Closing a Business in Long Beach: The City License, the Seller’s Permit, the Fictitious Name and the State Accounts

Closing a business in Long Beach is not one filing. The city license, the state sales tax permit, the county’s fictitious name record, the state’s entity records and the employer payroll account each sit with a different office, and each has its own form or online request. The section pillar, How to Start a Business in Long Beach, covers the opening side. This page follows the closing side agency by agency.

The short answer

Step 1. The city business license

The city’s page “Update/Close Your License” says: “If your business has closed or if you are interested in withdrawing your pending application, you must submit an Out of Business Notification Form”¹. The form can go “in-person, by mail, or by email” to the Business License Division, 411 W. Ocean Blvd., 2nd Floor, Long Beach, CA 90802, or to [email protected]¹. The signer certifies “I am NOT doing business within the City of Long Beach” under penalty of perjury and lists every alarm permit and license account to close². The Division “may require proof that your business has closed”¹. A business moving to another city is told to send the form “prior to the expiration date of your license”⁴.

Before closing, the city says to check for “no unpaid taxes or fees on your business license account”, because unpaid amounts “will be passed onto Collections”¹. The Code allows a deficiency determination “at any time within three (3) years” after a person discontinues a business (Code 3.80.442)³. The Taxes and Fees page says a bill is “mailed out 15 days prior to the license expiration date” and that a 25 percent penalty follows 30 days after the due date⁵. The application form gives a different timing, “ten (10) days prior to the due date”²³.

Good to know Code 3.80.427.5 opens: “No refund shall be made of any moneys paid for the issuance or renewal of any license required by this Chapter, except where, for any reason” a listed ground applies³. Closing is not on the list. The listed grounds include a denied or withdrawn application, an overpayment or a duplicate payment, a license that “was not required”, a licensee who never engaged in the business, a law making the business unlawful, and the licensee’s death, incapacitating illness or injury, or permanent active duty in the Armed Forces³. Claims are due within one year after payment (Code 3.80.427.1)³. No page used here says a license is prorated on closing.

The city lists cannabis, commercial industrial rental and residential rental licenses as transferable; for any other, a change in owners “require[s] you to submit a new business license application”¹.

Step 2. Fire and Health accounts

The Fire Department’s FAQ says: “Please complete a LBFD Request for Account Closure form. Provide any supporting documentation that specifies you are legally out of business.” The form and documents are faxed to Fire Prevention at 562-570-2566⁶. The Environmental Health Bureau and food safety pages state no close-out procedure for a health permit⁷⁸. The Out of Business form’s directory names a “Health Permit Account” office at (562) 570-4132 and a “Fire Permit Account” office at (562) 570-2563².

Step 3. The state seller's permit (CDTFA)

CDTFA Publication 74 (revised April 2026) says the agency “requires businesses to close out permits, licenses, and accounts when they stop operating, sell their business, change ownership, or no longer engage in taxable activities”⁹. Accounts close through CDTFA’s online services or on form CDTFA-65, Notice of Closeout¹⁰.

The final return still reports “sales up to the closeout date”, including sales of furniture, fixtures or equipment, and tax on inventory kept for the owner’s own use that was bought without paying tax¹⁰. A business that reports annually “must file the final return by the due date of the quarterly return of the quarter in which you close out your account”¹⁰. Afterward, “you must keep your business records for four years”, and closing “does not relieve you of any unpaid taxes, fees, or surcharges”¹⁰.

A seller’s permit carries no fee, but CDTFA “may require a security deposit to cover any unpaid taxes that may be owed if, at a later date, the business closes”¹¹. The security is returned “After you have paid your entire liability”¹⁰. A buyer’s “Certificate of Payment” clearance “can take 60 days or more”¹⁰.

Step 4. The fictitious business name (Los Angeles County)

Long Beach businesses file fictitious names with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. To stop using a name, the county says “B&P 17922(a) states that a statement of abandonment shall be filed” and “Publication is required”¹². Filing online “includes a $10.75 service fee” as of October 2026; the other routes are by appointment or by mail with “a notarized Affidavit of Identity form”¹². The county’s fee page lists no abandonment fee separately¹⁶, and filed statements “expire 5 years from the date of filing”¹³.

Official pages disagree The county’s general information page says a fictitious name statement “must be published once per week for four consecutive weeks in an adjudicated newspaper in Los Angeles County” and that “Publication must begin within 30 days of filing”¹⁴. The county’s Publication page says “within 45 days of filing”¹⁵. Both describe the original statement; the abandonment page says only that publication is required, and no page used here says whether an abandonment follows the same window¹². The shorter 30-day date is the cautious reading, and the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk can confirm which window governs an abandonment.

Step 5. The LLC or corporation (Secretary of State and Franchise Tax Board)

A domestic corporation, LLC or limited partnership terminates by filing online in bizfile¹⁷. An LLC files the Election to Terminate and the Termination, “unless all the members vote to dissolve, in which case only the Termination”; the Secretary of State says “There is no filing fee associated with submitting a termination document” and warns of private firms asking “$495 or some other amount”¹⁷.

The FTB side has a stated order. For an LLC with active status, terminate on the Secretary of State’s records first, then call the FTB at (916) 845-7700 for its voluntary administrative termination; a suspended entity starts with form FTB 3716 PC¹⁸. The FTB says every LLC doing business or organized in California “must pay an annual tax of $800. This yearly tax will be due, even if you are not conducting business, until you cancel your LLC”¹⁹. FTB Publication 3556 sets conditions for owing no $800 tax in later years, including filing Form LLC-4/7 with the Secretary of State “within 12 months of the filing date of its final tax return”²⁰.

Step 6. The EDD employer account

For an employer closing with no further wages, the EDD says: “you must submit your final tax return, wage report, and payment within 10 days, regardless of the normal due dates. You must also close your employer payroll tax account”²¹. In e-Services for Business that means selecting Close Account, then entering the closure date, the date of last wage paid and the closure reason²¹. The online request works “even if you are not closing your business”²².

A pause is different: an employer that “may have employees in future quarters” is required to file the DE 9 and DE 9C every quarter, “otherwise, EDD may presume you have employees and assess your account”²¹.

What the pages do not state

• No required order across the offices, other than Secretary of State before FTB¹⁸.
• A Health close-out step, a Fire closure fee, an abandonment fee, or the corporation franchise tax rules for closing^678161920.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I get a refund of the Long Beach business license if I close?

Not on the ground of closing. Code 3.80.427.5 lists the only refund grounds, and an ordinary closure is not among them³.

What happens to unpaid license tax after I close?

The city says unpaid taxes and fees from the operating period “will be passed onto Collections”, and the Code allows a deficiency determination within three years¹³.

How do I close my seller's permit?

Through CDTFA’s online services or on form CDTFA-65, Notice of Closeout, with a final return reporting sales up to the closeout date¹⁰.

Does closing an LLC stop the $800 tax?

The FTB says the $800 is due “until you cancel your LLC”; Publication 3556 sets out the conditions under which later years carry no tax¹⁹²⁰.

How long do I have to close an EDD employer account?

For a business closing with no further wages, the EDD says to submit the final return, wage report and payment “within 10 days” and close the account²¹.

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