My plan

Starting a business in Tempe, Arizona

Since August 1, 2025, Tempe has required a $25 annual General Business License for businesses with a permanent location in Tempe, unless they already hold a Tempe regulatory license. Taxable businesses also need a Tempe privilege (sales) tax license through ADOR. Food trucks need a Tempe Mobile Merchant license, and all food businesses are permitted by Maricopa County.

Every item checked November 5, 2026 against the linked official source. Fees are shown only where an official source documents them, and they’re paid directly to the agency listed — FirstBizGuide isn’t a government agency and doesn’t charge fees or file applications. Not legal advice.

About your business (choose all that apply)

  • Register your business

    • Articles of Organization for an LLC: $50 regular or $85 expedited. Reserving a name first is optional ($10, or $45 expedited). Unless your statutory agent's street address is in Maricopa or Pima County, a notice of the filing must be published in a newspaper after approval. [source]

      • LLC Articles of Organization (regular): $50 [source]

      Agency: Arizona Corporation Commission

    • Optional. It records a business name publicly but does not give exclusive rights to it. Lasts 5 years; renew within the 6 months before it expires. [source]

      Agency: Arizona Secretary of State

    • The IRS issues EINs free. Sites that charge for this are third parties. [source]

      Agency: Internal Revenue Service

  • State and city tax licenses

    • Apply on AZTaxes.gov; the license number is issued the same day and the certificate is mailed in about 7–10 business days. Your city's tax license is handled through the same ADOR application. Exempt handymen generally don't need one. [source]

      Agency: Arizona Department of Revenue

    • Any business conducting a taxable activity needs a Transaction Privilege Tax license. Apply through AZTaxes.gov and use region code TE for a Tempe location. This is separate from the Tempe General Business License. ADOR's Tempe city profile lists a $50 license fee and a $50 renewal fee, and a 1.8% retail rate. [source] [source]

      • Tempe city privilege tax license (via ADOR): $50 per year [source]

      Agency: Arizona Department of Revenue / City of Tempe

  • If you hire employees

    • Also required: workers' compensation insurance (paid entirely by the employer), reporting each new or rehired employee within 20 days, and E-Verify for all new employees. [source]

      Agency: ADOR and Arizona DES

  • Industry licenses

    • Generally required for construction work of $1,000 or more in labor and materials, or whenever a building permit is needed. Work under the exemption must be advertised as "not a licensed contractor." Lawn, garden, shrub and tree maintenance only is exempt. [source]

      Agency: Arizona Registrar of Contractors

  • Food businesses

    • Created by HB 2371 (2018): valid statewide, a separate license for each unit, renewed yearly; employees need food handler cards. Confirm current statute text, which may have been amended. [source]

      Agency: County health department

    • Apply through the county's online Permit Center; new construction or remodels need plan review (layout, equipment, plumbing) and an inspection before the permit is issued. Maricopa County adopted new environmental health fees (case ES-2025-004, approved by the Board of Supervisors August 19, 2026; new-application fees apply immediately, renewals at next renewal). Under the adopted Chapter 1 schedule (Rev 08/19/2026): plan review $728 for an eating & drinking establishment with 0–9 seats, $885 for 10+ seats, $919 for all other food establishments. Annual operating permits depend on seating and risk class: 0–9 seats $373 (Class 2), $393 (Class 3), $539 (Class 4), $514 (Class 5); 10+ seats $400, $556, $1,015 and $808. [source] [source] [source] [source]

      • Maricopa plan review — eating & drinking, 0–9 seats: $728 [source]
      • Maricopa annual permit — eating & drinking, 0–9 seats, Class 4: $539 per year [source]

      Agency: Maricopa County Environmental Services

    • Required for anyone selling goods, including food and drink, from or next to a vehicle. You need: a TPT license; a certificate of insurance for at least $1,000,000 combined single limit that insures the City; a Maricopa County Mobile Food Permit; a county Certified Food Protection Manager certificate; Food Handler cards for all food-handling staff; vehicle details; a headshot for each owner and driver; and fingerprints with a background check for every owner and driver ($22 per person, payable to Arizona DPS). Tempe fees: $100 nonrefundable application plus $50 annual license, due January 1, with a $25 late penalty. New applications take up to 90 days. Operating rules: no selling in residential areas from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.; no selling on arterial streets; and no selling downtown in the area bounded by Farmer Ave, College Ave, University Dr and Tempe Town Lake without a special event permit. Maricopa County annual mobile food permits (adopted Chapter 1 schedule, Rev 08/19/2026): Type I $290, Type II $341, Type III $610. Plan review: $306 for Type II; $300 listed for mobile food establishments. Apply through the county Permit Center with a menu, commissary agreement, toilet use agreement, unit photos and a route sheet or operating location; the county issues a permit card and a plate for the vehicle. Units already licensed under the state mobile food pathway have no county plan review. [source] [source] [source] [source]

      • Tempe Mobile Merchant application: $100 [source]
      • Tempe Mobile Merchant annual license: $50 per year [source]
      • Maricopa mobile food Type III annual permit: $610 per year [source]
      • Maricopa mobile food establishment plan review: $300 [source]

      Agency: City of Tempe Tax & License and Maricopa County Environmental Services

  • City licenses

    • Required for all businesses with a permanent location in Tempe, including tenants, professional services, contractors with job sites in Tempe, and businesses that don't need a sales tax license. The fee is $25 a year, starting January 1, 2026. Renew every year; the first renewal is due before January 1, 2027. Report changes in ownership, address or activity within 10 days. A late or missing license can bring a 50% penalty plus the unpaid fees. Have your Arizona TPT license number and location code ready if you have one. Exempt: holders of a Tempe regulatory license; nonprofit, religious, veteran or civic groups that hold four or fewer fundraisers a year; caregivers or babysitters not licensed by the State; independent contractors working for a parent company; sellers who sell only at permitted special events; private lessons given from a non-commercial space; government agencies; and casual sellers making four or fewer sales a year. Apply at tempe.gov/businesslicense. [source] [source] [source]

      • Tempe General Business License: $25 per year [source]

      Agency: City of Tempe Tax & License

    • Tempe issues regulatory licenses for adult-oriented services, after-hours establishments, amusement machines, automated kiosks, bingo operators, liquor, mobile merchants, short-term rentals, teen dance halls, escort services, massage establishments, palmists, auction houses, non-profit sellers, pawnbrokers, scrap dealers, secondhand dealers, solicitors, off-track betting and tobacco sellers. A business that holds a regulatory license doesn't need the General Business License. [source] [source]

      Agency: City of Tempe Tax & License

  • Zoning and home businesses

    • Home occupations are allowed as an accessory use inside lawfully built, enclosed buildings, and must not look like a business from outside. No more than 3 people may work in the residence, and only one of them may be a non-resident. The home can't serve as a headquarters where employees assemble. Business identification signs are not allowed. Limits: no more than 3 commercial deliveries a day, none between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.; one client vehicle at a time; clients only from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (longer hours need a use permit); and no more traffic than is normal for the district. On-site sales of commodities are not allowed. Not allowed as home occupations: clubs, barber shops, beauty parlors, commercial stables, veterinary offices, hospitals, hotels and motels, kennels, restaurants, motor vehicle repair and massage parlors. [source]

      Agency: City of Tempe Community Development

Not yet verified for Tempe: Whether a home-based business counts as a 'permanent location' for the Tempe General Business License (the city pages don't say; ask Tempe Tax & License at 480-350-2955); Fees for Tempe regulatory licenses other than Mobile Merchant; Home occupation use-permit fees and any floor-area limit; Building permits, certificate of occupancy and sign permits; Fire inspections; State liquor licenses (Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control) and Tempe liquor license fees; ADOR's Tempe profile also shows superseded amendments (a $70 application fee and a $25 transient license) marked as expiring in 2014; the $50 figure is the currently listed fee.
See progress in My plan

Sources