Does Your Rental Need a City Business Tax Certificate? Beverly Hills, Culver City, Inglewood and Los Angeles

For Owners · Taxes and Registration · October 2026 · 10 min read

Owners who keep careful track of rent registration fees can still miss a second city bill. Each of the cities in this guide treats renting out homes as a business, and each has its own rule for when that business needs a certificate and pays a tax. The rules are not the same. One city taxes every unit at a flat amount. One taxes a share of gross rent with no unit threshold in the code. Two start only at four units.

Take an owner with a six-unit building in Inglewood, a fourplex in Culver City and a triplex in Mid-City. Under the rules below, that owner has a per-unit tax in Inglewood, a certificate and gross receipts tax in Culver City, and nothing to file for the triplex under the City of Los Angeles dwelling-unit classification, as long as it is the only LA property they rent out. Buy a fourth unit in LA and that changes.

This is separate from rent stabilization registration. The registry fees on our LA RSO registration guide, the Culver City rent rules and the Inglewood rent rules are paid to the housing side of each city. Business tax goes to the finance department, on its own form and its own calendar. Paying one does not satisfy the other.

The four cities side by side

Each section below gives the rule, where it comes from, and what to ask the city before you file. Rates and thresholds in this table are taken from the cities’ own code text and published guidance as of October 2026.

Beverly Hills: Classification E, measured on gross receipts

Beverly Hills puts residential landlords in their own business tax class. Section 3-1-219 of the Municipal Code defines Classification E, residential property renting and leasing, as covering registrants “engaged in the business of conducting or operating a hotel or apartment house or leasing or renting of any residential property, dwelling unit, or room for dwelling, sleeping, or lodging.” There is no unit floor in that wording. A single rented house falls inside it.

The tax is an annual gross receipts tax, charged per $1,000 of receipts at the rate set in the city’s schedule of taxes, fees and charges. The city’s own guide, How to Do Business in the City of Beverly Hills (July 2025 update), lists Classification E at $0.01200 for every $1.00 of gross receipts. That works out to 1.2%.

Two details in the code text are worth reading closely:

• The base is last year’s receipts. The tax is measured on the annualized actual gross receipts of the prior calendar year. A new business uses the owner’s own estimate for the current year, and section 3-1-210 treats tax paid on an estimate as tentative, with the actual figure and any shortfall due within 30 days after the deposit period ends.
• A per-unit receipts condition. The classification text ties the tax to total gross receipts that “average greater than three thousand six hundred dollars ($3,600.00) per unit.” How the finance office applies that to a building with low legacy rents or long vacancies is a question to put to the city in writing. Do not assume it exempts you.

Section 3-1-205 defines gross receipts with exclusions, including deposits that must be refunded and actually are refunded. A security deposit you return is not a receipt. What else counts, such as laundry income or late fees, is a question for your CPA and the city before you file, not after.

Registration timing is set out on the city’s business tax page: a Business Tax Registration Certificate before you start, or within 30 days after. A new owner who buys a rented building is starting a business in the city’s eyes. Registration and renewals are handled through the city’s Business Tax Online Services, and in person at City Hall, 455 N. Rexford Drive.

If you own in Beverly Hills, the business tax sits alongside the city’s annual rent stabilization registration (the 2026 deadline was August 31), which our Beverly Hills property management page covers. A current registration is also a condition of collecting the annual increase, as set out in Beverly Hills rent increase rules. The business tax and the registration are separate filings to separate offices.

Culver City: four rented units is the line

Culver City’s rule for landlords is written in a Finance Department regulation, Business License Tax Regulation BTR-2023-02, issued under section 11.01.020 of the Culver City Municipal Code. It sorts residential rental property into three bands:

• Two or fewer rental units: no business tax certificate and no business tax.
• Three rental units: no certificate and no business tax, but an annual fire inspection and its fee. The regulation notes this treatment comes from a City Treasurer interpretation and past practice dating to the 1990s.
• Four or more rental units: a business tax certificate, the annual business tax, and the annual fire inspection.

The regulation counts rental units in a residential property. It does not say whether units in two separate Culver City buildings are added together, or how an owner-occupied unit is counted. If you sit near the line, ask Finance which way it reads for your holdings and keep the answer.

For the tax itself, the city’s business license page points to sections 11.01.210 through 11.01.225 and says gross receipts businesses pay on “the HIGHER of either the gross receipts OR the cost of operations.” The rate depends on the classification, and the city’s rental pages do not print the residential figure. Get it from Finance before you budget.

The timing and penalties are spelled out:

• A certificate is required within 30 days of starting business, and the city says it is required whether or not the business makes a profit.
• Renewal notices go out in early December. The tax is due on receipt and becomes delinquent if not paid by the last day of February. The certificate covers the calendar year, January through December.
• Late payment carries a penalty of 20% per month, up to 100% of the amount due.
• Operating without a required certificate is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in jail, or both, per citation.

Do not confuse this with the rent registry. Culver City’s rental registration, due July 31 with a grace period to August 31, runs through Housing and Human Services. We covered it in Culver City rent increase rules. A fourplex owner in Culver City has both, plus the fire inspection.

Inglewood: a flat tax per unit, starting at one

Inglewood’s business tax chapter (Chapter 8, Article 1 of the Municipal Code) defines the residential rental business broadly. Under section 8-1.42, anyone who, as owner or as the owner’s agent, rents, leases or offers for rent “one or more residential units” is “deemed to be in the residential rental business.” One rented house is enough.

The tax is in section 8-23.4, Classification D: “Residential rental business shall be subject to an annual tax levy of $20 per unit, excluding the owner’s unit if owner occupied.” A six-unit building is $120 a year. Live in one of the six and it is $100. The section’s history runs to ordinances from 1983 and 1991, and the code text carries no inflation adjustment. Confirm the amount on your city invoice against the code, and ask Finance if they differ.

The rest of the article sets the calendar and the penalties:

• Section 8-2 requires a business tax certificate before conducting business, and section 8-6 requires registration with the Finance Director.
• Section 8-16 makes annual flat-rate taxes due in advance on January 1. Section 8-7 sets the renewal statement for flat-rate taxes by January 31.
• Section 8-18 adds a 10% penalty on the first day of delinquency and another 10% each month after that, capped at 50% of the tax.
• Operating without a required certificate carries a 20% penalty under section 8-2, plus 10% a month after a citation, also capped at 50%.
• The exemptions in section 8-5 cover charitable, religious, veteran and small day-care activities. None of them turns on the number of rental units.

The amounts are small next to Inglewood’s other rental obligations, but the certificate is the piece an owner can overlook. If you own in Inglewood, the Residential Registry and the rent limits are covered in Inglewood rent increase rules, and the business tax is a separate account with Finance.

City of Los Angeles: four units across the city, $1.27 per $1,000

Mid-City, Pico-Robertson and Palms are in the City of Los Angeles, where the rule is in the Office of Finance’s guidance on rental dwellings and in Los Angeles Municipal Code section 21.43. The Office of Finance says owners who “rent out 4 or more residential units from properties within the City limits” need a business tax certificate. Owners with three or fewer units throughout the city are not liable under that classification. The count is citywide, so a duplex in Palms and a duplex in Mid-City add up to four.

The rate is $1.27 per $1,000 of gross receipts, or fraction of $1,000. Renewals are based on the prior year’s gross receipts, and for a new registration the first and second years are both based on first-year revenue. On $300,000 a year of rent, that is $381.

Details from the Office of Finance that matter to owners:

• Several properties, one certificate. Multiple properties can be reported on one business tax certificate with a list of addresses.
• Renewal deadline. The tax renews each January 1 for the calendar year. For 2026, the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles reported the annual renewal was due by March 2 and delinquent from March 3. Check the Office of Finance’s dates for 2027 when the renewal arrives.
• Installments. If the total liability is more than $1,000 a year, you can ask in writing to pay in installments.
• Notices. If the Office of Finance writes to you about rental activity, it expects a response within 10 business days. No response can lead to an estimated assessment under LAMC 21.16, which becomes final if you do not request a hearing.
• Small business exemption. The city’s tax information booklet describes an exemption for a business with $100,000 or less of total gross receipts, inside and outside the city, that files a timely renewal (LAMC 21.29). The booklet does not say how it applies to rental receipts. Ask before you count on it.
• Nonprofits. An owner holding an IRS 501(c)(3) determination is exempt and should send a copy to the Office of Finance.

The annual RSO and SCEP bill from the Los Angeles Housing Department is a different charge. The Office of Finance answers this in its rental dwelling FAQ: an owner who has registered with LAHD and paid that fee may still owe business tax on the rental revenue. The LAHD side is in our RSO registration guide, and the neighborhoods are covered on our Mid-City, Pico-Robertson and Palms page.

A worked comparison

Here is the arithmetic for a building that collects $300,000 a year in rent, using only the rates above. It is an illustration of how the rules measure tax, not a quote of what any owner owes.

The spread is wide. In Beverly Hills the business tax is a line in the operating budget. In Inglewood it is close to a rounding error. Either way, the penalty rules above run on top of the tax, and they start the day the payment is late.

When you buy, sell or change how you hold title

Each city registers the person or entity doing business, not the parcel. That matters at three points:

1. After a purchase. The new owner is starting a business in the city. Beverly Hills and Culver City both put the registration window at 30 days. Register in your own name, or your entity’s, rather than relying on the seller’s account.
2. After moving title into an LLC or trust. A new entity can mean a new registrant. We covered the other paperwork that follows a transfer in holding title in an LLC or trust; add the city business tax account to that list.
3. After a sale. Close the account with each city so the next year’s renewal does not keep billing you.

Questions owners ask

I rent out one house in Beverly Hills. Do I need a business tax certificate?

Classification E in section 3-1-219 covers the leasing or renting of any residential property or dwelling unit, with no minimum unit count in the text. The classification does tie the tax to average gross receipts above $3,600 per unit. Register, and ask the city in writing how the receipts condition applies to you.

I own a triplex in Culver City. What do I owe?

Under Regulation BTR-2023-02, a property with three rental units does not need a business tax certificate or pay business tax, but it does need the annual fire inspection and its fee. Your rent registry filing is separate and still required.

I live in one unit of my Inglewood duplex. Do I owe business tax on the other?

Section 8-23.4 levies $20 per unit and excludes the owner’s unit if owner occupied, so on the code text the rented unit is taxed at $20 a year. Section 8-1.42 treats renting one or more units as a residential rental business, so a certificate is required.

I own two duplexes in different LA neighborhoods. Do I need to register?

Yes, if both are inside the City of Los Angeles. The Office of Finance counts residential units rented out from properties within the city limits, and four units across the city crosses the line. You can report both properties on one certificate.

Is a refundable security deposit a gross receipt?

Beverly Hills excludes deposits that by law or contract must be refunded and actually are refunded. Treat every other item, such as forfeited deposits, laundry income and late fees, as a question for your CPA and the city’s finance office.

Does paying the rent registry fee cover this?

No. In all four cities the rent stabilization or registry fee goes to the housing program and the business tax goes to finance. The City of Los Angeles Office of Finance says an owner who has paid the LAHD fee may still owe business tax on rental revenue.

Sources and disclaimer. Beverly Hills Municipal Code section 3-1-219 (Classification E), section 3-1-210 and section 3-1-205, as published by American Legal Publishing; City of Beverly Hills business tax page; City of Beverly Hills and Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, How to Do Business in the City of Beverly Hills (July 1, 2025 update), Classification E rate. City of Culver City, Business License Information and Business License Tax Regulation BTR-2023-02 (residential rentals), citing CCMC 11.01.005, 11.01.010, 11.01.020 and 11.01.210-225. City of Inglewood Municipal Code Chapter 8, Article 1 (sections 8-1.42, 8-2, 8-5, 8-6, 8-7, 8-16, 8-18) and Article 2 (section 8-23.4), as published by eCode360. City of Los Angeles Office of Finance, Rental Dwelling FAQ, Tax Information Booklet and Know Your Rates, citing LAMC 21.03, 21.16, 21.29 and 21.43; Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, L.A. City Annual Business Tax Renewals Due by March 2, 2026. Current as of October 2026. This article is general information for property owners from a California DRE-licensed property management company, not legal or tax advice. Rates, thresholds and deadlines change by ordinance, resolution and regulation. Confirm your registration requirement and the current rate with each city’s finance department, and talk to your CPA or a tax attorney before you file or decide how to report receipts.