Section 5739.17. Vendor's license

(A) No person shall engage in making retail sales subject to a tax imposed by or pursuant to section 5739.02, 5739.021, 5739.023, or 5739.026 of the Revised Code as a business without having a license therefor, except as otherwise provided in divisions (A)(1), (2), and (3) of this section.

(1) In the dissolution of a partnership by death, the surviving partner may operate under the license of the partnership for a period of sixty days.

(2) The heirs or legal representatives of deceased persons, and receivers and trustees in bankruptcy, appointed by any competent authority, may operate under the license of the person so succeeded in possession.

(3) Two or more persons who are not partners may operate a single place of business under one license. In such case neither the retirement of any such person from business at that place of business, nor the entrance of any person, under an existing arrangement, shall affect the license or require the issuance of a new license, unless the person retiring from the business is the individual named on the vendor's license.

Except as otherwise provided in this section, each applicant for a license shall make out and deliver to the county auditor of each county in which the applicant desires to engage in business, upon a blank to be furnished by such auditor for that purpose, a statement showing the name of the applicant, each place of business in the county where the applicant will make retail sales, the nature of the business, and any other information the tax commissioner reasonably prescribes in the form of a statement prescribed by the commissioner.

At the time of making the application, the applicant shall pay into the county treasury a license fee in the sum of twenty-five dollars for each fixed place of business in the county that will be the situs of retail sales. Upon receipt of the application and exhibition of the county treasurer's receipt, showing the payment of the license fee, the county auditor shall issue to the applicant a license for each fixed place of business designated in the application, authorizing the applicant to engage in business at that location.

(B) If a vendor's identity changes, the vendor shall apply for a new license. If a vendor wishes to move an existing fixed place of business to a new location within the same county, the vendor shall obtain a new vendor's license or submit a request to the commissioner to transfer the existing vendor's license to the new location. When the new location has been verified as being within the same county, the commissioner shall authorize the transfer and notify the county auditor of the change of location. If a vendor wishes to move an existing fixed place of business to another county, the vendor's license shall not transfer and the vendor shall obtain a new vendor's license from the county in which the business is to be located. The form of the license shall be prescribed by the commissioner. The fees collected shall be credited to the general fund of the county. If a vendor fails to notify the commissioner of a change of location of its fixed place of business or that its business has closed, the commissioner may cancel the vendor's license if ordinary mail sent to the location shown on the license is returned because of an undeliverable address.

(C) The commissioner may establish or participate in a registration system whereby any vendor may obtain a vendor's license by submitting to the commissioner a vendor's license application and a license fee of twenty-five dollars for each fixed place of business at which the vendor intends to make retail sales. Under this registration system, the commissioner shall issue a vendor's license to the applicant on behalf of the county auditor of the county in which the applicant desires to engage in business, and shall forward a copy of the application and license fee to that county. All such license fees received by the commissioner for the issuance of vendor's licenses shall be deposited into the vendor's license application fund, which is hereby created in the state treasury. The commissioner shall certify to the director of budget and management within ten business days after the close of a month the license fees to be transmitted to each county from the vendor's license application fund for vendor's license applications received by the commissioner during that month. License fees transmitted to a county for which payment was not received by the commissioner may be netted against a future distribution to that county, including distributions made pursuant to section 5739.21 of the Revised Code.

A vendor that makes retail sales subject to tax under Chapter 5739. of the Revised Code pursuant to a permit issued by the division of liquor control shall obtain a vendor's license in the identical name and for the identical address as shown on the permit.

Except as otherwise provided in this section, if a vendor has no fixed place of business and sells from a vehicle, each vehicle intended to be used within a county constitutes a place of business for the purpose of this section.

(D) As used in this section, "transient vendor" means any person who makes sales of tangible personal property from vending machines located on land owned by others, who leases titled motor vehicles, titled watercraft, or titled outboard motors, who effectuates leases that are taxed according to division (A)(2) of section 5739.02 of the Revised Code, or who, in the usual course of the person's business, transports inventory, stock of goods, or similar tangible personal property to a temporary place of business or temporary exhibition, show, fair, flea market, or similar event in a county in which the person has no fixed place of business, for the purpose of making retail sales of such property. A "temporary place of business" means any public or quasi-public place including, but not limited to, a hotel, rooming house, storeroom, building, part of a building, tent, vacant lot, railroad car, or motor vehicle that is temporarily occupied for the purpose of making retail sales of goods to the public. A place of business is not temporary if the same person conducted business at the place continuously for more than six months or occupied the premises as the person's permanent residence for more than six months, or if the person intends it to be a fixed place of business.

Any transient vendor, in lieu of obtaining a vendor's license under division (A) of this section for counties in which the transient vendor has no fixed place of business, may apply to the tax commissioner, on a form prescribed by the commissioner, for a transient vendor's license. The transient vendor's license authorizes the transient vendor to make retail sales in any county in which the transient vendor does not maintain a fixed place of business. Any holder of a transient vendor's license shall not be required to obtain a separate vendor's license from the county auditor in that county. Upon the commissioner's determination that an applicant is a transient vendor, the applicant shall pay a license fee in the amount of twenty-five dollars, at which time the tax commissioner shall issue the license. The tax commissioner may require a vendor to be licensed as a transient vendor if, in the opinion of the commissioner, such licensing is necessary for the efficient administration of the tax.

Any holder of a valid transient vendor's license may make retail sales at a temporary place of business or temporary exhibition, show, fair, flea market, or similar event, held anywhere in the state without complying with any provision of section 311.37 of the Revised Code. Any holder of a valid vendor's license may make retail sales as a transient vendor at a temporary place of business or temporary exhibition, show, fair, flea market, or similar event held in any county in which the vendor maintains a fixed place of business for which the vendor holds a vendor's license without obtaining a transient vendor's license.

(E) Any vendor who is issued a license pursuant to this section shall display the license or a copy of it prominently, in plain view, at every place of business of the vendor.

(F) No owner, organizer, or promoter who operates a fair, flea market, show, exhibition, convention, or similar event at which transient vendors are present shall fail to keep a comprehensive record of all such vendors, listing the vendor's name, permanent address, vendor's license number, and the type of goods sold. Such records shall be kept for four years and shall be open to inspection by the commissioner.

(G) The commissioner may issue additional types of licenses if required to efficiently administer the tax imposed by this chapter.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.117, HB 508, §1, eff. 9/6/2012.

Effective Date: 09-26-2003; 04-29-2005; 07-01-2005