If you’re planning on renting a space for a retail operation, or building custom furniture in an industrial building, or even operating a home-based business, you’ll want to make sure you’re following all the city regulations. Antoinette Christovale, director of finance for the City of Los Angeles, discusses some of the city’s basic requirements when it comes to a setting up shop.

“You’re required by the Los Angeles tax code to have a tax registration in order to do business in Los Angeles. We have an application that the potential business owner would complete and the application is available on the Web site www.lacity.org/finance, or we can mail it to the potential business owner, or they can come in to one of our seven branch offices and complete it with assistance from the staff. On the application we ask for the legal name, the type of business ownership, partnership or corporation and relevant information such as social security number or federal employer identification number.

“We ask for a description of the business and when it will be starting business in the city of Los Angeles. We have them sign the application. And if they have already started working we ask for information on their gross receipts for the sales conducted.

“We find from time to time that there are businesses that haven’t filled out the application but are doing business. When we find them, we advise the owners of the requirement to complete an application and submit any taxes that may be due. If they do not complete an application or they don’t renew annually then there’s a penalty for that. It’s up to 40 percent if they don’t pay by the fifth month.

“For the application to be accepted, it has to be a legal business according to Los Angeles requirements. There are certain types of businesses, such as massage parlors, where the owner would need to get a police permit. And they would need to meet certain requirements like health codes. If they don’t have that then we couldn’t submit a business tax registration certification.

“For small businesses we do have a small business exemption where their tax is exempt as long as they’re gross receipts are under $5,000 annually. That number will be increasing to $100,000 because we want to promote small business and allow them to grow in the city of Los Angeles.”

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*Case Study is a new feature in which experts offer advice on the various challenges that small-business owners often encounter. If you face an issue or challenge you think applies to others as well, please contact the Business Journal at

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