Sales tax now applies to some services

Starting October 1: Some business services are now subject to retail sales tax, as required by state law, ESSB 5814. When you buy these services, vendors should add sales tax to your bill. If you sell these services, you should begin collecting retail sales tax. Learn more about Services newly subject to retail sales tax.

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Lodging taxes

You may need to report the following taxes, in addition to state and local sales tax. To determine which lodging taxes apply to your business location, you may use our Tax rate lookup tool or see lodging sales rates.

  • Transient rental tax: Lodging businesses report their total transient rental income on their return, and the tax is deducted from the state portion of the retail sales tax. This is not a consumer tax. No additional tax is paid by the lodging business that reports this information.
  • Special hotel/motel tax: Consumers pay this tax on transient lodging in many locations.
  • Convention and trade center tax: Consumers pay this tax on transient lodging charges for lodging businesses in King County.
    • For periods before Jan. 1, 2019, only businesses with 60 or more units must collect and remit this tax.
    • Effective Jan. 1, 2019, this tax is imposed on all lodging, regardless of the number of units.
  • Tourism promotion area charges: Consumers pay this special lodging charges within designated tourism promotion areas that municipalities use to fund activities to promote tourism. For more information, please refer to our Lodging change notices.

Charges subject to lodging taxes

Additional charges to guests that are directly related to the room rental are taxed in the same manner as the room. Examples of such charges include, but are not limited to:

  • Pet fees.
  • Smoking fees.
  • Cleaning fees.
  • Damage or damage waiver fees.
  • Early and late departure fees.
  • Attrition fees.

Additional amounts charged for telephone services, parking, laundry, and the use of meeting or banquet rooms are not subject to lodging taxes.

Definitions

Attrition fees: When a block of rooms is reserved for a customer at a special price, but the customer does not use the full block of rooms, the hotel may not honor the price and charge an attrition fee (additional amount) for the rooms which are used. These charges are taxable as lodging.

References