The Business Revenue Team
The business revenue team consists of a team leader, one supervisor and six employees with a combined 70 years of experience. Each employee is trained in all of the assessment areas.
The business revenue team is responsible for the correct assessment of eleven taxes. The revenue generated by those taxes is placed in the city’s general fund, which City Council uses to finance the operation of city government.
The taxes include:
Business License Tax– In FY’10Norfolkhad 14,155 business license accounts that covered 13 tax categories. Examples of businesses that pay the business license tax are retailers, wholesalers and professionals.
Cigarette Tax– The city has 17 distributors selling cigarette tax stamps.
Business Personal Property– This tax has two classes: furniture and fixtures and machinery and tools.
Examples of assets that are taxed as furniture and fixtures are computers, copiers and office furniture. Examples of machinery and tools include cranes, the assets of bakeries and manufacturers.
Boat Tax– The boat tax has two classes: commercial boats including barges and pleasure boats.
Daily Rental Tax– 47 accounts are divided into short term and long term rentals; 92 days and 270 days respectively.
The Commissioner of Revenue is also responsible for the assessment and collection of fiduciary taxes. These include: meal taxes, lodging taxes, hotel and motel room taxes and admission taxes.
The business revenue team plays a critical role in the generation of tax revenues. For example, the team produced $94.5 million in 2010.
