Boca Raton, Florida: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: No solicitor permit for commercial sales. Boca Raton's peddlers and solicitors article used to have one — sections 8-146 through 8-158 carried the application, the investigation and the approval — and Ordinance No. 5030 repealed all of them on April 8, 2008. What is left in the article is the posted-residence rule (8-159) and a permit for soliciting funds or donations for charitable or benevolent purposes (8-160 to 8-162), which is not what a fiber crew does. The city requirement that does bite is the business tax receipt: it is unlawful to conduct any business in the city without one paid and kept current (8-30).
• Where it comes from: The business taxing authority collects the tax and issues receipts in the name of the city (8-29(d)). Boca Raton City Code Chapter 8, Local Business Tax and Business Regulations — Article II for the tax, Article VI for what is left of the peddlers and solicitors rules.
• Fee: $105.00 for the business tax, which is the flat rate for the privilege of engaging in or managing any business, profession or occupation in the city unless the classification is one of the ten listed lower rates — none of which is solicitor, peddler or canvasser (8-46). There is no solicitor permit fee because there is no solicitor permit.
• Hours you may knock: Boca Raton publishes no knocking hours. Nothing in the business and solicitation chapter sets them, and the miscellaneous offenses chapter has no door-to-door section. Ask the business taxing authority before working evenings.
• What the rep carries: The code names nothing the rep must wear or show at the door. The business tax receipt is the company's document and may not be loaned, given or assigned to anyone else (8-45). Carry company photo ID as a matter of course.
• What takes the time: Only the business tax receipt, and the city treats a single act as doing business — "One act constitutes doing business" (8-40) — so get it before the first knock, not after. Florida's own home solicitation sale permit (F.S. 501.022) is filed with the clerk of the circuit court, here Palm Beach, and that is the long pole.
• Code: Boca Raton City Code Chapter 8, Articles I, II, III and VI (8-1 to 8-56, 8-159 to 8-162), and Chapter 9, Miscellaneous Offenses. The repeal of the solicitor permit sections is recorded in the editor's note to Article VI (Ord. No. 5030, adopted April 8, 2008). Municode shows the code as codified through Ordinance No. 5777, enacted February 24, 2026 (Supp. No. 72, Update 1), content updated May 11, 2026.
• Worth knowing: The sign rule survived the 2008 repeal and is the one door rule to drill: it is unlawful to go on a private residence displaying a "No soliciting" or "No peddling" sign near the entrance for the purpose of soliciting, canvassing or peddling — and the section says that applies "whether holding a license or an identification card or not" (8-159). Each day a business tax provision is violated is a separate offense (8-39), and a business that has not paid within 150 days of the first notice and has no receipt by March 1 picks up an extra $250.00 penalty plus collection costs (8-33). Charitable and benevolent fundraising still needs a city permit open to inspection by the chief of police or any citizen (8-160, 8-161).
• Read it yourself: Boca Raton City Code Chapter 8, Local Business Tax and Business Regulations · Boca Raton City Code Chapter 9, Miscellaneous Offenses · Boca Raton Code of Ordinances, title page · Florida Statutes 501.022, Home solicitation sale; permit required · checked 20 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• Does a door-to-door fiber sales company with no office in Boca Raton need a city business tax receipt, and at the $105.00 rate?
• Since the solicitor permit sections were repealed in 2008, does the city register or badge individual reps in any other way?
• Are there hours the police expect door-to-door reps to stop knocking?
• Does the city ask to see the Palm Beach County home solicitation sale permit?

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________