WAC 241

"Sale," "casual or isolated sale,"

Tax on printers, publishers, highway contractors, extracting or processing for hire, cold storage warehouse or storage warehouse operation, insurance general agents, radio and television broadcasting, consumer as defined in RCW 82.04.190(6)-Cold storage warehouse defined-Storage warehouse defined-Periodical or magazine defined.

Tax credit - motion picture competitiveness program

Radio and television broadcasting.

Radio and Television Broadcasting The Department amended Rule 241 to recognize that the FCC no longer publishes the information used to determine the standard deduction. Therefore, the standard deduction is no longer an option. Broadcasters must itemize their advertising revenue.

1982 STANDARD DEDUCTION - RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING Cancelled effective June 29, 2007. This information is not needed.

New "Economic Nexus" in Washington State May Impact Advertising Agencies Located Elsewhere

B&O Tax Reporting Requirement Continues After Business Activity Stops (Trailing Nexus)

B&O Tax Credit Reinstated for Contributors to Washington Filmworks

B&O Tax Credit Reinstated for Contributors to Washington Filmworks

Motion Picture Competitiveness Program Contributors - B&O Tax Credit

WashingtonFilmWorks Contributors B&O Tax Credit

WashingtonFilmWorks Contributors B&O Tax Credit - Modification

BUSINESS & OCCUPATIONS TAX -- DEDUCTIONS-ADVERTISING -- BROADCASTERS -- SPONSOR. The sponsor of an advertisement is the business that pays the broadcaster for advertising its business. If the business is located only in Washington and provides goods and services only in this state, it is a local advertiser. Because a manufacturer provided the funds to the business to pay for the advertisement does not mean the manufacturer is the "sponsor" of the advertising.

B&O TAX -- DEDUCTIONS -- SATELLITE FEES, COPYRIGHT FEES & FRANCHISE/UTILITY TAXES -- CABLE TELEVISION CO. Satellite and copyright fees passed on to Washington subscribers by Washington cable company are fully B&O taxable. Taxpayer's activity is entirely intrastate, thus no commerce clause violation. Franchise tax not deductible because not collected by taxpayer as agent for taxing authority.

MANUFACTURING TAX -- USE TAX -- MASTER VIDEOTAPE PRODUCTION -- ORIGINAL. An original one-of-a-kind master videotape purchased from a production company is merely the tangible evidence of an artistic-type service, and is not subject to manufacturing or use taxes. This is true even though some preliminary production steps may have been done by the taxpayer itself, or contracted out directly to other companies.

SALES TAX -- USE TAX -- CUSTOM FILMS OR VIDEOS. The production of a customized training film or video is a service activity as opposed to a retail sale.

MANUFACTURING B&O TAX -- USE TAX -- MASTER AUDIO TAPE -- ORIGINAL. An original one-of-a-kind master ...created by the taxpayer for a specific client is merely the tangible evidence of an artistic-type service, and is not subject to manufacturing B&O and use tax.Accord:Det. No. 91-091, 11 WTD 113, (1991).

B&O TAX -- RADIO/TV BROADCASTING TAX -- TRANSMITTED AUDIO MUSIC -- SUBSCRIBER FEES. Delivering pre-recorded [programs] to clients for a fee by use of FM sideband radio waves or direct satellite broadcasting, did not constitute Radio/TV broadcasting. Therefore, subscriber fees were taxable under the Service and Other Activities B&O tax classification. See Community Telecable of Bellevue, et. al.v.Department of Rev., (1981), Thurston County Superior Court, Doc. No. 81-2-01717-4.

B&O TAX -- BARTER -- BROADCASTERS. When a broadcast station receives a license to air programming that includes advertising time sold by the program's syndicator, the transaction involves a barter of the station's advertising time in exchange for a license to air the program.

B&O TAX -- BARTER -- BROADCASTERS -- VALUATION. In determining the value of bartered advertising time for purposes of assessing B&O tax, the Department is entitled to rely on the value a broadcast station assigns to its advertising time under what it calls a "barter account."

B&O TAX -- DEDUCTIONS -- BROADCASTERS -- NATIONAL, NETWORK, AND REGIONAL ADVERTISING. Barter income from broadcast advertising sponsored by regional and national sponsors is subject to the deduction for national, network, and regional advertising.A national or regional sponsor's use of a syndicator to arrange and to pay for broadcast advertising neither makes the syndicator the sponsor of the advertising nor changes the nature of the services being provided by the station.

RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING -- INTERNET. Providing access to pre-recorded programs over the Internet does not constitute radio or television broadcasting because the signal is not delivered over the airwaves.

CLARIFYING ACT – DEFINITION OF INTERNET SERVICES.When the legislature adopts a clarifying act, the act will apply retroactively.RCW 82.04.297 is a clarifying act, therefore the definition of Internet Services contained therein, applies retroactively.

AMBIGUOUS STATUTE –LEGISLATIVE INTENT.RCW 82.04.297’s definition of Internet Services is ambiguous in that it can be read to have two conflicting meanings.The legislative history shows that the legislature intended one specific meaning.Specifically, Internet Services as defined in RCW 82.04.297 include only those persons who provide access to the Internet, not those who maintain sites on the Internet.

Wa. Const., art. 2 § 19, RCW 82.04.297:SUBJECT OF BILL.The subject of a bill may not be broader than its title.The title of SB5763, which was codified as RCW 82.04.297, prohibited treating internet service providers as network telephone service providers.Because persons who maintain homepages but do not provide access to the Internet could not have been construed to have provided network telephone services, they cannot be construed to provide Internet Services.

DEFINITION OF INTERNET SERVICES – CONTEMPORANEOUS CONSTRUCTION. The purpose of RCW 82.04.297 was to ratify the department’s treatment of Internet Services.The Department’s public statement that RCW 82.04.297 applied to Internet Services Providers is entitled to significant weight.

SERVICE VS. RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING B&O TAX -- SATELLITE UPLINK SERVICES. Mobile satellite uplink service, performed for broadcast and cable networks and other customers for a charge, does not fall within the radio and television broadcasting B&O classification.

USE TAX – EXEMPTION --PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT ACQUIRED AND USED BY A MOTION PICTURE OR VIDEO PRODUCTION BUSINESS – SATELLITE UPLINK SERVICE. The sales and use tax exemption for production equipment acquired by a motion picture or video production business does not apply to equipment acquired and used by a company that provides satellite uplink of live programming.

Rule 241, Rule 227; RCW 82.04.280: B&O TAX – RADIO OR TELEVISION BROADCASTING CLASSIFICATION – LICENSING CONTENT TO CABLE TELEVISION COMPANIES. A taxpayer that relicenses copyrighted television programs to cable companies for transmission to cable subscribers does not qualify for the television broadcasting rate in RCW 82.04.280(1). The taxpayer’s advertising revenues are taxable under the service B&O tax rate.

B&O TAX -- BROADCASTING -- CABLEVISION -- ADVERTISING. A taxpayer, in using, in part, its own equipment to transmit client advertising on a cablevision network during purchased timeframes, is functioning as a cablecaster. The revenue it receives from its clients for scheduling and transmitting those commercials, under the holding of Community Telecable, is thus "advertising revenue" taxable under the special Broadcasting classification