Storefront Registration

A new law requires that property owners of ground floor or second floor storefronts file an annual registration statement providing information about these spaces.

Storefront space includes ground-floor or second-floor commercial areas that are:

Visible from the street and accessible to the public using a street or interior entrance AND
Used for selling retail goods, food, or beverages, or for providing personal or financial services. This includes restaurants and service-sector firms operating in storefront spaces.

The registry submissions will be included in the RPIE filing season, which is March 1, 2021 to June 1, 2021. The deadline to file was June 1, 2021.

If you have vacancy or ownership changes, you are also required to file a supplemental update to your storefront filing starting July 1. DOF will contact you by email when it is time to file this supplemental update.

Learn more about the new storefront registration requirement.

Vacancies or Ownership Changes

All class 2 and 4 owners of ground-floor or second-floor storefronts who meet the registry filing requirements must file a supplemental registration if the property was sold or any storefronts that were registered are no longer leased to a tenant for the period from January 1 through June 30 of the year in which the storefront registration statement is filed. The supplemental registration is not required to be filed by designated class one property owners.

You must file if:

You are a class 1 property owner in commercially zoned areas with a storefront space and the storefront space was vacant or owner-occupied for any time during the 12 months before January 1, 2021. Class 1 properties do not have to file Storefront Registry if the storefront was leased to a commercial tenant for all twelve months of 2020. OR
You are a class 2 or 4 property owner with a storefront space, even if you would otherwise be exempt from filing an annual income and expense statement with the Department of Finance. This includes properties owned by not-for-profits, government owned properties, and otherwise fully exempt properties.

There is a $30 fee for filing the storefront registration. The fee will be included on your next property tax bill after you file. Each property filing the storefront registration will be charged the fee no more than once per year regardless of how many amendments are filed.

The following filers do not have to pay the fee:

Tax class 1 properties
Properties owned by not-for-profits that are fully exempt
Government properties
Properties that report no storefronts in their filing

DOF will link the submission of storefront information to the Real Property Income & Expense (RPIE) statement.

You can file an RPIE online. The Storefront Registry is included in section S of the RPIE filing. To file, go to the Real Property Income and Expense (RPIE) page.

See the new RPIE-2020 worksheet.

Get the Storefront Registry User Guide.

Find detailed filing requirements.