Advertising services

Starting Oct. 1, 2025, advertising services are subject to Washington retail sales tax. If you sell advertising or marketing services in Washington, you must collect and submit sales tax.

What's included

Advertising services include all digital and nondigital services related to the creation, preparation, production, or dissemination of advertisements, including, but not limited to:

• Layout, art direction, graphic design, mechanical preparation, production supervision, placement, referrals, acquisition of advertising space, and rendering advice concerning the best methods of advertising products or services.
• Online referrals, search engine marketing, and lead generation optimization, web campaign planning, the acquisition of advertising space in the internet media, and the monitoring and evaluation of website traffic for purposes of determining the effectiveness of an advertising campaign.

What’s NOT included

Some related activities are not treated as advertising for this purpose:

• Services rendered in respect to the following:
  • Newspapers as defined in RCW 82.04.214.
  • Printing or publishing under RCW 82.04.280.
  • Radio and television broadcasting" within this state as defined in RCW 82.04 (section 1, chapter 9, Laws of 2025).
• Services rendered in respect to out-of-home advertising, including:
  • Billboard advertising.
  • Street furniture advertising.
  • Transit advertising.
  • Place-based advertising, such as in-store display advertising or point-of-sale advertising.
  • Dynamic or static signage at live events.
  • Naming rights.
  • Fixed signage advertising.
  • Note: Does not include direct mail.

For detailed scenarios and examples, review our Advertising Services Interim Guidance.

Notice regarding legal proceedings

The Washington Department of Revenue (DOR) is currently involved in ongoing legal proceedings regarding Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5814, which amended the types of services that are classified as a retail sale under RCW 82.04.050. Plaintiffs in the legal proceedings contend that the amended definition, as applied to certain advertising services, violates the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act. However, these questions have not been decided by the courts.  As such, the Department must enforce the amended Washington law as enacted, and sellers of advertising services subject to retail sales tax should collect and remit taxes based on that law.