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Saratoga Springs, Utah issues its own business licenses, and the application runs through the city's Cityworks Public Portal. This guide covers the application in the order the city reviews it, how the fee is calculated from your headcount, the fire and zoning forms, the three home occupation classes, and the renewal window and late penalty.
Apply for a Saratoga Springs business license in the city's Cityworks Public Portal. The fee is a $50 base plus $25 per full-time employee and $12.50 per part-time employee, with a $25 processing fee on new applications and a $500 yearly maximum. Licenses expire on the last day of the month, one year after issue, and you can renew no sooner than 30 days before that date. A late renewal adds a 15% penalty in the first 30 days, rising to 100% after 90.
The city will not accept an application until your state and federal numbers exist. The application form asks for a Federal ID number (an EIN, or your Social Security number if you file as a sole proprietor), the Business Registration number you get from the Utah Division of Corporations, and your state sales tax number if you are required to have one. If you do not need a sales tax number, the portal instructions say to type N/A. The city's FAQ points name registrations to the Division of Corporations at 801-530-4849, and the city cannot advise you on what entity type to pick.
Our Utah County business license guide covers the state registrations and how the county's other cities compare, so this page sticks to Saratoga Springs. One city rule worth knowing up front: the application form says to submit before you open, to avoid the penalty fee in City Code 5.01.15(2). Opening first and applying second is the expensive order.
Saratoga Springs takes applications through the Cityworks Public Portal at cityworks.saratogasprings-ut.gov/publicaccess. You create an account, click New Application, choose the Business Licensing category, and pick the application type. The Project Name is your business name, and the person listed as Applicant is the one who receives the emailed invoices, status updates and renewal reminders, so use an email address you actually read. The city also posts a PDF Business License Application, which you can email to [email protected] or bring to 319 South Saratoga Road.
| Saratoga Springs fee item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Base fee, per year | $50 |
| Each full-time employee | $25 |
| Each part-time employee | $12.50 |
| Processing fee, new applications only | $25 |
| Maximum fee per year | $500 |
| Class 1 home occupation | No fee |
| Class 2 and Class 3 home occupation | Fees apply |
The fee follows your headcount at the location. The city's FAQ says the business owner is not counted, and that temp agency workers are counted even though the agency pays them, because the fee tracks the number of people working at the site. A new business with three full-time and two part-time employees would pay $50, plus $75 for the full-time staff, plus $25 for the part-timers, plus the $25 processing fee, for $175 in the first year. The same business renewing pays $150. Those two totals are our arithmetic from the city's rates, so confirm yours with the office before you pay.
Processing takes time and cannot be rushed. The city's FAQ says up to two weeks once the application is complete, the portal instructions say most applications get a response within 10 business days after routing, and the FAQ answers a question about expediting with a plain no. If you are unsure whether you owe a fee as a home business, the portal tells you to choose Submit without payment, and the city will notify you if fees are due.
A commercial applicant files the Planning Use Form with Planning, at 1307 North Commerce Drive, Suite 100, or [email protected], phone 801-766-9793 ext. 155. You list the zone, the proposed use and the parking stalls you have against the number Chapter 19.09 requires, and you sign that the use is allowed in the zone's use table. The form points you to the city's online zoning map. If the use is not allowed in the zone or the lot cannot meet parking, the form says the city will not approve the application, so check before you sign a lease. Home occupation applicants do not file this form. The portal also says commercial applicants should have any building and planning permits submitted before applying for the license. Building is at ext. 120.
Fire & Rescue starts with a nine-question survey. A yes to any of them means a fire review and inspection: new commercial construction, a sprinkler, kitchen hood or other suppression system, public occupancy at a home business such as a salon, massage room, daycare or preschool, combustible dust from a wood or metal shop, a spray paint booth, more than 125 gallons of propane, flammable liquid tanks, stored material stacked higher than 12 feet, or hazardous chemicals. To schedule an inspection, call the fire department at 801-766-6505. The station is at 995 West 1200 North.
A home business that answers no to all nine fills out the Home Business Self Fire Inspection instead. It checks for address numbers at least 4 inches high, clear exit doors, one 5 pound 2A10BC extinguisher with an annual tag, 36 inches of clearance around the electrical panel, furnace and water heater, a smoke detector on each level, and a CO detector. Some businesses also need a yearly backflow test if they have a cross-connection, or a yearly inspection of a storm water retention basin or oil and water separator on the property.
Chapter 19.08 of the land development code sorts home businesses into three classes. Class 1 is the low-impact one: no more than two customers, clients, deliveries or students on any day, no added noise or odor, and no employees who live outside the household. Class 1 needs no Home Occupation Permit, and the city's FAQ says Class 1 is exempt from fees. Class 2 covers three to eight people at a time up to 16 a day, or up to two employees from outside the household, or an office for a construction, landscaping, delivery or installation business with a work vehicle at the home. Class 3 is everything else, and it caps at 10 people at a time and 40 a day.
The Planning Director decides Class 2 applications. Class 3 goes to the Planning Commission, which holds a public meeting. Both need a Home Occupation application, a floor plan sketch, a signed affidavit, a review fee, and a parking and traffic plan that shows how pick-up and drop-off will work. The chapter does not list the review fee, so ask Planning for the current amount.
The performance standards apply to all three classes. The business can use no more than 40% of the finished square footage of the home. Restaurants are prohibited. Class 2 and 3 businesses can operate only between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., with a 6 a.m. start for preschools and daycares. Signs follow Chapter 19.18 and cannot be lit. The exterior of the house cannot change. A home business gets one commercial vehicle at most, with a gross weight rating under 17,500 pounds. A business run from a garage needs sign-off from the Building Official and the Fire Marshal. The city reviews Class 2 and 3 approvals each year at license renewal, and it can terminate the use if the business has outgrown its approval.
On the license itself, the city code exempts a home-based business from the license unless its offsite impact materially exceeds the home's own, and the application form carries the same no-fee note. Even so, the FAQ asks every home business that uses its address with the state to be licensed, and Chapter 19.08 says a license is required for all home occupations as state code allows. Plan on applying. Our home-based business guide covers how other Utah County cities handle the same question.
A Saratoga Springs license expires on the last day of the month, one year after the month it was issued, and the code says you can renew no sooner than 30 days before that date and no later than the date itself. The renewal form is blunt that applying is the business's duty. The applicant email on file gets reminders from the portal, but the form says to apply either way, and the city also posts a separate PDF Renewal Business License Application.
The late penalty climbs on a schedule written into Title 5, Section 5.01.10. Within 1 to 30 days after the due date the penalty is 15%, from day 31 to 60 it is 25%, from day 61 to 90 it is 50%, and at 91 days or more it is 100%. The code says the penalty is based on the base renewal fee only, which the application form sets at $50. On that base, the penalties work out to $7.50, $12.50, $25 and $50. That is our arithmetic, so ask the office how it will apply the penalty to your headcount charges. Refunds are not available, so do not pay and then change your mind about a location.
What happens if you operate with no license at all is separate. The code lets the city assess a penalty fee on anyone who starts business before getting a valid license, and sets the amount in the city fee schedule. We could not read that amount, so call the business license office at 801-766-9793 ext. 196 for it. The office is at 319 South Saratoga Road, open Monday through Thursday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The license certificate has to be displayed in a conspicuous place at a fixed business location.
The application packet includes a letter from the Utah County Assessor. It says each business files an affidavit every year declaring its equipment and supplies. A business with less than $29,300 in equipment market value (the 2025 figure in the letter) may owe no tax but still has to file, and failing to file can bring fines, interest and audits. If you close the business, the letter says to tell the Assessor in writing as well as the city and state. Questions go to 801-851-8295, and our guide to Utah County business personal property tax walks through the filing.
Set up a free Google Business Profile with the same name and address as your Saratoga Springs license, using our Google Business Profile guide, and add the business to our Local Directory, where a listing is $99 a month. Our guide to where to advertise in Utah County compares billboards, mailers, Facebook and newsletters.
We publish Provo FOMO, a free daily newsletter with about 3,100 Utah County subscribers, and we sell ads in it, so weigh this knowing that. A new shop announcing its opening is the kind of thing our ad plans are built for, and a single issue costs $99. Hiring for opening day? Post the job locally.
