6 percent of Decatur businesses renewed online

From October 2013 through June 2014, 6 percent of businesses renewed their Decatur license by paying their occupation tax online. Of the 1,485 businesses that paid occupation taxes during that time period, 87 of them used our website at www.decaturgatax.com/businesslicense.

That is already a higher rate of web payments than we receive for property taxes (which is about 2 percent of payments made), even though there is more awareness of our property tax website since it has been available for four years. This fiscal year we anticipate a higher percentage of online business license renewals because of 1) increased marketing and awareness of the website, 2) the affidavit upload field on the website is no longer a required field, and 3) we are having some upgrades made to the website.

Attorneys will receive their annual occupation tax bill at the end of this month, and businesses will receive their license renewal bills later in November.