Education - business guide
Businesses that provide instruction for a fee in commercial, business, clerical, manual, mechanical, technical, or other skills or practices require a school licence.
Businesses that offer the same general curriculum as offered by the public school system will generally not require municipal licensing as schools.
Examples of businesses that do require municipal licensing:
Do
- Driver education
- Dance schools
- Cooking schools
- Massage schools
- Music lessons
- Martial arts schools
- Modelling schools
- Vocational schools
Examples of businesses that do not require municipal licensing:
Don't
- Public, charter and private schools and school boards approved by the Alberta Schools Act.
- Early childhood development schools.
- English as a second language schools.
- Private schools or tutors that teach the same general curriculum as public schools.
- Public post-secondary schools regulated by the Post Secondary Learning Act.
- Apprenticeship training under the Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Act.
To speed up the business licence approvals process, customers with a myID business account can receive a digital copy of their business licence via email. Customers applying for a new business licence or renewing an existing licence can use this service. To learn more about the benefits of a myID business account, please visit myID business account (calgary.ca).
Rules and regulations
Personal service or school
If a business offers drop-in classes it is licensed as personal service. With the exception of yoga studios, which are always licensed as personal service, businesses offering classes that require pre-registration are licensed as a school.
Driver training
For Driver training contact Alberta Transportation - Driver Programs at 403-297-6679 after obtaining a City business licence.
Alberta Health Services
Schools serving food must obtain an Alberta Health Services inspection. They can be contacted at 1-833-476-4743.
Provincial licensing
Schools other than driver training must contact Alberta Advanced Education and Technology at 1-780-427-5609 for provincial licensing details after submitting a City business licence application.
Fees
For business licence fees, see the Business Licence Fee Schedule. The business licence fee schedule is broken down by licence type. If your business requires multiple licence types, the highest category fee will be charged.
These fees do not include the costs related to required permits to meet land use approval, or any third-party approvals or inspections that may be required to obtain your licence.
Apply
Prepare your application
Once you know how and where your business will operate, you’re ready to apply.
For a smooth application, make sure you know the following information:
- Business Activities
- Location of Business
- Fee payment at the time of application*
- Ownership
- Name of Business
- Contact information for the business and owner
- If you are applying online, a myID account
You will be contacted by a file manager to review your application and provide you with next steps.
Required
| Licence type | Land use | Police | Fire | Health | Provincial | AMVIC | ID card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal service | |||||||
| School |
Land use approval
All businesses in Calgary require land use approval. Each space in a building has its own specified, approved use that cannot be changed without an approval, permit or both.
To view the allowable uses within a land use district, refer to the Land Use Bylaw. To determine the land use district of a property, visit myProperty.
You can also refer to Commercial, industrial and mulit-residential for more information, or contact our Planning Services Centre at 403-268-5311 to investigate land use approval for your business.
Fire Prevention Bureau approval
Alberta Health Services
An Alberta Health Services (AHS) location inspection is required to ensure public safety. Any business involving the sale, preparation, manufacturing or storage of food products requires this inspection. Any business involved in personal service such as aesthetics or massage is also required to have this inspection. Contact AHS at 1-833-476-4743 for more information and to book a date.
Inspection results can be submitted:
- In person at the Planning Services Centre:
3rd floor, Municipal building, 800 Macleod Trail S.E. - By email: licencedivisionteam@calgary.ca
If AHS advised you that your business type does not require a health inspection, please forward the email confirmation as proof to The City’s Planning Services Centre.
Please be aware of all current provincial public health restrictions for in-person dining.
Provincial licensing approval
Certain business activities require provincial licensing in addition to your municipal business license. These activities are identified as licence types on the chart above.
Contact Service Alberta at 1-780-427-4088 (or toll free in Alberta only at 1-877-427-4088) and provide details of the licence types you are currently applying for. Service Alberta will direct you to the appropriate provincial contact. They will provide further direction in regard to fulfilling the provincial licensing requirements.
Provincial licenses must be submitted to The City’s licence division to obtain the municipal license.
You can present your provincial licence:
- In person at the Planning Services Centre:
3rd floor
800 Macleod Trail S.E.
Calgary, AB
- By email: licencedivisionteam@calgary.ca
- By fax: 403-537-3034