10 published records
Business licenses and permits in Chesterfield County, Virginia
Virginia is the one U.S. state where every city is legally independent of the county around it, and Chesterfield County has zero incorporated towns within its borders — the county's own government page describes it as 'divided into five magisterial districts, each ... represented by one supervisor,' with no town carved out of any district. Colonial Heights, an independent city bordering the county, and the City of Richmond are both separate governments with their own ordinances and licenses; neither is part of Chesterfield County, and their requirements are not part of this county listing. Because there is no town government inside the county, every requirement recorded here applies countywide with nothing added on top of it by a municipal layer. The county seat is Chesterfield Courthouse, an unincorporated community rather than a separate municipal government. The Commissioner of the Revenue administers the county's Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) tax and its alcohol BPOL add-on taxes; the Virginia Department of Health's Chesterfield Health District, a state field office rather than a county department, administers food-establishment and temporary-event permits; the Chesterfield County Police Department's Chief of Police issues massage clinic and massage therapist permits; and the county's own Department of Building Inspection issues building permits under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code. Alcohol licensing itself is a Virginia ABC Authority function; the county's only role is the flat BPOL add-on taxes recorded below, which Code of Virginia § 4.1-128(A) permits as long as they treat alcohol sales the same as other sales.
What are you opening in Chesterfield 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 Chesterfield County
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Building Permit | Chesterfield County Department of Building Inspection | New commercial construction: $297 minimum plus $7.40 per $1,000 of construction cost. Commercial addition: $178 minimum plus $7.40 per $1,000 of construction cost. Demolition of a commercial structure: $119. Figures are from the fee schedule in effect July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, reviewed annually by the Board of Supervisors. | one-time, per project; the fee schedule itself is reviewed annually by the Board of Supervisors and can change at the next fiscal year | 2026-10-02 |
| BPOL (Business, Professional and Occupational License) Registration and Flat-Fee Bracket | Chesterfield County Commissioner of the Revenue | A business with gross receipts under $10,000 pays $0. A business with gross receipts of $10,000 up to $549,999.99 pays a flat $10 a year (Code § 6-4, as amended by Ord. of 07-23-2025(2), effective January 1, 2026, which raised the bracket's ceiling from $500,000 to $550,000). A business with gross receipts of $550,000 or more instead pays the percentage tax recorded separately in the next record. | calendar year; renew by March 1 | 2026-10-02 |
| BPOL Percentage Tax on Gross Receipts | Chesterfield County Commissioner of the Revenue | Applies to the portion of gross receipts at or above the county's $550,000 reduction threshold (see the registration/threshold record below). Current published per-$100-of-gross-receipts rates: Contractor $0.14 (Code § 6-25(a)); Retail Merchant $0.19 (§ 6-26(a)); Personal & Business Services (including barbershops, beauty parlors, daycare, massage therapists/clinics, and 'reducing salons or health clubs') $0.20 (§ 6-30(a)); Repair Service, which covers auto repair, $0.20 (§ 6-30(b)); Professional Service, which covers full-service veterinary practice, $0.20 (§ 6-29); Computer Service $0.03 (§ 6-30(f)); Wholesale Merchant $0.10, capped at $20,000 a year (§ 6-33(a)). | calendar year; renew by March 1 | 2026-10-02 |
| BPOL No-Tax-Below / Percentage-Tax Reduction Threshold | Chesterfield County Commissioner of the Revenue | $550,000 gross receipts a year — the amount below which the flat $10 fee applies instead of the percentage tax, and the amount subtracted when computing the percentage tax above it | calendar year | 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 Chesterfield County?
Commercial Building Permit
Any commercial build-out, new construction, addition or demolition in Chesterfield County needs a building permit from the Department of Building Inspection, which enforces the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (2021 edition) countywide — there being no incorporated towns to carve out of its jurisdiction. Under the fee schedule in effect July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027: new commercial construction costs $297 minimum plus $7.40 per $1,000 of construction cost, a commercial addition costs $178 minimum plus the same $7.40 per $1,000, and demolishing a commercial structure costs $119. These figures come from Code § 5.5, 'Permit Fees,' and the schedule is reviewed annually by the Board of Supervisors, so a project starting after June 30, 2027 should confirm the next fiscal year's schedule. Zoning compliance is a separate precondition of the county's BPOL business license itself (Code § 6-9), checked by the applicant before the license is issued, in addition to whatever this building permit requires for the physical construction.
BPOL (Business, Professional and Occupational License) Registration and Flat-Fee Bracket
Every business with situs in Chesterfield County must register for a BPOL license with the Commissioner of the Revenue within 30 days of starting operations (Code § 6-2), and the license year runs on the calendar year with renewal due March 1 (Code § 6-15). Zoning compliance is the applicant's own responsibility before the license is issued (Code § 6-9). Gross receipts under $10,000 owe no fee; $10,000 up to $549,999.99 owes a flat $10 a year — Code § 6-4's current text reads '$10,000.00 or more, but less than $550,000.00' for this bracket, reflecting Ord. of 07-23-2025(2)'s two-step increase of the ceiling from $500,000 to $550,000, effective January 1, 2026. A contractor additionally needs a Virginia DPOR Class A, B or C registration before the county will issue the license (Code § 6-25(b)), and an out-of-county contractor doing more than $25,000 of work a year in the county owes the tax regardless of a home-locality license (Code § 6-25(d)). Because Chesterfield has no incorporated towns, this registration requirement and fee bracket apply the same way everywhere in the county.
BPOL Percentage Tax on Gross Receipts
Once a business's gross receipts reach the county's current $550,000 reduction threshold, the percentage tax applies instead of the flat $10 fee, at a rate set by the business's BPOL classification. A contractor pays $0.14 per $100; a retail merchant $0.19; personal and business services such as barbershops, beauty parlors, daycare, massage therapists and clinics, and health clubs/reducing salons pay $0.20, the same rate as repair service (which covers auto repair under the ordinance's own definition) and professional service (which covers a full-service veterinary practice doing vaccination, surgery or euthanasia); computer service pays $0.03; a wholesale merchant pays $0.10, capped at $20,000 a year. Every rate above is read directly from its own code section rather than only the summary rate page, so a classification's exact figure can be checked against Code §§ 6-25 through 6-33. The classification a business falls into, not its industry label, controls which rate applies.
BPOL No-Tax-Below / Percentage-Tax Reduction Threshold
The current, county-administered threshold is $550,000: Code § 6-4 was amended by Ord. of 07-23-2025(2) to raise the flat-fee bracket's ceiling to $550,000 effective January 1, 2026, and the county's own live BPOL rate page and its own 2026 Business License Application form (Line 2: 'Enter $550,000.00 per license ONLY if Line 1 ≥ $550,000.00') both apply that same $550,000 figure when computing the percentage-tax reduction, not only the flat-fee bracket. Reading the amending ordinance's own enacting clause shows it amended 'Section 6-4 ... relative to license fees' only; Code § 6-23, the separate Article II section stating the percentage-tax exemption/reduction amount in its own words, was last textually amended in 2021 and still reads $400,000. That $400,000 text in § 6-23 has not yet been brought into line with the 2025 amendment to § 6-4 — a fact about the ordinance's own internal consistency, not an open question — and $550,000 is the figure the county currently publishes and applies on its own rate page and its own current-year application form.
Sources
Every figure in the table above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Commercial Building Inspection Fee Schedule, effective July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027Chesterfield County Department of Building Inspection · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
- Code of the County of Chesterfield, Chapter 6, 'Business Licenses' (full text, §§ 6-1 through 6-41.1)Chesterfield County / Municode · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
- Ordinance of 07-23-2025(2) — amends Code § 6-4 only, raising the BPOL flat-fee/no-tax-below threshold from $500,000 to $550,000 effective January 1, 2026Chesterfield County / Municode · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
- Business Taxes — current BPOL rates and the $550,000 thresholdChesterfield County · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
- 2026 Application for Business License — Line 2 instructs filers to enter $550,000.00 when computing the percentage tax reductionChesterfield County Commissioner of the Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
Who issues business permits in Chesterfield County?
Permitting in Chesterfield County is split across 4 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.
Chesterfield County issuing agencies
- Chesterfield County Commissioner of the RevenueAdministers the Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) tax countywide under Code of the County of Chesterfield, Chapter 6 · Collects the BPOL alcohol add-on taxes on beer/wine and mixed-beverage retailers under Code §§ 6-38, 6-39 and 6-39.16 permits
- Virginia Department of Health, Chesterfield Health DistrictA Virginia state agency field office, not a county department, administering food-establishment and temporary food-event permits countywide under the statewide Virginia food regulations2 permits
- Chesterfield County Department of Building InspectionIssues building permits countywide under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and Code § 5.51 permit
- Chesterfield County Police Department, Office of the Chief of PoliceIssues massage clinic and massage therapist permits countywide under Code Chapter 15, Article V (§§ 15-91-15-106), separate from the BPOL massage-therapist tax classification1 permit
Other Virginia 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.