The law states a person is a nontransient when the rental period is one month or more, or they remain in continuous occupancy for 30 days in a row or more when the rental period does not start on the first of the month.
A guest, resident, or other occupant who purchases lodging is a nontransient on the 30th day, even if they change rooms or lodging units during the continuous thirty-day period.
Grape growing represents the vast majority of farming within the wine industry. Some wineries grow their own grapes while others only purchase them.
Generally, farmers do not need a tax registration endorsement if they only make wholesale sales of agricultural products that they produce. However, other farming related activities may be subject to taxation and require a tax registration.
Wineries often rent out part of their facilities to others for banquets, parties, meetings, etc. In most cases, if you make a separate charge for the use of a banquet or meeting room, retail sales tax does not apply. Instead, this income is subject to B&O tax under the Service and Other Activities classification. However, banquet/meeting facilities provided by a lodging business (hotel, motel, etc.) are subject to sales tax.
You must pay sales or use tax on items or retail services that you purchase for consumption or use in your winery business. Goods used in this state are subject to either sales tax or use tax, but not both.
Use tax is a tax on the use of goods and certain services in Washington when sales tax was not paid at the time of purchase.
A consignment sale is when the actual owner of goods (the consignor) enters into an agreement with another person (consignee) to sell those goods as an agent for the actual owner. Some wineries sell art or craft work, etc. on behalf of the artist or creator. The winery must collect sales tax on consignment sales.
When an unregistered person consigns goods to a winery for sale, the winery will:
When you make retail sales, you must collect sales tax. You will determine the correct sales tax rate for retail sales by the destination of the sale – that is, the location where the buyer takes delivery of the goods.
For sales where you ship the goods to a buyer in Washington, you must charge the sales tax rate for the location where the goods are shipped – the destination of the sale.
Wineries are often asked to donate bottles of wine or other products for charitable causes. Goods donated to nonprofits without any intervening use are not subject to retailing B&O tax or sales tax (since they are given away without a charge). The donor (winery) also does not owe use tax on the value of the wine.
Note: You must keep documentation supporting the donation in your records.
Wineries often sell pre-packaged foods such as:
Sales of pre-packaged foods are generally exempt from sales tax. However, the income from these sales remains subject to Retailing B&O tax.
In addition to wine and food, wineries often sell tangible personal property such as:
You must collect retail sales tax on sales of tangible personal property to consumers who take delivery in Washington. Additionally, such sales must be reported under the Retailing classification of the B&O tax.
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