Attention Burnaby Businesses: City of Burnaby Moving to Anniversary Billing for Business Licences

 

What’s Changing?

Beginning in January 2022, the City of Burnaby will be moving to an anniversary billing system for all business licences to make it easier for business owners to renew, apply for a business licence, and track their account online. With anniversary billing, existing Burnaby businesses are assigned an anniversary based on their original application date and all new businesses will get a full year’s licence regardless of when they apply for it.

As part of the new program, business owners will be able to create an online account to apply for a business licence, view their invoices on their account, renew and pay for an annual licence, and print their business licence from home.

The City will begin to transition existing business licences to the new anniversary billing system in the Fall of 2021. Business owners will receive detailed instructions from the City outlining the transition process in the coming months.

Have questions on what this means for you?  Burnaby Board of Trade members can contact us directly for information at cory@bbot.ca or you can contact Burnaby Licensing at licence@burnaby.ca or 604-294-7320

Anniversary Billing for Business Licenses

Part of this new system includes moving all existing Burnaby business licenses to an anniversary billing system.  This means instead of all businesses renewing for January 1 each year, businesses will renew their licenses on the anniversary of when they applied.   This will spread out the number of license renewals throughout the year, reducing administrative costs at the City and improving service levels for businesses.  It also means that new businesses will not have to pay for a full year’s license if they start a business part-way through the year, which is the situation now.   That’s why the Burnaby Board of Trade is supporting this transition.

Here’s how it will work:

At the end of this year, 2021, businesses will get their license renewal as normal, EXCEPT this time the renewal will be for a different length than the usual 12 months.  This will be your new transitional license, which will move your renewal date to the new, permanent month.   For some businesses, this transitional renewal will be as short as 6 months, while for others it may be as long as 17 months.

When this transitional license expires, you will renew in a new month and that will be your new anniversary renewal date.

Businesses should expect their business licence cost to change.  Fees are not increasing, but the duration of the one-time transitional license is changing, and will be pro-rated to reflect that.  For some, the transitional license will be shorter and therefore their renewal cost will be less than usual, but they will renew sooner.  For others, the transitional license will be longer and therefore cost more, but it will also last longer and they’ll renew later.

Example 1: If you originally applied for a business licence in September, your 2022 business licence renewal invoice will cover and be valid from January 1, 2022, to August 31, 2022 (8 months). Before September 1, 2022, you will receive another notice to renew your licence that will cover and be valid until August 31, 2023.  September is now your new renewal month.

Example 2: If you originally applied for a business licence in April, your 2022 business licence would cover and be valid from January 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023 (15 months). Before April 1, 2023, you will receive a notice to renew your licence for 12 months.  April is now your new renewal month.

The table below shows how the transitional license will be rolled out:

Original Application Month Transitional Licence in Months Transitional Licence Validity Period
July 6 January 1-June 30, 2022
August 7 January 1-July 31, 2022
September 8 January 1-August 31, 2022
October 9 January 1-September 30, 2022
November 10 January 1-October 31, 2022
December 11 January 1-November 30, 2022
January 12 January 1-December 31, 2022
February 13 January 1, 2022-January 31, 2023
March 14 January 1, 2022-February 28, 2023
April 15 January 1, 2022-March 31, 2023
May 16 January 1, 2022-April 30, 2023
June 17 January 1, 2022-May 31, 2023


Have questions on what this means for you?  Burnaby Board of Trade members can contact us directly for information at cory@bbot.ca or you can contact Burnaby Licensing at licence@burnaby.ca or 604-294-7320