Burlington VT Business Licenses: Peddler $100, 2.5 Percent City Meals Tax, Church Street Carts From $750 and a $120 Rental Registration

If you plan to sell goods, serve food, rent out a unit or run a cart in Burlington VT, you will hear about a single Burlington VT business license that covers everything. That license does not exist. Vermont has no general state business license, and the city's Clerk/Treasurer Business Licenses page lists cannabis, liquor, peddler and taxi or vehicle-for-hire licenses but no general business license. Your real checklist depends on your entity type, what you sell and where you operate. This guide walks through the filings and city charges that matter most.

This guide is informational only. It is not legal or tax advice. Complex situations, including multi-owner entities, food operations and short-term rentals with several units, should be reviewed by a qualified attorney or CPA.

What You Need Before You Start

• An entity choice. Sole proprietors may skip the state filing. LLCs file Articles of Organization and corporations file Articles of Incorporation, both at $155 with the Vermont Secretary of State.
• A compliant business name. An LLC name must end in Limited Liability Company, LLC, Ltd. Liability Co., Limited Company, LC or Ltd. Co. You can reserve a name for $25.
• A registered agent. Every Vermont LLC needs an agent for service of process with a name, email and address on file. The agent must be an individual Vermont resident or a business with a place of business in Vermont.
• Addresses. Your Burlington VT business address, plus the address of each cart, stand, rental unit or vehicle you plan to operate.
• Sales estimates. A rough monthly revenue figure by category (food, alcohol, lodging, goods), since the city gross receipts tax is filed monthly.
• Access to the state filing portal. The Online Business Service Center is at https://bizfilings.vermont.gov/homepage.

Step 1: Form Your Entity With the Vermont Secretary of State

Start by searching the name at the Vermont Business Search. Then file online through the Online Business Service Center. Online filings are normally processed in less than one business day, and online filing costs no more than filing by mail. Mailed filings take 7 to 10 business days. The Secretary of State publishes no expedited fee for business filings, so online filing is the fastest path.

Calendar the annual report now. An LLC report costs $45 and is due by March 31 for a calendar-year entity. A corporation report costs $60 and is due by March 15. If an entity misses its annual report, it terminates, though it can be reinstated. Vermont does not use administrative dissolution, so the fix is reinstatement, not a quiet cleanup.

Step 2: Open a Department of Taxes Account

Register at https://tax.vermont.gov/business/register if you will collect sales or meals tax or withhold payroll. The state sales tax is 6%, but it applies to goods and a short list of items and reaches almost no services. Labor by handymen, lawn care, towing and junk haulers is not taxed. Contractors pay tax on the materials they buy and do not charge it to customers.

Prepared food, coffee, bakery items eaten on site and catering fall under the separate 9% meals and rooms tax, which becomes 10% on alcohol. If you buy inventory for resale, give your supplier Form S-3. Your sales tax account number does not replace that form.

Pass-through entities, including LLCs taxed as partnerships or S corporations, owe a $250 minimum annual entity tax paid with Form BI-471 or BI-476. A disregarded single-member LLC does not owe it. Corporations file Form CO-411.

Step 3: Confirm the City Clerk Requirements

Call the city Clerk/Treasurer at 802-865-7000 before you apply for anything. Ask whether your activity needs a license on the Business Licenses page, and ask which fee schedule applies. Vehicle-for-hire business and taxi driver applications have gone to the Burlington International Airport since 2025-09-15, but monthly fee-per-ride forms still go to the Clerk/Treasurer. Confirm the current fee schedule with the city before you budget for any vehicle-for-hire license.

Step 4: Register for the City Gross Receipts Tax

Burlington VT levies a city gross receipts tax, called the Restaurant, Hotel, and Amusements Tax, which is paid monthly. The rates in effect as of 2026-07-01 are:

• Meals: 2.5%
• Alcohol: 2.5%
• Amusements: 2.5%
• Hotel and motel: 4%
• Short-term rental: 9%

The admissions rate is no longer charged. Use the Opening a New Business application linked from the city's gross receipts page. The city also collects a 1% local option sales tax, in effect since July 2006, on top of the state's 6%.

Do the math carefully on prepared food. A restaurant meal in Burlington VT is taxed at 9% state plus 2.5% city, or 11.5% combined. It is not subject to a 10% or 11% local option meals tax. Burlington VT does not have a local option meals tax of that size.

Step 5: Apply for a Peddler License

Peddler licenses in Burlington VT are sorted by district. Fees and status as published by the city are:

District	Annual fee	Monthly fee	Status
General District	$100	$15	Standard district. Confirm availability with the Clerk.
Central	$300	$60	Closed to new applicants
University Place	$100 plus $300 per vehicle	N/A	Closed, with a waiting list

Each applicant also pays a $45 background check fee per person. Peddler licenses expire May 31, so plan your renewal calendar around that date. Do not build a business plan around the Central district or University Place, since neither is open to new applicants.

Step 6: Evaluate Church Street Marketplace Carts

The Church Street Marketplace cart program in Burlington VT runs on a May 1 to April 30 term. For the 2026-27 program, carts cost $750 to $2,400, and applications are accepted in January and February. Confirm the exact cart price and the next cycle's application window with the city, because the program can change from year to year. Budget for the cart fee plus the gross receipts tax and any sales tax you collect.

Step 7: Register Short-Term Rentals

Short-term rental registration in Burlington VT is set by Ordinance 6.6, adopted 2026-04-27 and effective 2026-05-26. The registration fee is:

• $120 per unit per year as the base charge
• $80 per year for owner-occupied dwellings of two or fewer units, and for partial-unit rentals
• An additional $120 per unit for whole-unit short-term rentals

The $120 figure is only the starting point. Ask the Clerk how the base charge and the whole-unit add-on combine for your property before you pay. Short-term rentals also owe the state 9% rooms tax plus a 3% surcharge, and the city's 9% short-term rental gross receipts rate from Step 4.

Step 8: Check Specialty Permits

• Liquor. Liquor licenses go to the City Council License Committee, supported by a Local Control Subcommittee.
• Cannabis. Voters opted in on Town Meeting Day 2021, and the city's cannabis commission was created in August 2022. All license types are allowed with no cap. Retail is barred within 500 feet of a K-12 school on adjacent or across-the-street property, and downtown windows must stay clear to 8 feet deep. Retail sales also collect the 1% local option sales tax.
• Sidewalk and below-ground work. Awnings that project into the right-of-way and below-ground work require Public Works encroachment approval at 802-863-9094.
• Parks events. General permits for 20 to 99 people cost $30, $55, $80 or $110. Commercial photography costs $105 a day per location.

For help with the paperwork, the Burlington VT Office of Economic Opportunity (CEDO) provides small business support and a commercial space database. The Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC) at https://www.vtsbdc.org/ is another starting point for planning and business counseling.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Looking for a general state license. Vermont has none. Your entity filing and tax account are the state steps, and activity licenses are separate.
• Misquoting the meals tax. The Burlington VT city layer on prepared food is 2.5%. Do not price menus as if a 10% or 11% local option meals tax applies.
• Applying to closed peddler districts. Central and University Place are not accepting new applicants.
• Missing the annual report. A missed LLC or corporation report can terminate the entity, and reinstatement takes extra effort.
• Charging sales tax on services. Most services, including lawn care and junk hauling, are not taxed. Contractors absorb the tax they pay on materials.
• Using your account number as a resale exemption. Buyers provide Form S-3 to suppliers.
• Treating the short-term rental fee as flat. Owner-occupied, partial-unit and whole-unit rules change the amount.
• Forgetting the monthly filing. The city gross receipts tax is due every month, even in slow months.

Expected Results

Filing your entity online and opening your tax account often lets you move to city steps quickly, since online Secretary of State filings are normally processed in less than one business day. Peddler, cart and rental timelines are set by the city's calendar rather than by your readiness, so a complete application submitted early in a window may be easier to manage. Results depend on your activity, your property and the city's review, so treat these outcomes as typical patterns rather than guarantees.

Next Steps

1. Confirm your entity name and file with the Secretary of State.
2. Calendar the March 15 corporation or March 31 LLC annual report.
3. Open your Department of Taxes account if you collect tax or withhold.
4. Call the Clerk/Treasurer at 802-865-7000 to confirm which Burlington VT licenses apply to you.
5. Verify all fees, deadlines and ordinance text with the agency before you pay or sign.

Fees, deadlines and ordinance text change. Confirm every figure in this article with the Vermont Secretary of State, the Department of Taxes or the Burlington VT Clerk/Treasurer before you act on it.