When a taxpayer seeks review of a tax assessment or tax refund denial, the Department issues a determination on that review to that specific taxpayer. The Department publishes some of these determinations as Washington Tax Decisions (WTD) under RCW 82.32.410. Determinations can be recommended for publication by anyone, both in and outside of the Department. Once recommended, the proposed WTD goes through an internal Department review process. It is also sanitized to remove any language that could identify who the taxpayer is in the WTD.
The Department is starting this pilot program to allow stakeholders to comment on proposed WTDs before they are published. The proposed WTDs provided below have already been sanitized. After receiving feedback from you, the Department will decide whether to publish the proposed WTD or make edits to it before publishing. To receive notification on WTD Publication Comment activity, sign up for email or text notifications.
Please note this is a pilot program, and the Department may decide to end it if we are not receiving comments or if the comments provided do not help improve the quality of the WTDs published.
We welcome comments and proposed edits you believe will make the proposed WTD a better final product. Here are examples of comments or proposed edits that are helpful:
Comments and edits we ask that you not provide:
An out-of-state limited liability company that leased railroad cars protests the retail sales tax and retailing business and occupation tax assessment on its income from leasing its railroad cars to private companies that used them to transport their own goods. The leasing company argues that its income is not subject to Washington taxes because its customers received the railroad cars outside of Washington. We grant in part and deny in part the petition.
An operator of a convenience store protests the assessment of tax attributable to the sale of cigarettes without the correct endorsements and purchasing tobacco products from an unlicensed distributor. The Taxpayer also protests assessment of a late payment penalty as the payment was made the day after the due date. The Taxpayer asserts that the errors made were attributable to inexperience and that the slight delay in payment should be excused as the Taxpayer believed the payment was being made on the due date. The Taxpayer’s lack of experience does not provide a basis to excuse the failure to remit the tax due. The payment at issue was late and properly subject to the penalty assessed. We deny the Taxpayer’s petition.
An out-of-state corporation engaging in online retail sales to customers in Washington and wholesale sales to retailers in Washington disputes the assessment of B&O tax and retail sales tax based on lack of nexus. We deny the taxpayer’s petition.
The Department requests comments and stakeholder feedback related to these proposed WTDs no later than May 30, 2024. After a review of the feedback, if any, the Department will consider the appropriate next steps in the process.
If you wish to make a public comment or have questions, please contact the Administrative Review and Hearings Division at DORARHDWTD@dor.wa.gov.