala. Code §45-26-242.20, which moved the license function out of the Probate Judge's office effective July 1, 2020. The license fees are the statewide Title 40, Chapter 12 schedule, combined state and county amounts, and the tier depends on the nearest city's population or an unincorporated location. The Elmore County Board of Health sets its own fees under Ala. Code §45-26-170 and publishes an Environmental Division fee schedule for food service, limited and mobile food, temporary food, plan review and day care permits. The Alabama ABC Board lists Elmore County as Wet, and retail alcohol licenses outside municipal governance need Elmore County Commission approval after a public hearing. The county's own FAQ states that no zoning restrictions or building permit requirements apply to property in rural Elmore County, while a development permit is required before construction in a floodplain. Millbrook, Prattville (part), Tallassee (part), Wetumpka, Coosada, Deatsville, Eclectic and Elmore each run their own license and permit regime that stacks on the county's.15 published records
• Etowah County, ALEtowah County, Alabama, seat Gadsden, issues its general business license through the Probate Office (Judge of Probate Scott W. Hassell) under Ala. Code Title 40, Chapter 12, as one combined state and county license valid October 1 to September 30. The county publishes no fee table of its own, so the amounts listed here are the statutory base totals from the Alabama Department of Revenue's October 2022 Handbook of Privilege and Store Licenses; the veterinary and store licenses have no county portion. Ala. Code §45-28-200 separately authorizes the County Commission to levy an additional annual business fee of $10 to $300 under a schedule it promulgates, and no such schedule appears on the county's pages. Health permits come from the Etowah County Health Department, an ADPH Northeastern District office operating under a genuine local fee-setting act (Ala. Code §45-28-170.01) with a fee schedule effective September 1, 2026. The County Engineer administers the floodplain development permit and, with the Commission, the subdivision regulations. Etowah is Wet countywide per the Alabama ABC Board. Twelve incorporated municipalities — Gadsden, Attalla, Boaz, Glencoe, Hokes Bluff, Rainbow City, Southside, Altoona, Reece City, Ridgeville, Sardis City and Walnut Grove — each run their own business license and permit regime that stacks on top of the county's.15 published records
• Birmingham, ALPrimarily in Jefferson County, one of only two Alabama counties running its own independent health department, but a Highway 280 corridor strip sits in Shelby County.14 published records
• Shelby County, ALShelby County runs no county-specific business-license fee schedule of its own. Its Business Revenue Department / License Offices collect Alabama's statewide occupational privilege license, Title 40, Chapter 12, Code of Alabama 1975, using the same classification codes and combined state+county fee amounts published in the Alabama Department of Revenue's Handbook of Privilege and Store Licenses — this reaches all ten industries covered here, either through a named classification (restaurants, sandwich shops, barbers, beauty parlors, contractors, auto garages, veterinary surgery) or through the base county license for retail stores, childcare and fitness studios. This license stacks with, rather than substitutes for, each incorporated city's own municipal business license, confirmed independently for both of Shelby's two largest cities, Alabaster and Pelham, in addition to the six smaller municipalities Shelby's own site names. The Shelby County Health Department is an Alabama Department of Public Health (Northeastern District) field office, not an independent county health department — Jefferson and Mobile are the only two Alabama counties with that independent status — so Shelby has no local rule-making or fee-setting power over food-service permitting; a separate, unrelated local act (Act 99-417) gives the County Commission sanitation authority over junkyards specifically. Shelby County has no surviving barber commission; barbers and cosmetologists are regulated solely by the statewide Alabama Board of Cosmetology and Barbering. The Department of Development Services administers building permits and zoning for unincorporated Shelby County plus seven named incorporated towns (Chelsea, Columbiana, Indian Springs Village, Montevallo, Vincent, Wilsonville, Wilton); several of the county's other incorporated cities, including Alabaster and Pelham, are understood to run their own separate building/zoning departments. Shelby County is Wet countywide per the Alabama ABC Board's own current wet/dry list.13 published records
• St. Clair County, ALSt. Clair County, Alabama has two county seats, Ashville and Pell City, and the Probate Office (Judge of Probate Andrew Weathington) keeps a public office in each. The general county business license is the statewide Title 40, Chapter 12 privilege license issued through Probate, and the fees listed for the county are the combined state-plus-county totals printed in the ALDOR Handbook of Privilege and Store Licenses (October 2022). A location outside every city uses each section's own all-other-places row; a business inside a city pays the tier for that city's Census population band. The St. Clair County Commission's letter dated September 8, 2025 states that the county has no zoning rules, requires no building permit in the unincorporated parts of the county and requires no certificate of occupancy; a floodplain development permit from the county engineer applies in flood zones. The St. Clair County Health Department is an Alabama Department of Public Health field office in Pell City; no health permit fee schedule is published. The county is Wet on the Alabama ABC Board's table, and a retail liquor license outside a municipality needs County Commission approval. Incorporated municipalities include Argo, Ashville, Leeds, Margaret, Moody, Odenville, Pell City, Ragland, Riverside, Springville, Steele, Trussville and Vincent; each runs its own business license regime that stacks on the county's.13 published records
• Lauderdale County, ALLauderdale County, Alabama, seat Florence, issues its general business privilege license through the County License Commissioner (102 S. Court St., Florence), an office created by local act (Ala. Code §45-39-200.04) that takes privilege licenses away from the Judge of Probate. Fees are the combined state plus county totals printed in the Alabama Department of Revenue's Handbook of Privilege and Store Licenses; the county publishes no separate schedule. The county has its own Board of Barbering under the Lauderdale County Barber Act (Ala. Code §45-39-40 et seq.), which licenses barbers and registers barbershops county-wide. Lauderdale is Dry - Contains Wet Cities on the Alabama ABC Board's table: alcohol sales are lawful only inside an incorporated municipality (Ala. Code §45-39-20), and the wet cities are Rogersville, Florence, St. Florian, Lexington and Killen. Health permits come from the Lauderdale County Health Department, an Alabama Department of Public Health office. Seven incorporated municipalities — Florence, Killen, Rogersville, Waterloo, Anderson, Lexington and St. Florian — each stack their own business license and permit requirements on top of the county's; Florence also levies a city privilege tax. Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia are in Colbert County, not Lauderdale.12 published records
• Mobile County, ALMobile County's licensing structure runs through five distinct county agencies. The Mobile County License Commission — an independently elected office, currently Commissioner Nick Matranga — administers the Business Privilege License (Code of Alabama Title 40, Ch. 12) countywide, inside the City of Mobile, the county's other 8 municipalities, and the unincorporated area alike; a municipal license stacks on top of, rather than replaces, the county license, and the License Commission's own site states plainly that it does not publish a fee table by classification, quoting the amount due only on request. The Mobile County Health Department (MCHD) is a distinctly-governed county health department, not simply an Alabama Dept. of Public Health branch, and issues food, day-care, and pool/spa permits countywide on a fee schedule authorized by the Mobile County Commission. The Mobile County Inspection Services Dept. issues building permits, and the Mobile County Environmental Services Dept. issues the junkyard license, both in unincorporated Mobile County only; the county's own Development and Zoning page states that 'There is no zoning in the unincorporated areas of Mobile County.' The Mobile County Barber Commission (Code of Alabama §45-49-40.02) independently licenses barbers, barbershops and barber schools, one of only five Alabama counties (with Jefferson, Baldwin, Lauderdale and Madison) that still runs a pre-2013 grandfathered local barber board, separate from the state Board of Cosmetology and Barbering. Mobile County is classified 'Wet' by the Alabama ABC Board. These records cover the county layer only; the City of Mobile's own municipal requirements are listed separately under the City of Mobile.11 published records
• Jefferson County, ALJefferson County, Alabama's largest county and home to Birmingham, layers a county-only Entity Business License Tax on top of the state business privilege license, and most of its many incorporated cities (Birmingham, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, Mountain Brook, Bessemer and others) add a third, separate city business license — none of the three substitutes for another. The Jefferson County Department of Health (JCDH) is one of only two independently run, county-funded health departments in Alabama (with Mobile County), not an Alabama Department of Public Health district office, and its food, mobile-food, daycare and swimming-pool permits reach county-wide, including inside Birmingham and every other incorporated city. The Jefferson County Barber Commission (JCBC), in continuous operation since 1951, still separately licenses barbershops and barbers today: the 2013 statewide consolidation into the Alabama Board of Cosmetology and Barbering exempted any county or municipal barber commission already in existence on August 1, 2013 unless its governing body opted in by resolution, and Jefferson County's commission never opted in. General (non-barber) cosmetology and salon licensing, veterinary practice, and auto-repair/salvage dealing are all state-licensed with no confirmed Jefferson-County-specific layer. The county's Development Services building/zoning permit and its ePermitJC contractor registration both reach unincorporated Jefferson County only; every incorporated city in the county runs its own building department instead.10 published records
• Madison County, ALMadison County (county seat Huntsville) runs a countywide business/privilege license through an independently elected License Department (Ala. Code §45-45-201) — not the Probate Judge, not the Revenue Commissioner — that applies inside every city in the county as well as outside them, stacking with each city's own municipal license rather than replacing it. Food-service and environmental-health permitting is a county-only function throughout Madison County, including inside Huntsville, run by the Madison County Health Department's Environmental Health Division (a hybrid ADPH field office plus a local-law Board of Health with its own fee-setting power under §45-45-172). Building-permit and zoning authority through the Inspection Department and Public Works reaches unincorporated Madison County only; every incorporated city runs its own. The County Commission's alcohol local-approval role likewise reaches unincorporated Madison County only — inside Huntsville, Madison, New Hope, Gurley, Owens Cross Roads or Triana, that city's own governing body plays the analogous role, and the state ABC Board's own wet-cities list confirms the entire county, incorporated and unincorporated alike, is 'Wet.' The county's own published classification-fee schedule (filed annually with the Alabama Dept. of Revenue) covers general contractors, veterinary practices and salon/barbershop chair counts by specific code, but has no identifiable line item for restaurant, coffee shop, food truck, retail store, childcare, fitness-studio or auto-repair classifications — a gap in the published document itself. General contractors are licensed by the state Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors; the county's own touchpoints for a contractor are its classification tax and a $20 residential-permit surcharge; the state's own commercial-contractor dollar threshold is $100,000 as of October 1, 2024 (Act 2024-277). Veterinary practice is licensed entirely by the state veterinary board, with the county's only touchpoint being a $1.00 statutory license-filing fee at the Probate Office. Cosmetology/barbering is likewise a state (ABOC) function, except that ABOC maintains a Madison-County-specific 'Class I Barber' exemption and reciprocity path tracing to the county's own former local-law Barber Board.9 published records

These are the 12 Alabama jurisdictions where we publish the most. All 20 jurisdictions we cover lists the other 8.

Is there a single Alabama business license?

Who issues permits in Alabama?

• Alabama Department of Revenue, Business and License Tax DivisionBusiness privilege licenses · Store licenses · License administration3 permits
• Alabama Secretary of State, Business ServicesEntity formation · Name reservation3 permits
• Alabama Department of Public Health, Division of Food, Milk and LodgingFood establishment rules · County health department operations2 permits
• Alabama Department of Revenue, Sales and Use Tax DivisionSales tax licenses · Business privilege tax2 permits
• Alabama Board of Cosmetology and BarberingSalon and barber shop licensing · School licensing1 permit
• Alabama Department of Human Resources, Child Care Services DivisionDay care centre licensing · Day care home licensing1 permit
• Alabama Home Builders Licensure BoardResidential home builder licensing · Residential roofer licensing1 permit
• Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical ExaminersVeterinary premises permits · Veterinarian licensing1 permit
• Alabama State Licensing Board for General ContractorsGeneral contractor licensing · Subcontractor licensing1 permit

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