A salon in San Diego runs on a state establishment licence plus a San Diego business tax certificate. They come from different governments, renew on different clocks, and neither one tells you about the other.
Issued by California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology. The licence covers the premises; every stylist working in it also holds an individual licence.
| Establishment licence | Fee |
|---|---|
| Establishment application and initial licence | $50 |
| Establishment renewal | $40 |
| Renewal delinquency fee | $20 |
City of San Diego business tax certificate and Development Services sign-off. This is the half that depends on your building rather than your trade, and it is usually the half that delays an opening.
Beyond the state licence, the City of San Diego wants a business tax certificate for the trading entity, and Development Services signs off on the premises themselves.
You will also need a City of San Diego business tax certificate if you trade under a name that is not the entity’s.
California's establishment licence is among the cheapest in the country at $50 to open, while the $800 minimum franchise tax on the entity behind it is among the most expensive. Budgeting for the licence and forgetting the franchise tax is the classic first-year mistake.
The chair licence is the State's. The building is the City of San Diego's, through Development Services. And if you add a retail shelf, the health side of any packaged food sits with the County. Three bodies, one storefront.
Register with California Secretary of State — the California LLC filing fee was $70 when we last checked, so confirm it with the office — and with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) for a California Seller's Permit if you sell retail product alongside services.
Check whether your opening date is legally possible — free. Put in the business type and the address and you get the target date against the earliest legal open, with every permit, fee and deadline cited to the official source.
The full stack — every permit in filing order, the calendar, and the certificate-of-occupancy packet — is $49, one-time, no subscription. Through 30 September the code DEADLINE takes it to $29 in San Diego. It is a live link your landlord or lender can verify themselves, not a PDF.
Checked at the official sources listed above on 2 September 2026. Fees and procedures change without notice and the agency’s own page is always the authority — this is a heads-up to go and look, not legal advice, and BondPermit does not file anything on anyone’s behalf.