Miami-Dade is filled with business opportunities for those entrepreneurial idea. However, in order to conduct business in Miami-Dade, businesses must have the proper registrations, licenses and permits before they can legally open for business. Registrations vary by industry, so it’s very important to understand the licensing rules where your business is located.
If you fail to comply with licensing and permitting regulations, you can end up spending both time and money to make the adjustments needed, which can lead to expensive fines or putting your business at risk of shutting down.
Miami-Dade has updated its requirements for businesses including local tax receipt, personal property taxes, and tourist tax accounts. Let us break these down for you according to miamidade.gov.
Local Business Tax Receipt
All businesses operating within Miami-Dade County are required to obtain a Miami-Dade County Local Business Tax Receipt (formerly known as Occupational License). If your business is located within a municipality, you will need a Business Tax Receipt from the County and the municipality.
Tangible Personal Property Taxes
Tangible personal property taxes are assessed according to the value of the assets used in a business to derive income, such as: equipment, furniture, fixtures and equipment located in businesses and rental property.
Tourist Tax Account
Any person or business who rents or leases any transient accommodations or short-term rentals for a period of 6 months or less is required to register for a Tourist Tax Account to collect and remit monthly Convention and Tourist Development taxes. Additionally, all businesses operating within Miami-Dade County that are licensed by the state to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, except for veterans’ organizations and businesses located in the cities of Miami Beach, Surfside or Bal Harbour are required to obtain a Miami-Dade County Tourist Tax Account and remit Local Option Food and Beverage taxes monthly.
Industries that are locally regulated include: contractor licensing, for-hire transportations services, and regulated business licenses.
Employee Training
The Human Rights & Fair Employment Practices (HRFEP) Division works with all county plus local, state, and federal civil rights enforcement agencies and various community groups to educate employees and residents, as well as to prevent all forms of discrimination and harassment throughout Miami-Dade County.
These sessions include a mandatory online employee training titled, Diversity Matters. This session is designed to increase awareness and sensitivity to diversity issues and provides information on employee rights, responsibilities, appropriate workplace behavior, and complaint reporting procedures. The training covers topics in equal employment opportunity, harassment prevention, valuing diversity, and preventing workplace violence.
Other available courses for employees include Workplace Civility and Respect, and Preventing Sexual Harassment, which are led by instructors. In addition, departments can request specialized instructor-led training. These trainings will be developed and delivered by the HRFEP Training Team based on the unique needs of the work environment and organization. You can request a specialized training here.
There are a variety of other online learning opportunities available through Miami-Dade including Ethics Training for Employees, Disaster Assistance Employee, Interviewing Made Easy, Plan to Survive an Active Shooter Event, Stress Management, Time Management, and more.
The county also offers the Professional Development Certification Program, which provides participates with skills they can put to practice in their work place. Participants will develop performance standards and learn to utilize measures more effectively; learn how to accomplish more through effective management tools such as motivation, delegation, and conflict resolution; become more effective in conflict management skills, problem solving, and building team morale; learn current leadership principles in the workplace; plus how to build team effectiveness, conduct effective meetings, and how to apply problem solving strategies.
Trainings for supervisors and upper management are also available through the Human Resources’ Employee Development Division’s Professional Development Clinics (PDC) program. Employees who are certified through the Supervisory Certification Program qualify to participate in the PDC clinics. Space is limited and is filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Employees can apply here.
