11 published records
Business licenses and permits in Gwinnett County, Georgia
Gwinnett County, Georgia, seat Lawrenceville, is this site's first Georgia county. Georgia's statutory scheme centers on a county occupation tax rather than a general 'business license': O.C.G.A. §48-13-6 authorizes a county to levy and classify an occupation tax only on business locations in the unincorporated part of the county, which is exactly the scope of Gwinnett's own Business/Occupation Tax Certificate listed here. Gwinnett has 17 incorporated municipalities — Auburn, Berkeley Lake, Braselton, Buford, Dacula, Duluth, Grayson, Lawrenceville, Lilburn, Loganville, Mulberry, Norcross, Peachtree Corners, Rest Haven, Snellville, Sugar Hill, and Suwanee — and the county's own business-license page directs a business located inside any of their city limits to that city's own government instead of the county's unincorporated-only certificate. Three of those cities publish their own separate stacking process: Buford charges prior-year gross receipts by class rate plus $25.00 (capped at $20,000.00); Norcross charges a $75.00 Business License Fee plus a $12.50 ePlan fee; Peachtree Corners charges a $75.00 Zoning Use Approval plus a $100.00 City Inspection fee in addition to its own Occupational Tax Certificate. No fee figure is listed here for the remaining 14 municipalities; contact each city for its own requirements. Regardless of city limits, the Gwinnett County Fire Marshal's Certificate of Occupancy, listed separately here, reaches every commercial business in the county except those in the City of Loganville, under Gwinnett County Fire Protection and Life Safety Ordinance §46-44b. Health permits (food service, swimming pool, body art) are issued by the Gwinnett County Health Department as a county office of the Gwinnett, Newton & Rockdale (GNR) Public Health district under the Georgia Department of Public Health, rather than by a freestanding county health department. The population figure used here, 1,003,869, is the U.S. Census Bureau's own vintage-2024 county estimate; the county's own Fast Facts page separately publishes a newer, higher figure sourced to a private vendor's 2026-vintage projection, a different estimate basis and vintage rather than a conflicting count of the same thing.
What are you opening in Gwinnett County?
- RestaurantsFull-service restaurants carry the densest permit load of any small business: food, fire, occupancy, waste, and usually alcohol.See the full permit list
- Coffee shopsCafés are permitted as food service establishments even where no cooking happens, and the plan review step catches most operators by surprise.See the full permit list
- Retail storesRetail is the lightest common permit load, but the sales tax permit and the certificate of occupancy are non-negotiable in every jurisdiction.See the full permit list
- Salons and barbersPersonal care is licensed at state board level as well as locally, so the shop license and the practitioner licenses are separate obligations.See the full permit list
- Food trucksMobile food is the one category with no certificate of occupancy — but it gains a commissary agreement, and the unit itself is inspected rather than the premises.See the full permit list
- Fitness studiosPrepaid memberships trigger state registration and often a surety bond, which catches operators who budgeted only for the fit-out.See the full permit list
- Childcare centresThe heaviest permit load of any small business: state agency licensing, per-person background checks, and a stricter fire standard than ordinary commercial use.See the full permit list
- Contractors and tradesLicensed at state board level rather than locally, and the only common category with no premises permits at all — the bond is usually the long pole.See the full permit list
- Auto repair shopsOrdinary commercial permitting plus an environmental layer: waste oil, solvents and stormwater are each registered separately.See the full permit list
- Veterinary clinicsA state facility permit, controlled substances registration at both state and federal level, and a medical waste manifest — none of which a general business license covers.See the full permit list
Permits that apply to every type of business in Gwinnett County
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business/Occupation Tax Certificate | Gwinnett County Licensing & Revenue Office, Dept. of Planning & Development | A non-refundable, non-prorated $80.00 flat fee for certificate issuance, plus a per-class gross-revenue rate. Gwinnett has established six tax classes, with rates ranging from $0.65 per thousand dollars of gross revenue to $1.30 per thousand dollars of gross revenue. The county's online Tax Calculator assigns the specific class only after a business submits its open date and NAICS code; no static class-to-NAICS table is published anywhere on the county's site, so the class-specific rate for a given industry is not stated here. | Annual; renewal due February 15. A $25.00 late fee applies after the deadline, with an additional 10% penalty after March 31 plus 1.5% monthly interest. | 2026-10-02 |
| Gwinnett County Fire Certificate of Occupancy (Countywide) | Gwinnett County Fire Marshal's Office | $100 per Fire Certificate of Occupancy for a tenant building, per the Dept. of Planning & Development's Fee Schedule, Fire section | Per occupancy, required before a commercial business opens or changes tenancy. | 2026-10-02 |
| Rezoning / Special Use Permit / Zoning Varianceonly if it applies to you | Gwinnett County Dept. of Planning & Development, Building & Development Divisions | Rezoning/Special Use Permit fees scale by acreage and zoning category, from the Dept. of Planning & Development's Fee Schedule, 'Planning & Zoning Fees' section, effective July 1, 2024: Single-Family, 0–5 acres $750.00 up to over 100 acres $2,500.00 plus $40.00 per acre (capped at $10,000.00); Multifamily/Special Residential, the same tier structure up to over 100 acres at $2,500.00 plus $40.00 per acre; Nonresidential, 0–5 acres $1,000.00 up to over 100 acres $3,000.00 plus $50.00 per acre; Mixed-Use, MU-N $1,000.00 plus $100.00 per acre, MU-C $2,000.00 plus $150.00 per acre, MU-R $3,000.00 plus $200.00 per acre (all capped at $10,000.00). Zoning Variance Application: Single-Family Residential $250.00, Multifamily $450.00, Nonresidential or Mixed-Use $700.00. Automobile Brokerage Permit $300.00. Moved-In House Application $300.00. | Per application. | 2026-10-02 |
| Certificate of Occupancy / Tenant Name Change Permit | Gwinnett County Dept. of Planning & Development, Building & Development Divisions | A typical Certificate of Occupancy for occupying an existing space without construction costs $180.00, combining Building Plan Review and Fire Plan Review, per the county's own business-license page. The Dept. of Planning & Development's Fee Schedule, revised 05/23/2024 and effective July 1, 2024, separately itemizes a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy / Certification of Completion at $50.00 and a Tenant Interior Space Alterations Certificate of Completion (Shell Building) at $50.00. New-construction buildings are priced instead under the Building Permit fee formula listed separately here. | Per occupancy; a Tenant Name Change Permit is required in place of a new Certificate of Occupancy when there is no construction. | 2026-10-02 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
What do these permits involve in Gwinnett County?
Business/Occupation Tax Certificate
Every business operating in unincorporated Gwinnett County needs this certificate from the Licensing & Revenue Office, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville; a business located inside any of Gwinnett's 17 incorporated cities instead applies to that city's own government. The certificate costs an $80.00 flat issuance fee plus a per-class rate on gross revenue, ranging from $0.65 to $1.30 per $1,000.00, under six tax classes the county's own page states directly but does not map to specific industries anywhere outside its interactive Tax Calculator. Applicants also need a GA Dept. of Revenue Sales & Use Tax number if selling goods, a Certificate of Occupancy or Tenant Name Change Permit, and — for employers with 10 or more employees, since July 1, 2013 — an E-Verify affidavit under the Georgia Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011. Every applicant must also execute a legal-presence affidavit under O.C.G.A. §50-36-1(1).
Gwinnett County Fire Certificate of Occupancy (Countywide)
Gwinnett County Fire Protection and Life Safety Ordinance §46-44b requires a Gwinnett County Fire Marshal Certificate of Occupancy for every commercial business in the county, including a business located inside the city limits of a Gwinnett County municipality, with one stated exception: the City of Loganville. The City of Norcross's own business-license checklist quotes the ordinance directly: 'All commercial businesses within Gwinnett County, including those within the city limits of Gwinnett County (with the exception of the City of Loganville), must have a Gwinnett County Fire Certificate of Occupancy (CO), per Gwinnett County Fire Protection and Life Safety Ordinance section 46-44b.' The fee for a Fire Certificate of Occupancy covering a tenant building is $100.00, per the Dept. of Planning & Development's Fee Schedule, Fire section, effective July 1, 2024 and reconfirmed live as current on October 2, 2026. This requirement applies in addition to whatever Certificate of Occupancy or business-license process the business's own city runs for a location inside its limits.
Rezoning / Special Use Permit / Zoning Variance
A business in unincorporated Gwinnett County that needs rezoning, a Special Use Permit, or a zoning variance pays the Dept. of Planning & Development's Planning & Zoning fee, which scales by acreage and zoning category — from $750.00 for the smallest single-family tier up to $10,000.00-capped fees for the largest nonresidential and mixed-use tiers — plus separate flat fees for a zoning variance ($250.00 to $700.00 depending on district), an Automobile Brokerage Permit ($300.00), and a Moved-In House Application ($300.00). A Special Use Permit is specifically confirmed required for a childcare facility by the county's own business-license page, and that requirement is actively enforced: real, numbered case filings for day-care facilities include SUP2024-00028, SUP2022-00033, and SUP2022-00006, each a zoning action on a specific parcel for a day-care or preschool use.
Certificate of Occupancy / Tenant Name Change Permit
A business opening in unincorporated Gwinnett County needs either a Certificate of Occupancy, jointly signed off by Building Services and the Fire Marshal, or a Tenant Name Change Permit when it is simply taking over an existing space with no construction. The typical combined fee is $180.00, per the county's own business-license page, which bundles Building Plan Review and Fire Plan Review. The Dept. of Planning & Development's Fee Schedule itemizes related charges separately: $50.00 for a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy or Certification of Completion, and $50.00 for a Tenant Interior Space Alterations Certificate of Completion where the space is a shell building. This fee is distinct from the countywide Fire Certificate of Occupancy listed separately here, which applies even inside city limits.
Sources
Every figure in the table above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Gwinnett County Licensing & Revenue — Business License pageGwinnett County Dept. of Planning & Development · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
- O.C.G.A. §48-13-6, County occupation tax on unincorporated-area businesses; authority to classify and set rateslaw.justia.com (Code of Georgia mirror) · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
- Gwinnett County Dept. of Planning & Development, Fee Schedule (Revised 05/23/2024, effective July 1, 2024)Gwinnett County Dept. of Planning & Development · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
- City of Norcross — Checklist for Business Licenses (quotes Gwinnett County Fire Protection and Life Safety Ordinance §46-44b)City of Norcross, Georgia · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
- Gwinnett County — Municipalities page (17 incorporated cities)Gwinnett County · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
Who issues business permits in Gwinnett County?
Permitting in Gwinnett County is split across 5 agencies we hold records for, with tax registration handled at state level. No single office issues everything, which is why an opening usually means filing in several places rather than one.
Gwinnett County issuing agencies
- Gwinnett County Dept. of Planning & Development, Building & Development DivisionsIssues Certificates of Occupancy, Tenant Name Change Permits, and building permits for unincorporated Gwinnett County under the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), Title 1 · Administers rezoning, Special Use Permit, and zoning variance applications under the UDO, Title 23 permits
- Gwinnett County Health Department, Environmental Health Section (Gwinnett, Newton & Rockdale Public Health District)A county office of the Gwinnett, Newton & Rockdale (GNR) Public Health district under the Georgia Department of Public Health; issues food service, mobile food unit, swimming pool, and body art/tattoo permits under its Environmental Health Fee Schedule, Rev. 082625, adopted August 25, 20253 permits
- Gwinnett County Fire Marshal's OfficeIssues the Gwinnett County Fire Certificate of Occupancy required of every commercial business in the county, including businesses inside the city limits of a Gwinnett County municipality other than the City of Loganville, under Gwinnett County Fire Protection and Life Safety Ordinance §46-44b · Issues fire and life-safety permits — burn permits, site plan review, commercial kitchen hood/duct permits, and shell/interior finish fire permits — under the Dept. of Planning & Development's Fee Schedule2 permits
- Gwinnett County Licensing & Revenue Office, Dept. of Planning & DevelopmentIssues the county Business/Occupation Tax Certificate for businesses located in unincorporated Gwinnett County, under O.C.G.A. §48-13-6 · Administers the county Alcoholic Beverage License for unincorporated Gwinnett under Gwinnett County Code Chapter 6, including the Statement of Personal History, registered-agent, and transferability provisions2 permits
- Gwinnett County Police Department, Permits UnitIssues the individual Alcohol (Pouring) Permit required of a bartender or server, alongside pawn, precious-metal, adult-entertainment, locksmith, and solicitor permits1 permit
Other Georgia jurisdictions we cover
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.