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Quick answer
Delaware law has any person who wants to engage in business in the state as a contractor, general contractor or subcontractor, resident or nonresident, obtain a business license from the Delaware Division of Revenue. The Division states that this business license is not a regulatory license. As of October 7, 2026, the business license fee is $75 per year (valid until January 1).
Delaware · Contractor licenseVerified 2026-10-07
State license
Business license (no exam)
Delaware law requires any person desiring to engage in business in the state as a contractor to obtain a license from the Division of Revenue and pay a fee; a person is a contractor whether a general contractor or a subcontractor, and whether a resident or a nonresident. The Division of Revenue's tax tips for contractors say the business license it issues is not a regulatory license and that its issuance does not attest to the qualifications of the applicant to perform the activity described on the license.
Business license (no exam). Delaware law requires any person desiring to engage in business in the state as a contractor to obtain a license from the Division of Revenue and pay a fee; a person is a contractor whether a general contractor or a subcontractor, and whether a resident or a nonresident. The Division of Revenue's tax tips for contractors say the business license it issues is not a regulatory license and that its issuance does not attest to the qualifications of the applicant to perform the activity described on the license.
(a) Any person desiring to engage in business in this State as a contractor shall obtain a license upon making application to the Division of Revenue and paying a fee of $75.
30 Del. C. § 2502(a) · Official text · retrieved 2026-10-03
a person is a contractor regardless of whether the person is a general contractor or a subcontractor, or whether the person is a resident or a nonresident;
30 Del. C. § 2501(1)a · Official text · retrieved 2026-10-03
The Business License Issued by the Division of Revenue is not a regulatory license and the issuance of such license does not attest to the qualifications of the applicant to perform the activity described on such license.
Business license (resident or nonresident contractor)
Every person engaged in the business of furnishing labor or both labor and materials in connection with all or any part of construction, alteration, repairing, dismantling or demolition of buildings, roads, bridges, viaducts, sewers, water and gas mains and every other type of structure as an improvement, alteration or development of real property, or of real estate development; general contractor or subcontractor, resident or nonresident
(1) “Contractor” includes every person engaged in the business of: a. Furnishing labor or both labor and materials in connection with all or any part of construction, alteration, repairing, dismantling or demolition of buildings, roads, bridges, viaducts, sewers, water and gas mains and every other type of structure as an improvement, alteration or development of real property; a person is a contractor regardless of whether the person is a general contractor or a subcontractor, or whether the person is a resident or a nonresident; in addition “contractor” shall include “construction transportation contractors” which shall include persons engaged in the business of contracting for transporting tangible property of other persons in connection with all or any part of the construction, alteration, repairing, dismantling or demolition of buildings, roads, bridges, viaducts, sewers, water and gas mains and every other type of structure as an improvement, alteration or development of real property but shall not include draypersons as defined in § 2301(a) of this title; or b. Real estate development.
30 Del. C. § 2501(1) · Official text · retrieved 2026-10-07
Requirements
Workers' compensation. A certificate of insurance showing workers' compensation coverage as the workers' compensation laws of the state require, or a Department of Labor certificate that the person is a qualified self-insurer, filed before the Division of Revenue issues the license. Source: 30 Del. C. § 2502(b); 30 Del. C. § 2502(b)(3)
Other. A certificate of notice from the Delaware Department of Labor certifying that the person has notified the Department that it has entered into or will be entering into contracts for a construction project located in Delaware. Source: 30 Del. C. § 2502(b); 30 Del. C. § 2502(b)(2)
(b) The Division of Revenue shall not issue any license to any person until and unless such person:
30 Del. C. § 2502(b) · Official text · retrieved 2026-10-07
(3) Has filed a certificate of insurance showing that such person has insured liability in the amount and manner, and when due, and as required, under the workers’ compensation laws of this State, or a certificate on a form prescribed by the Department of Labor of this State that such person has been declared to be a qualified self-insurer by the Department of Labor of this State pursuant to the workers’ compensation laws of this State.
30 Del. C. § 2502(b)(3) · Official text · retrieved 2026-10-07
(2) Has filed a certificate of notice issued by the Delaware Department of Labor certifying that such person has notified the Department of Labor that such person has entered into or will be entering into contracts to perform labor on or to perform labor on and furnish material for a construction project located in Delaware; and
30 Del. C. § 2502(b)(2) · Official text · retrieved 2026-10-03
Additional license fee of 0.6472% of aggregate gross receipts, payable monthly, with a deduction of $100,000 for each month; where taxable gross receipts in the lookback period do not exceed the applicable threshold of $1,500,000, which is subject to annual adjustment, the fee is due quarterly with a deduction of $300,000 for each quarter
Such license shall be valid until January 1 at which time it may be renewed for a full year and every year thereafter; provided, that the contractor makes application therefor and payment of $75 plus the license fee required in subsection (c) of this section.
30 Del. C. § 2502(a) · Official text · retrieved 2026-10-03
(c) (1) In addition to the license fee required by subsection (a) of this section, every contractor shall pay a license fee of 0.6472% of the aggregate gross receipts paid to such contractor which fee shall be payable monthly on or before the twentieth day of each month with respect to the aggregate gross receipts for the immediately preceding month.
30 Del. C. § 2502(c)(1) · Official text · retrieved 2026-10-03
In computing the fee due on such aggregate gross receipts for each month, there shall be allowed a deduction of $100,000.
30 Del. C. § 2502(c)(1) · Official text · retrieved 2026-10-07
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (c)(1) of this section, if the taxable gross receipts prescribed therein during the lookback period as defined in § 2122 of this title do not exceed the applicable threshold of $1,500,000, the return and payment of the additional license fee imposed for such month shall be due on or before the last day of the first month following the close of the quarter. In the case of such return, in computing the fee due on such aggregate gross receipts for each quarter, there shall be allowed a deduction of $300,000. (The applicable threshold in this paragraph (c)(2) is subject to annual adjustment as more fully set forth in § 515 of this title.)
30 Del. C. § 2502(c)(2) · Official text · retrieved 2026-10-07
Term and continuing education
Term and renewal. Valid until January 1, when it may be renewed for a full year and every year thereafter
Delaware's credential for contractors is a business license, issued by the Delaware Division of Revenue. Chapter 25 of Title 30 of the Delaware Code directs any person who wants to engage in business in the state as a contractor to apply to the Division and pay a fee [1]. The statute's definition counts general contractors and subcontractors as contractors, residents and nonresidents alike [1].
The Division also says what the credential is not. Its tax tips for contractors describe the business license as something other than a regulatory license, and say that issuing one does not attest to the applicant's qualifications to perform the work named on it [2].
Who counts as a contractor and what comes before issuance
The chapter defines a contractor by the work. Its first branch covers furnishing labor, or labor and materials, for building, altering, repairing, dismantling or demolishing structures that improve, alter or develop real property; its second is real estate development [1]. The term also takes in construction transportation contractors, who contract to haul other people's property for that work, but not draypersons as § 2301(a) defines them [1].
The statute bars the Division from issuing the license until certain filings are in [1]. They include a Delaware Department of Labor certificate of notice about contracts for a construction project in Delaware, and a workers' compensation filing: a certificate of insurance, or a Department of Labor certificate that the person is a qualified self-insurer [1].
What the license costs and how it renews
As of October 7, 2026, the business license fee is $75 per year (valid until January 1) [1].
On top of that flat amount, the statute imposes an additional license fee measured on the aggregate gross receipts paid to the contractor [1]. It is payable monthly, with a deduction allowed in computing each month's amount. A contractor whose taxable gross receipts during the lookback period stay within a threshold that is subject to annual adjustment files and pays on a quarterly schedule instead, with a larger deduction for each quarter [1].
The license runs only to the next January 1 [1]. At that point it may be renewed for a full year, and again each year after, provided the contractor applies and pays the business license fee together with the gross receipts fee [1].
