On November 4, 2022, the Washington Department of Revenue adopted WAC 458-20-290, a regulation explaining the state’s workforce education investment surcharge on select advanced computing businesses. The regulation defines a select advanced computing business as “a person who is a member of an affiliated group with at least one member of the affiliated group engaging
Washington
Washington apportions genealogy services to customer location
The Administrative Review and Hearings Division of the Washington Department of Revenue recently issued Determination No. 21-0055 in which it determined receipts from the provision of genealogy services should be apportioned based on the customer location for purposes of the Business and Occupation Tax. The genealogy company performs research, primarily online, investigating the customer’s ancestry,…
Washington issues interim statement regarding the taxability of NFTs
The Washington Department of Revenue issued an Interim Guidance Statement on the taxability of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The guidance provides that the purchase of a standalone NFT is generally subject to sales tax as the sale of a digital product, and the seller of the NFT is also subject to the business and occupation (B&O)…
Account access services are taxable digital automated services in Washington
The Washington Department of Revenue’s Administrative Review and Hearings Division recently ruled that a company’s account access services provided to credit unions constituted digital automated services subject to sales tax.
The taxpayer provided an online banking platform and an automated phone system to member credit unions, which in turn provided those services to their individual…
Washington provides sales tax exemption for urban data centers
The Washington Department of Revenue released a notice providing that effective June 9, 2022, qualifying businesses and tenants may apply for a sales and use tax exemption for purchases of server equipment and infrastructure for computer data centers located in urban areas pursuant to 2022 House Bill 1846. Eligible urban areas are those counties…
Washington Department of Revenue finds sales tax must be collected on sales of renewable energy equipment
The Washington Department of Revenue upheld a retail sales tax assessment on a taxpayer who failed to collect retail sales tax on sales to a renewable energy company. The taxpayer stated that it did not collect tax on certain sales because it believed that the energy company qualified for the exemption provided by Wash. Rev.…
Blame the manager: Company that arranges, manages brand displays is a retailer for Washington B&O and retail sales tax purposes
On April 25, the Washington Court of Appeals held that a company that arranges and manages displays for installation and placement in multiple retail brands’ stores through subcontractors was subject to the state’s retailing business and occupation tax (the “B&O tax”) and retail sales tax as a retailer making retail sales, rather than a provider…
Online account access services taxable in Washington
On April 12, 2022, the Administrative Review and Hearings Division of the Washington Department of Revenue released decision number 41 WTD 118 (originally issued on June 4, 2020), concluding that a company providing online account access services to credit unions was providing taxable digital automated services (DAS) and not data processing services which is excluded…
A look into West Coast tax legislation
In this episode of the SALT Shaker Podcast focused on policy issues, host and Eversheds Sutherland Partner Nikki Dobay hosts a full house for a West Coast legislative update. Nikki welcomes back Rob Gutierrez, President and CEO of the California Taxpayers Association (CalTax), and Jeff Newgard, Principal and Owner of Peak Policy and also…
Washington legislature holds public hearing on banking surcharge
On February 22, the Washington State Legislature Senate Committee on Ways & Means held a public hearing on SB 5967, which was recently amended. If enacted, the proposed amendment would create a new B&O tax surcharge on a new class of “specified financial institutions” and amend the current B&O tax surcharge (enacted in…