San Diego Business Tax Certificates

Tax administration is one of the duties of the San Diego City Treasurer and is outlined in the City Charter, San Diego Municipal Code and California Government Code. The City of San Diego assesses a business tax on any business operating within the City of San Diego. All businesses operating in the City of San Diego are required to register for a Business Tax Certificate. The City of San Diego issues a Business Tax Certificate instead of a business license. Issuance of the Business Tax Certificate acknowledges payment of business taxes. Issuance of the certificate does not authorize the conduct of any illegal or unlawful business or any business activity for which a license or permit is required by state law, county ordinance or the San Diego Municipal Code, including but not limited to police, health, zoning, planning building or engineering permits, or state contractors licenses and the like. The issuance of a Business Tax Certificate shall not relieve an owner or operator from obtaining any licenses or permits that may be necessary under other provisions of law for employees or for operation of the business.

This dataset includes all active and inactive business tax certificates issued since 1990. The information for each business includes account key, account status (active or inactive), account creation date or certificate issue date, certificate expiration date, business owner name, ownership type (including Corp - Coporation,H-W - Married, LLC - Limited Liability Co (LLC), LP - Limited Partnership (LP), NO/PRF - Non-profit entity, Partnr-partnership, SCORP - S Corporation, Sole Propriethorship, Trust) business start date, Doing Business As name, NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) sector, code and description, business street address, council district.

The City of San Diego is committed to the principles of open, accessible, efficient, and transparent government, and the use of technology to help put those principles into practice. On December 17, 2013, the San Diego City Council approved San Diego Resolution R-308684 (Jan. 2, 2014) in support of creating an open data policy. This policy creates a process for making City data available online using open standards. The City recognizes that making data available online in this manner will promote civic engagement, improve service delivery, allow for more effective communication with the public, and increase opportunities for economic development.