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Guide to Seattle's Business License & Taxes
- Manufacturing is the business of "producing articles for sale from raw or prepared materials by giving these materials a new or different form or qualities." Examples of manufacturing include fabricating, processing, refining, mixing, packing, canning, etc.
Processing for hire. A processor for hire is any person who engages in manufacturing activities on the materials or ingredients of others.
Tax is calculated on the gross income of the
business.
- Extracting
is the "taking of natural products," such as logging, fishing, mining,
quarrying, etc. The tax obligation is calculated on the value of
products extracted or manufactured and is generally determined by the
selling price.
- Printing & Publishing. Newspapers, magazines and periodical publishers are
required to report under the printing and publishing classification.
This classification includes people who both print, publish or print and
publish books, music, circulars, etc. Printing includes letterpress,
offset-lithography, and gravure processes, as well as multigraph,
mimeograph, autotyping, addressographing and similar activities.
Printing and publishing does not include photocopying documents, which
is reported under retailing or wholesaling classifications. Printing and
publishing includes use of electronic media. The tax is measured by the
value of the products as determined by the selling price.
- Wholesaling. This is the "selling of
products to people other than consumers." The selling price or "gross
proceeds of sales" is the measure of the tax.
- Retailing.
People selling products and specific services associated with the
installation or improvement of tangible personal property or real
property directly to consumers are retailers. The selling price is the
measure of the tax.
- Service and other business activities. People providing "personal professional
services," such as attorneys, doctors, accountants, insurance brokers
and solicitors, financial institutions, and real estate brokers, are
taxable under the service and other business activities classification.
Any person or business not specifically taxable under one of the other
classifications is required to report under the service and other
business activities classification. Tax is calculated on the gross
income of the business.
- Motor Carrier Transporting Freight for Hire. Any person engaged in the
business of providing, contracting for, or undertaking to provide
transportation of property for compensation over the public highways of
Seattle as a motor carrier or freight forwarder is subject to tax under
this classification. The measure of the tax is the gross proceeds of
sale.
- Tour Operators. "Tour operator business" means a business activity
of purchasing various travel components, such as transportation,
lodging, meals and other associated services and reselling the same to
consumers where the purchaser/reseller is liable itself to pay the
vendor of the components purchased and does not make payment solely as
an agent for the consumer.
- Manufacturing Flour or Wholesaling Grain. This classification covers people buying wheat, oats, corn, barley and rye and reselling the grain at wholesale, and people who manufacture wheat into flour. Wholesaling of grain is taxable on the selling price. The manufacture of flour is taxable on the value of the product manufactured (generally the selling price).
The material in this site is intended for general informational purposes only. While it is current at the time of publication, changes to the Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) or state law may invalidate some of this information. In the event of a conflict between this guide and the SMC, the SMC prevails.
City of Seattle
Revenue & Consumer Affairs
700 Fifth Ave., Suite 4250
PO Box 34214
Seattle, WA 98124-4214
Telephone: (206) 684-8484
Fax: (206) 684-5170
Contact us at: rca.bizlictx@seattle.gov
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Introduction
City of Seattle Tax Forms
City of Seattle On-Line Business Application and Tax Filing
Business License FAQs
Business Tax Rates and Classifications
Business Tax Allocation and Apportionment
Exemptions
Deductions
Square Footage Tax
Admissions Tax
Gambling Tax
Utility Tax
Commercial Parking Tax
Employee Hours Tax
How To Reach Us
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