Montana Attorney General Opinion 16-309

Opinion No. 309. Licenses-Architects-Ruilder-Con- tractor-Manufacturer-Payment of License-Counties. HELD: The license fee required by Section 2441, R. C. M. 1935, must be paid on ~ business of $15,000 per year whether 1t be gross or net and it must b~ paid in the county wh~re the prin- c1pal place of business is located. Hon. Frank H .. Johnson State Examiner The Capitol June 29, 1936. You have called attention to Sec- 316 OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL tion 2441, Revised Codes, reading as follows: "Every architect, builder, contrac- tor, or manufacturer, doing a busi- ness of more than fifteen thousand dollars per year, must pay a license of ten dollars per quarter." and have asked for my opmlOn whether the amount mentioned there- in has reference to gross or net busi- ness, and whether such license fee should be paid in the county where the office is located or in any county in which the person may be doing business. In the absence of limitation or ex- press provision by statute, I am of the opinion that anyone mentioned in this section who does a business of more than $15,000, whether it be gross or net, must pay the license fee. One who does a gross business of over $15,000 does a business of over $15,000 and, therefore, comes within the pro- vision of the statute. It is also my opinion that the li- cense fee should be paid in the county where the persons named in the stat- ute have their principal place of bus- iness and not in the county where they may be doing business. If it were in the county where they are doing business they would be required to pay the license fee in each county. where they were doing a business of more than $15,000 per year; whereas, it was the evident intention of the statute to require them to pay only one license fee.