TPS-TIE

The taxability of performing construction activities within the state of Washington is discussed in the following laws and rules:

Real estate developers (speculative builders) owe retail sales tax on temporary labor

Washington State law requires real estate developers to pay retail sales tax or use tax on charges paid to staffing companies for temporary workers who perform construction related services on real estate owned by the developer.

Following are common questions about temporary labor and the application of retail sales tax.

The following contractors are required to register with the Department of Revenue and are subject to excise taxes:

This section applies to prime contractors who work directly for a tribe or enrolled tribal member/citizen in their Indian country

The way the law applies taxes in these instances is significantly different from most other construction contracts (Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 458-20-192).

Contaminated site cleanup and other environmental remedial action are taxable based on the specific activity performed. Tax treatment for specific activities is discussed below.

Service activities

The following activities, which may be performed relative to the cleanup of a contaminated site, are service activities:

Logging road construction is the activity of building roads directly related to a timber harvesting operation. Such activities include maintaining logging roads as well as the original road construction. The gross contract price is taxable under the extracting/extracting for hire B&O tax classification. Also, the contractor owes extracting/extracting for hire B&O tax and use tax on the value of materials extracted for the job. Private road construction in any other context is a sale at retail.

Government contractors, either as prime or subcontractors, perform construction, installation, and/or improvements to real property of, or for, the United States, its instrumentalities, or a county or city housing authority. This category does not apply to federal road construction (see public road construction). The activities include, but are not limited to:

Speculative builders construct residential or commercial buildings for sale or rental on land they own. Speculative construction includes the activity commonly referred to as “house flipping,” for example, purchasing a structure and renovating it with the intent of reselling (or "flipping") it for profit. Speculative construction also includes the renovation of commercial, residential, or multifamily housing to be made available for rental on either a short-term or long-term basis, including property that will be made available for rental on an online marketplace.

Rental of equipment by the contractor

Contractors sometimes rent equipment for construction projects. When this happens, the contractor is the consumer of the rented item and owes retail sales tax to the rental company.

This section refers to all construction jobs except those which are specifically defined as speculative building, federal government contracting, public road construction, logging road construction, radioactive waste cleanup on federal lands, or construction services performed in Indian Country for enrolled members.