BLYTHEWOOD – Council voted Monday night to pass the first of two readings required to amend the town’s business license ordinance. The amendment, if passed on the second reading, would change the expiration date for the current 2021 business license from Dec. 30, 2021 to April 30, 2022. The payment is still due on April 15, 2021.
“In September 2020, the General Assembly passed Act 176, intended to streamline the municipal business license process, creating the same process for taxing jurisdictions across the state,” Town Administrator Carroll Williamson wrote in a memo to council. “Cities and towns must update their license ordinance to comply with the new law, which becomes effective Jan. 1, 2022.”
Under Act 176, the 12-month business license year is going to shift to May 1 through April 30. To transition to this shift, the 2021 business license ‘year’ will extend 16 months instead of the usual 12 months. It began Jan. 1, 2021 but will end April 30, 2022 with no additional grace period. Thereafter, the business license year will return to a 12-month year that will begin on May 1 and end on April 30.
To put it simply, the 16-month ‘year’ from Jan. 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022 is a onetime exception to ease the transition to the Act 176-mandated May 1 – April 30 year beginning in 2022.
Once MASC completes its model ordinance based on Act 176 and Blythewood adopts it, the new language will reflect this date change moving forward.