How Much Is a Liquor License in Texas? 2026 Fees + Bonds

A Texas liquor license for a bar — a Mixed Beverage permit — costs $5,300 in TABC fees for two years, and $2,650 to renew. A beer and wine permit costs $1,900, a beer-only license $1,100, and a private club permit $2,600. On top of the fee, most on-premise sellers post up to three surety bonds before they open, and the fee is the number every other guide stops at.

All fees below come from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s license and permit fee chart, checked in October 2026. Every TABC fee covers a two-year term.

TABC fees for on-premise permits

Permit	TABC code	Original (2 years)	Renewal (2 years)
Mixed Beverage — beer, wine and liquor	MB	$5,300	$2,650
Wine and Malt Beverage Retailer’s — beer and wine	BG	$1,900	$1,900
Retail Dealer’s On-Premise — beer only	BE	$1,100	$1,100
Private Club Registration	N	$2,600	$2,600
Private Club Malt Beverage and Wine	NB	$1,900	$1,900
Private Club Exemption (fraternal and veterans)	NE	$0	$0
Package Store — off-premise, for comparison	P	$1,800	$1,800

The beer and wine permit is still called the “Wine and Beer Retailer’s Permit” in most places; Texas renamed it in 2021. Two certificates attach to a primary permit and cost $1,100 each:

• Food and Beverage Certificate (FB) — for businesses whose main business is food. It changes which bonds you need (more below).
• Late Hours Certificate (LH) — to sell after midnight where local rules allow it. It replaced the old Mixed Beverage Late Hours permit in 2021.

If you see a guide quoting $6,000 for a mixed beverage permit, or $350 for beer and wine, it is using fees from before September 1, 2021.

Local fees: often zero for new bars and restaurants

Cities and counties may charge their own fee on top of TABC’s, but less often than most cost guides suggest:

• A new Mixed Beverage permit pays no local fee for its first three years (Alcoholic Beverage Code §11.38(d)(2)).
• Private clubs never pay a local fee (§11.38(d)(1)).
• The FB and LH certificates carry no local fee, because they are not permits.
• A restaurant that already pays a food-establishment permit fee to the city, county, or health district cannot be charged the local alcohol fee (Health and Safety Code §437.01235, as amended effective September 1, 2025).

Where a local fee is allowed, it is capped at half of the fee written in the statute on August 31, 2021 — not half of today’s TABC fee. In Harris, Bexar, Dallas, and Tarrant counties, TABC’s chart caps the local fee for a beer and wine permit at $1,000 for an original and $750 for a renewal. Ask your city secretary and county clerk what they actually charge.

The bonds: up to three, depending on what you are

This is the part of the cost most guides leave out. Which bonds you post depends on your permit and on whether you hold a Food and Beverage Certificate.

You are	TABC conduct bond	Comptroller mixed beverage tax bonds
Bar on a Mixed Beverage permit	$5,000 (or $10,000 near a school)	Two — from $3,750 each
Restaurant on a Mixed Beverage permit, with FB	None	Two — from $3,750 each
Private club (N or NB), no FB	$5,000 (or $10,000 near a school)	Two — from $2,250 each
Beer and wine bar (BG or BE), no FB	$5,000 (or $10,000 near a school)	None
Beer and wine restaurant, with FB	None	None
Package store	$10,000 only within 1,000 feet of a public school	None

These are bond amounts — the guarantee you post, not what you pay. You pay the surety a premium, which is a fraction of the bond amount and depends on your credit.

The TABC conduct bond

The TABC conduct surety bond promises the state you will follow the Alcoholic Beverage Code. It is $5,000, or $10,000 if your business is within 1,000 feet of a public school’s property line (§11.11 for permits, §61.13 for the beer-only license). It is filed on TABC Form L-2-60.2, usually with your application in TABC’s online system, AIMS.

Holders of a Food and Beverage Certificate are exempt: the law says the bond “does not apply to the holder of a food and beverage certificate.” If you apply for the certificate with your permit, TABC waives the bond, and asks for it if the certificate is denied.

The bond is continuous, not a two-year purchase. You can drop it once you have held the permit three years, operated at the location for three years, and had no permit revoked in the past five, which TABC checks when your second renewal arrives. In practice, plan to carry it for about four years.

The two Comptroller mixed beverage tax bonds

Mixed beverage and private club permittees also post two tax bonds with the Texas Comptroller, separate from anything TABC requires:

• Form 67-102 secures the 6.7% mixed beverage gross receipts tax (Tax Code §183.021).
• Form 67-105 secures the 8.25% mixed beverage sales tax (§183.041).

For a Mixed Beverage permit, each bond starts at $3,750; for a private club, $2,250. The Comptroller can set either one higher, up to $100,000 or four times your average monthly tax, whichever is greater. A Food and Beverage Certificate does not remove these two bonds. Beer and wine permits do not need them; those businesses collect ordinary sales tax under a regular sales tax permit.

Beer and wine bars in Harris County: one more bond

In Harris, Bexar, Dallas, and Tarrant counties, a beer and wine bar without a Food and Beverage Certificate also posts a performance bond: $2,000 for the first one, $4,000 after a forfeiture, then $6,000 (16 TAC §33.42). A single suspension forfeits it. For a Houston beer and wine bar, that means two TABC bonds, not one.

Three worked examples

Arithmetic on TABC’s fee chart, for an original application at a location not near a school:

	Houston cocktail bar	Restaurant with a full bar	Beer and wine bar, Harris County
TABC permit	MB — $5,300	MB — $5,300	BG — $1,900
Certificate	Late Hours — $1,100	Food and Beverage — $1,100	None
TABC fees, 2 years	$6,400	$6,400	$1,900
Local fee	None for 3 years	None for 3 years	Up to $1,000 (none if it pays a food permit fee)
TABC conduct bond	$5,000	None	$5,000
Performance bond	—	—	$2,000
Comptroller tax bonds	Two, from $3,750 each	Two, from $3,750 each	None

The cocktail bar and the restaurant pay the same TABC fees but post different bonds. The certificate is what makes the difference.

Other costs to budget for

• Newspaper notice. Mixed Beverage, private club, beer and wine, and beer-only applicants publish notice in two consecutive issues of a local newspaper at their own expense (§11.39, §61.38). Private clubs publish again at every renewal.
• The 60-day sign. A location that has not had an on-premise permit in the past two years must display TABC’s 60-day sign, which TABC may charge for (§11.391).
• Mailed notice to neighbors. For an original on-premise application you mail notice to every residence and neighborhood association within 300 feet, 7 to 14 days before you file. It is not required if your application includes a Food and Beverage Certificate (§11.393).
• Late renewal. TABC accepts a renewal up to 30 days after expiration with a $100 late fee.
• The taxes themselves. Once open, a mixed beverage permittee pays the 6.7% gross receipts tax monthly, by the 20th of the next month, and collects the 8.25% mixed beverage sales tax from customers.

How to get a liquor license in Texas, step by step

1. Register the business with the Texas Secretary of State and get a sales tax permit from the Comptroller. TABC needs the Comptroller’s certification that you hold, or have applied for, a sales tax permit before you file.
2. Get the location certified. The city secretary and the county clerk each certify that the location is “wet” for your permit type. Each has 30 days.
3. Post the 60-day sign and publish your notices. You can post the sign before you apply, and starting early saves time.
4. Buy your bonds. The TABC conduct bond goes in with the application. Have the two Comptroller bonds ready if you are a mixed beverage permittee or private club.
5. File in AIMS. TABC says a new license can take 30 to 35 days from the date it receives a complete application. Answer any TABC request within 10 business days, or the application is withdrawn and the fee refunded.

Getting your bonds

A bar on a Mixed Beverage permit needs three bonds from two agencies, and we write all three: the TABC conduct bond and both Comptroller mixed beverage tax bonds. Restaurants with a Food and Beverage Certificate need only the Comptroller pair.

Call us at (281) 484-8320 with your permit type and address, or start a quote online. Buy the bonds before you file, so TABC is not waiting on paperwork.