§ 30-51. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Administrative fee means a component of an occupation tax which approximates the reasonable cost of handling and processing the occupation tax. For those businesses required to register with the city, the payment of the administrative fee shall also satisfy any requirement to pay the registration fee

Business shall maintain its ordinary and customary usage according to context but also may be used to generally identify a person or entity carrying on a trade, occupation, profession, or other commercial or non-commercial enterprise. Business tax means the same as occupation tax.

Business tax division means that part of the department of finance made responsible for assisting the chief financial officer with the administration of the occupation tax and according to context may also mean the location where the operations of the business tax division are carried out.

Certificate means a document issued to the person after registration of a business and the full payment of any required occupation tax.

Chief financial officer includes the chief financial officer's designee.

Dominant line means the type of business, within a multiple-line business, from which the greatest amount of income is derived.

Employee means an individual whose work is performed under the direction and supervision of the employer and whose employer withholds FICA, federal income tax, or state income tax from such individual's compensation or whose employer issues to such individual for purposes of documenting compensation a form I.R.S. W-2 but not an I.R.S. 1009.

Gross receipts.

(1)

Gross receipts means the total revenue of the business or practitioner for the period, including, without limitation, the following:

a.

Total income without deduction for the cost of goods or expenses incurred;

b.

Gain from trading in stocks, bonds, capital assets or instruments of indebtedness;

c.

Proceeds from commissions on the sale of property, goods or services;

d.

Proceeds from fees for services rendered; and

e.

Proceeds from rent, interest, royalty or dividend income.

(2)

Gross receipts shall not include the following:

a.

Sales, use or excise tax;

b.

Sales returns, allowances and discounts;

c.

Interorganizational sales or transfers between or among the units of a parent-subsidiary controlled group of corporations as defined by 26 USC 1563(a)(1), or between or among the units of a brother-sister controlled group of corporations as defined by 26 USC 1563(a)(2);

d.

Payments made to a subcontractor or an independent agent; and

e.

Governmental and foundation grants, charitable contributions or the interest income derived from such funds received by a nonprofit organization which employs salaried practitioners otherwise covered by this article, if such funds constitute 80 percent or more of the organization's receipts.

f.

Proceeds from sales of goods which are delivered to or received by customers who are outside of the state at the time of delivery or receipt.

Location or office shall not include a temporary work site which serves a single customer or project.

Nonprofit organization shall mean a bona fide nonprofit civic, educational or charitable organization.

Occupation tax means a tax levied on persons for engaging in an occupation, profession or business for revenue raising purposes.

Person means and includes sole proprietors, corporations, partnerships, nonprofits or any other form of business organization.

Practitioner of profession or occupation is one who is by state law required to obtain a state license pursuant to the law regulating such profession or occupation. Such term shall not include a practitioner who is an employee of a business, if the business pays an occupation tax.

Registration means the application form with information about a business or the act of completing the form. As a matter of administrative convenience, registration forms may also be used for the purpose of compiling such information as deemed necessary to confirm that the type of business to be operated is permitted by the zoning code at the location where the business is to be conducted and to sufficiently identify the location of the business for the purposes of enforcement of this division.

Regulatory fees mean payments, whether designated as license fees, permit fees or by another name, which are required by a local government as an exercise of its police power and as a part of or an aid to regulation of an occupation, profession or business. The amount of a regulatory fee shall approximate the reasonable cost of the actual regulatory activity performed by the city. A regulatory fee may not include an administrative fee. Development impact fees as defined by O.C.G.A. § 36-71-2(8) or other costs or conditions of zoning or land development are not regulatory fees.

Return means all documents or forms filed with the payment of an occupation tax and/or those documents or forms, which are used to determine any underpayment or overpayment on taxes paid in any previous year.

Taxpayer means the person from whom the occupation tax, imposed under this article, is due or was collected.

Within the jurisdiction of the city shall mean and include any area within the corporate limits of the City of Atlanta as the same currently exist or as they may be changed from time to time, and any area within the boundaries of the William B. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport as the same currently exist or as they may be changed from time to time.

(Ord. No. 2004-80, § 1(Exh. B), 10-20-04)