The statutory duties applicable to administration and enforcement of the cigarette tax are divided between the Department of Revenue and the Liquor and Cannabis Board. Enforcement of nonvoluntary compliance is the responsibility of the Liquor and Cannabis Board. Voluntary compliance is the responsibility of the Department of Revenue.
An independent contractor (loan originator or loan officer) that works in another’s mortgage broker business is not considered an employee. Independent contractors are subject to the B&O tax (and other business taxes) - employees are not. Various factors determine whether one is an independent contractor or employee.
Independent contractors generally:
Please see the following references:
Indians and Indian tribes are not subject to the refuse collection tax for service provided in Indian country, regardless of whether the refuse collection company hauls the refuse off of Indian country. See our Solid Waste Collection/Disposal and Recycling Businesses guide.
Pure mortgage broker: A pure mortgage broker (PMB) acts solely as a broker. A PMB meets with a potential borrower and gets their financial information. The borrower deposits funds with the PMB to pay third-party costs. This money is placed in a trust account. After getting the necessary information from the potential borrower, the PMB prepares the loan application and “shops” the application with potential lenders. If the application is accepted by a lender and the loan closes, the PMB receives a fee for these services.
Rule 192 |
Outside Indian Country |
In Indian Country |
|---|---|---|
| QUALIFIED MEMBER, spouse, 100% Indian Corporation, or the Tribe |
TAXABLE, except Treaty Fishing Related activity. |
Business and Occupation Tax: Washington's business and occupation (B&O) tax is levied on a business’s gross receipts or gross income, without any deduction for costs of labor, materials, business taxes, or other costs of doing business, unless a valid exemption or deduction applies. This is different from an income tax which is applied to the net income of the business after deducting business costs.
Sales of photos are sourced to the location where the customer receives the photo (i.e., the electronic file) if that location is known. Thus a photo received by a customer in Seattle would be sourced to Seattle (location code 1726), and taxed at Seattle’s sales tax rate.
Photographers are the consumers of equipment and supplies used in conducting their business, and must pay sales tax when purchasing these items. The photographer must pay deferred sales or use tax on the item if sales tax was not paid at the time of purchase. An example of when this can happen is when the photographer purchases equipment from an out of state vendor that does not collect sales tax from Washington customers.
Examples of equipment and supplies upon which the photographer must pay sales tax include:
Washington State law generally treats digital photographs and tangible photographs (i.e., prints or photo files delivered on CD) in the same manner for tax purposes.
Digital photographs are considered digital goods when transferred electronically. "Digital goods" means sounds, images, data, facts, or information, or any combination thereof, transferred electronically. Sales of digital photographs are subject to Retailing B&O tax and retail sales tax.
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