San Francisco, CA — Today, Mayor London N. Breed’s legislation to provide $5 million in fee and tax waivers and deferrals for San Francisco businesses passed at the Board of Supervisors. The legislation, which was introduced by Mayor Breed and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, gives businesses additional time to pay certain business taxes and fees, and also fully waives some fees for a subset of small businesses that have been particularly hard-hit by COVID-19, including entertainment and nightlife venues and restaurants.

“Our small businesses are critical to San Francisco’s local economy, and they’ve had to make countless sacrifices over the past year to protect their employees, their customers, and our city’s public health. New financial support from the federal government will help some, but we know it’s not enough on its own,” said Mayor Breed. “Throughout our COVID-19 response, we’ve continued to look for ways to support these businesses. This legislation is another step to ease some of the burden on businesses that are struggling to survive. On top of this fee and tax relief, we’ll continue to advocate for additional state and federal funding, and keep up our efforts to help businesses apply for funding.”

“When businesses are struggling, the last thing they need are mounting bills from the City,” said Treasurer José Cisneros. “I’m grateful we can provide this much needed relief.”

“COVID-19 has devastated our small businesses. Many have been stuck on a merry go round of re-openings, closures, and new restrictions, while others have been unable to operate at all since March,” said Supervisor Mandelman. “This legislation will provide more than $5 million in fee relief for some of our hardest hit businesses. This round of relief cannot be the end of the City’s efforts to support our small businesses, but it does re-affirm our commitment to creating an environment where longtime businesses can stabilize and re-grow and new businesses can flourish.”

Mayor Breed will work with Treasurer José Cisneros to notify businesses of the waivers and new due dates. Businesses can find information about the various fees and tax deferrals, as well as other city, state, and federal support for small businesses online at oewd.org/covid19. Businesses can also call the hotline at 415-554-6134, and employees can call the hotline at 415-701-4817. Assistance is available in multiple languages.

“Our small business community is the backbone of our economy, but these local gems have been among the hardest hit during this difficult time,” said Supervisor Catherine Stefani. “We owe it to them to provide relief. Deferring fees and providing additional subsidies will be key lifelines as we continue to combat the virus.”

“This legislation will immediately impact businesses in every neighborhood, many which have not found a cent of relief,” said Supervisor Gordon Mar. “As a small businesses find creative ways to save jobs and serve residents, we will continue to find additional ways to support their safe reopening and the vibrancy of our corridors.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has hit our city and especially our small neighborhood businesses,” said Supervisor Shamann Walton. “The fee and tax waivers are a small step in helping our small businesses sustain through these tough times.”

“I am in touch every day with small business owners asking for help. COVID has been brutal to them, and the fallout in lost jobs and vacant storefronts will be felt by all of us,” said Supervisor Hillary Ronen. “I am hopeful that the latest round of federal support will be distributed quickly and that we will see more substantial help coming from Washington soon. In the meanwhile, this package of fee and tax relief is one thing we can and must do at the local level.”

Fee and Tax Relief for Businesses

In October, Mayor Breed and Treasurer Cisneros announced San Francisco would waive certain fees and taxes for businesses that have been unable to open due to COVID-19 or have been otherwise significantly impacted. Included in the Mayor’s legislation, which the Board approved on the first reading today, is $5 million in fee and tax waivers for entertainment and nightlife venues and restaurants. Eligible businesses will be notified by the Treasurer’s Office. The businesses that receive a waiver do not have to pay back the fees at a later date.

• $2.5 million in fee and tax waivers for entertainment and nightlife venues.
  • The City will provide financial relief for approximately 300 businesses that have a Place of Entertainment permit and that have gross receipts of less than $20 million, representing a total of approximately $2.5 million in support for these businesses.
  • Relief will be provided by waiving regulatory license fees and Business Registration Fees for two years, and by waiving Payroll Expense Taxes for 2020.
  • Businesses that already paid these taxes and fees will receive an automatic refund. Businesses will still be required to file all applicable business tax returns.
• $2.5 million in fee and tax waivers for restaurants.
  • The City will provide financial relief for approximately 1,500 businesses with a Restaurant permit and that have gross receipts of less than $750,000.
  • Relief will be provided by waiving the previously deferred regulatory license and Business Registration Fees due on March 1, 2021, and by waiving Payroll Expense Taxes for 2020.
  • Businesses that already paid these taxes and fees will receive an automatic refund. Businesses will still be required to file all applicable business tax returns.

More Time to Pay Fees and Taxes

Early in the City’s response to COVID-19, Mayor Breed and Treasurer Cisneros announced a series of fee and tax deferrals to ease some of the financial burden on San Francisco businesses. Given the pandemic’s continued impact on businesses, Mayor Breed introduced legislation to further extend the deadlines of business registration fees and other fees. Now that the Board of Supervisors has approved the legislation, the following deadline extensions will go into effect:

• Extension of deadline for the Business Registration Fees. The fees, which were originally due on May 31, 2020 will now be due on April 30, 2021.
  • This deadline extension will affect approximately 100,000 businesses, and represents a deferral of $46 million in revenue for the City.
• Extension of deadline for the Unified License Fees, which include charges from City departments to restaurants and food businesses, bars, convenience stores, many small retailers, hotels, tour operators, and other businesses.
  • The unified license fees for the 2020 calendar year, which were originally due on March 30, 2020, will now be due on November 1, 2021. The unified license fees for 2021 will also be due on November 1, 2021, giving businesses an additional seven months to pay.
  • These deferrals will give approximately 19,000 businesses additional time to pay roughly $16 million in fees.
  • Approximately 20% of businesses have not yet paid their 2020 Unified License Fee. For these 3,800 businesses, this represents $2.2 million in fees that they will now have more time to pay.
  • For businesses that have paid their 2020 Unified License Fee, they will now have additional time to pay their 2021 fee.
• Extension of the deadline for Annual Business Taxes. The taxes for the 2020 calendar year will now be due on April 30, 2021, instead of on March 1, 2021.
  • This deadline extension will give approximately 20,000 businesses additional time to pay their 2020 payroll expense tax, gross receipts tax, commercial rents tax, and homelessness gross receipts tax.

“The recent opening of new state and federal financial resources could not come soon enough for all of our small businesses and restaurants struggling around the clock to make ends meet,” said Joaquín Torres, Director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. “To support them in accessing these critical dollars, we’re tracking developments with the new relief programs in real-time and doing ongoing outreach across every sector of the economy to ensure businesses and workers get the most up-to-date information possible. We’re also providing technical services to help businesses and workers prepare the necessary information and paperwork in advance, so that they can apply right away when the applications become live. For information or to connect, businesses and workers can always call our hotlines and check our webpage, or work with one of our partner small business services organizations that can also assist in different languages.”

“The Board’s approval of Mayor Breed’s legislation offers real reprieve to small businesses,” said Cyn Wang, San Francisco Entertainment Commissioner. “Nightlife, entertainment, and arts are vital parts of San Francisco’s vibrant culture and contribute greatly to our economy – and they are in existential crisis. This initiative offers immediate relief from paying local fees and taxes at a time when they are earning little to no revenue, giving them and other small businesses a fighting chance to survive.”

“We appreciate the efforts by the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to continue to find money in the budget to provide desperately needed financial relief to our restaurant industry,” said Laurie Thomas, Executive Director, Golden Gate Restaurant Association. “The forgiveness of business license fees and payroll taxes due for 2020 is a good step to help out those smaller restaurants who are most in need. We continue to ask the Federal Government and the State of California to find more relief funds for all restaurants and our suffering workers.”

“The San Francisco Venue Coalition is grateful for the acknowledgement of our industry by City leaders with these fee and tax waivers,” said Rob Ready, Co-Owner & Artistic Director of PianoFight. “This pandemic has decimated our industry; first to close, last to reopen, zero revenue and all the overhead costs. While there is more work to be done this is a promising step in the right direction to ensure that venues will be around to help San Francisco recover, both economically and emotionally.”

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