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Utah County only licenses businesses in unincorporated areas. If your shop, office or home business sits inside Provo, Orem, Lehi or any other city, that city issues the license, with its own form, fee and renewal date. This guide covers the county office, the biggest cities, and the state filings every one of them asks to see.
The license comes from the city your business is in. Utah County Community Development only licenses businesses in unincorporated parts of the county. Before you apply anywhere, register your business name or LLC with the Utah Division of Corporations ($59 for an LLC, $22 for a DBA) and, if you sell goods, get a permanent sales tax number from the Utah State Tax Commission. Lehi charges $140 for a general license and Pleasant Grove $75, and most cities charge nothing for a home business that brings no customers, staff or traffic to the house.
Utah County's own licensing page says it only covers unincorporated areas, and that a business inside a city should contact that city. So a salon on Center Street gets a Provo license, the same salon on State Street in Orem gets an Orem license, and a landscaping yard out on county land west of Utah Lake goes to the county. Go by the city named on your lease or property tax notice, not the one in your mailing address.
Each city sets its own rules. Lehi posts a flat $140 fee, Provo points you to a fee schedule, and Spanish Fork runs every license on the calendar year while Orem and Provo run them from the month you applied.
Every city in the county asks for proof that the state knows your business exists, so do these first.
Provo's rule is plain: every business in Provo needs a license. Apply online through the city's CityView portal, or bring the Commercial Business License packet to Provo 311 Customer Service at 445 West Center Street. Everyone needs a federal EIN, proof of registration with the Department of Commerce, an Emergency After-Hours Contact Form, and a Utah sales tax certificate if you sell goods. Some businesses also need a DOPL license, a health certificate or a Food Service Establishment Survey.
Call Development Services at (801) 852-6400 before you sign a lease. Provo routes each application to Development Services, Fire, Police and Public Works, and the zoning check is where a restaurant in an office-zoned space gets stopped. The Fire Marshal's office inspects every restaurant and any business whose application shows a fire risk.
Most Provo applications are processed within about 14 business days, longer when inspections or a conditional use permit are involved, and you cannot open until the license is issued. Each location needs its own license. Licenses run from the month of issue to the same month the next year, renewal is on you even if the notice never arrives, and a license does not transfer to a new owner.
Provo does not print a dollar amount on the application. It says fees depend on business type and classification and are set in the city's Consolidated Fee Schedule, and the link to that schedule did not load when we checked on October 30, 2026. Call Provo 311 at (801) 852-6000 for the fee before you apply. Beer licenses, food trucks, solicitors, taxicabs, towing and short-term rentals each have their own separate application.
Provo sorts home businesses into minor and major home occupations under City Code Chapter 14.41. A minor home occupation permit costs nothing. A major one carries fees and extra review, and may need a conditional use permit unless every property owner within 300 feet signs a petition of support.
The application asks: will customers come to the house, and more than six an hour at any time? Will more than one employee who does not live there work on site at once? Is it a daycare or preschool? A bookkeeper in a spare bedroom answers no to all three. If you live in BYU housing, you also need approval from your property manager or landlord.
Orem has two online applications: the Home Occupation License Online Application and the Commercial Business License Online Application. The home version asks for your state business name registration, the front of your driver's license, and a utility, electric or gas bill showing your name and address. The commercial version adds your federal EIN, birth dates and contact details for the owner and emergency contacts, and copies of any state or county licenses, such as a Utah County Health Department permit for a restaurant.
Orem's license runs one year from the month you apply and expires on the last day of that month every year. The city mails a renewal form 45 days ahead. Moving within Orem takes a change of location form and possibly a new inspection; a new owner closes the old license and applies fresh.
Orem does not post its license fees on the licensing page. Ask the Business Licensing office at 56 North State Street, (801) 229-7198 or [email protected], when you apply.
Lehi takes every application online through Civic Review. Use the General Business License for a storefront or office and the Home Occupation application for a business run from your house. Planning reviews every application, home businesses included, so call Planning at (385) 201-1030 before you sign a lease. Once every approval is in, Lehi emails you a link to pay, then emails the license.
Licenses last 12 months. Civic Review emails a renewal notice 31 days before expiration, and a late renewal adds a 35% penalty.
| Lehi license | Fee |
|---|---|
| General business | $140 |
| Home occupation | No fee, unless a fire inspection is required |
| Impact fee (home business needing a fire inspection) | $50 |
| Temporary or seasonal business | $100 |
| Mobile food vendor | $100 |
| Beer license | $175 |
| Liquor license | $320 |
| Solicitor | $50 per person |
| Operating without a Lehi license | $100 |
Pleasant Grove posts its fees: $75 for a commercial license, $50 for a minor home occupation and $150 for a major one, which also means a meeting with the Planning Commission. Talk to its Business Licensing Official before you apply. A home business that grossed under $2,000 the year before can skip the renewal fee after its first full year.
Spanish Fork requires a license for any business inside city limits, including an online store run from home. Licenses run January 1 to December 31 and are not prorated. A contractor based elsewhere who works on a Spanish Fork kitchen does not need a Spanish Fork license, because the city only requires one when the business is located there. A stylist renting a salon chair does need one.
American Fork's home occupation form, posted on the city's site, lists a $50 application fee plus a $7 inspection fee, a $50 penalty if you open before the license is issued, and a December 31 expiration. You walk the form to Planning at 275 East 200 North and the Police Department for sign-offs, and attach a fire self-inspection form.
Usually you still need the license, but often you do not pay for it. Utah Code 10-1-203 says a city may not charge a resident any fee to run a home business unless the business, together with the household, has a materially bigger offsite impact than the household alone. Pleasant Grove's page lists what counts as impact: employees from outside the family, regular customers or students, regular deliveries, signs, parking, and stored inventory.
That is why Provo's minor home occupation permit and Lehi's home occupation license are free. A city can still charge an administrative fee if an exempt owner asks for a license, and Lehi and Spanish Fork still require you to apply.
If your address is outside every city, the Utah County business license application starts with a Business License Zone Clearance form, filed online. The county sends back a written statement of what your zone allows and any conditions you have to meet. Then you file the license application with the fee, and Community Development schedules the business, building and fire inspections that apply, at (801) 851-8343. The license is issued once the inspections pass.
County licenses run July 1 to June 30. A renewal notice goes out in June, and keeping the license active takes an annual inspection. Fees are set by business type in the Utah County Code fee schedule, and some nonprofit, charitable, government and home businesses are exempt under County Code 4.01.030. The office is at 51 South University Avenue, Suite 117, in Provo.
Set up a free Google Business Profile with the exact name and address on your license, and add the business to our Local Directory. Our guide to where to advertise in Utah County compares billboards, KSL, mailers, Facebook and newsletters with published prices.
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 one of the things our ad plans are built for, and a single issue costs $99. Hiring for opening day? Post the job locally.
