Washington Tax Decisions

A restaurant protests the Department’s assessment of retail sales tax and B&O) tax under the retailing classification. Taxpayer argues the Department erroneously estimated cash sales. We deny the petition.

A former member of a closed LLC seeks a refund of money the member paid arising out of a trust fund assessment based on the closed LLC’s unpaid retail sales taxes, asserting that he was not a responsible person for the closed LLC. The former member also contests the Department collecting money to satisfy the liability out of a bank account owned jointly by the former member and an unrelated third party. The former member is a former chief executive and is liable for the retail sales taxes assessed in the tax warrant against the closed LLC for the portion of the audit period where the former member was the chief executive. The petition is granted in part and denied in part.

A business that rents portable horse-stalls protests an assessment resulting from the reclassification of its rentals from wholesale to retail, claiming that all of its customers re-rent the stalls at competitive horse events. Taxpayer also asserts that at some point a Department employee orally advised it to report its stall rentals as “wholesale sales.” We deny Taxpayer’s petition.

A company that retails and wholesales custom glassware, tableware, lighting and home décor, petitions for correction of an assessment of retail sales tax, retailing B&O tax, wholesaling B&O tax, and penalties and interest contending that it lacked substantial nexus with Washington during the relevant years. The company also requests a waiver of interest and penalties. In regards to the tax, interest, unregistered business penalty, and delinquent penalty, we deny the petition. In regards to the assessment penalty, we deny the petition in part and grant it in part.