TABC Information for Local Government Officials

We want to make accessing information as simple as possible for local government officials who regularly visit our website. This page is designed for:

• Tax assessor-collectors
• City secretaries
• County judges
• County clerks

Several datasets help county tax assessor-collectors:

• 5% Invoice Details by Month: Look through up to four years of monthly statements to verify the amount of permit or fee money due to your county from TABC.
• TABC Licenses and Permits Issued: Check the new licenses or permits issued in your county by visiting the Texas Open Data Portal. Browser Compatibility: Do not use Internet Explorer to access this link. Use Google Chrome or other popular browsers for the best experience.
• Liquor/Beer Issued 4x6 Cards: Visit our Public Inquiry system and enter the information into the available fields. There are several types of information to choose from: 
  • All — A complete list of licenses/permits
  • Renewals  
  • Third-year notification — Mixed Beverage Permits reaching collection status
  • Reissued — Licenses and permits with changes
  • New — Newly issued licenses and permits
  • Change of expiration date — Licenses and permits with updated expiration date
• Mailed Renewal Applications: Find information about mailed renewal applications in our Public Inquiry system.
• Data and Archives: View data and historic information, including per capita consumption reports.

TABC maintains wet/dry status and election information related to alcohol sales for use by the public and county officials.

Cities and counties must certify the wet/dry status of a location for which a person seeks to apply for a TABC license or permit within 30 days.

View application certification guide.

Local governments should certify based off the latest option elections for that jurisdiction and not the type of permit the applicant is applying for.

There are two types of certification forms you might receive:

• AIMS Application Summary | View sample summary: You will mostly see application summaries from our new AIMS system. These look different from the paper forms of the past. The application summary includes information such as principal parties of the applicant entity, proposed location address, and measurement distances (residence, school, and church).
• Paper Required Certifications Form (L-CERT) | View sample L-CERT: However, you will may also receive paper application certification forms. These are available for download from the TABC website. Either is acceptable to use.

Either form shown above is acceptable.

The chart below outlines fees local governments can charge under Texas law.

If you have questions, email your questions about local fees to city-countyfeesowed@tabc.texas.gov.

• Check the status of the license to ensure it still has a current/active status or if it has been approved. TABC can’t take any action if the license or permit is not current/active.
• Try to collect the fees that are owed.
• Contact the license holder by phone, email or mail to inform them of the consequences for not paying. Contract with a third party to help collect unpaid fees owed to the city or county. See Alcoholic Beverage Code Sections 11.38 (b-1)(b-2) and 61.36 (b-1)(b-2).

• Email notice to city-countyfeesowed@tabc.texas.gov.
• For each business that’s delinquent on paying their local fees, email should include:
  • License/permit number.
  • Business’s tradename.
  • Amount the business owes.
• Include up to 10 delinquent license holders per email. Send additional emails if you have more than 10. Please submit one email only for your city or county per week.
• Do not send multiple notices for a license holder. Once reported, the license holder will stay on the list until you notify TABC the liability has been paid.
• We ask that you immediately notify TABC when payment has been made.
• TABC can’t take any action against a delinquent license unless the local fee is more than 180 days past due.

The law requires that all peace officers in the state enforce the provisions of the Alcoholic Beverage Code and help TABC detect violations. If a local government suspects any unlawful activity at a TABC-licensed location, file a complaint with us so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.

A law approved by the 88th Texas Legislature (Senate Bill 577) removes the ability of local governments with a public health district to collect a fee from businesses that are issued an alcoholic beverage license or permit in their jurisdiction.

This law does not impact TABC’s operations or processes — and does not charge TABC with enforcing it. Each unit of local government is responsible for determining its compliance with the new law.

The 86th Texas Legislature directed TABC to consolidate 75 licenses down to 37 by Sept. 1, 2021. All TABC-licensed businesses now operate under this new license and permit structure in the Alcoholic Beverage Code.

We've highlighted the major changes that affect local governments below.

TABC is required by law to remit 5% of each license fee (not permit fee) back to the county where the license was issued. See Code Section 61.35(e).

This means TABC is only reimbursing for the following licenses:

• Brewer's License (BW)
• Brewer's Self-Distribution License (SD)
• General Distributor's License (BB)
• Branch Distributor's License (BC)
• Malt Beverage Retail Dealer's On-Premise License (BE)
• Malt Beverage Retail Dealer's Off-Premise License (BF)
• Brewpub License (BP)

TABC no longer issues catering, winery festival, or temporary licenses to two-year license holders (e.g., Mixed Beverage and Winery permittees). ​

Businesses file for a temporary event authorization at no cost.

Learn more on TABC’s Temporary Events Authorizations page.

TABC uses its online business portal called the Alcohol Industry Management System (AIMS). Local governments do not need AIMS accounts or complete work in AIMS. Local governments should continue to access information as they have, through the tools above. However, governments will also receive new certifications generated by AIMS.