The Governor has issued a proclamation regarding 2024 wildfires. Learn more about disaster relief.
The Governor has issued a proclamation regarding 2024 wildfires. Learn more about disaster relief.
The Department of Revenue (department) and its programs are governed by laws passed by the Washington State Legislature and codified in the Revised Code of Washington (RCW). The department drafts and adopts rules to implement new state laws, provide more detail to the laws passed, and provide additional guidance for taxpayers to make understanding their tax reporting responsibility easier. These rules are then codified in the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) and published by the Office of the Code Reviser.
Pursuant to RCW 34.05.330, you have the right to petition the department to adopt, amend, or repeal any administrative rule. Obtain a copy of the petition online, or call 360-705-6705. The petition process is governed by the Office of Financial Management (Chapter 82-05 WAC).
Generally, rule making takes place in three distinctive steps based on filings required by the Office of the Code Reviser. The rule making process provide several opportunities for the public to comment on proposed rules prior to adoption:
The standard rule making process generally follows the following steps.
While the department generally uses the standard rule making process to adopt and amend interpretive rules, the department also uses an expedited rule making process for adopting legislative changes and updates when there are no substantive interpretive changes. The department uses the emergency rule making process when the department believes a rule needs to be amended or adopted before the standard rule making process can be completed.
The expedited rule making process follows the following steps.
The emergency rule making process follows the following steps.
To comment on a proposed rule either in the preproposal or proposed rule making phase, please contact the rule drafter noted on the Rule making agenda.
To get more information about rule actions, sign up for notifications.
Learn how you can take part in the Department of Revenue rule development.