Section 1 of the application, About Your Business, will request basic information about the owners, business name, and whether or not the business will be hiring employees.
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- Enter the Federal Employer Identification number (FEIN) for the business if you have it. You will need a (FEIN) to withhold taxes for any employees.
- Answer whether the business will hire employees in the next 90 days. If you plan to hire employees after 90 days, you can come back and update this business license when you are ready.
- If you would like language assistance with any follow-up communications from other Washington State agencies, answer Yes, and select your language.
- Select Next to continue.
Sole proprietor information
- Enter the Last Name and First Name of the sole proprietor (required).
- Enter Date of Birth. The quickest way is to key in the date using either the DD/MM/YYYY or DD-MM-YYYY format.
- Enter the Phone Number including area code.
- Select the identification number type and enter the number. As a sole proprietorship, you can use either the IRS Tax Identification number (ITIN) or Social Security number (SSN). This is required when the business is hiring employees.
- Enter the Home Address of the sole proprietor. You must select the Verify Address button to confirm the address.
- Click Next to continue.
Spouse information
If the owner has a spouse:
- Select Yes and answer whether the spouse’s name should be included on the business license document.
- Enter the Last name, First name, and Date of Birth of the owner’s spouse.
- Select the identification number type the owner’s spouse and enter the number.
- Click Next to continue.
If the owner does NOT have a spouse, click Next to continue.
General partner information
General Partnerships require a minimum of two owners or officers.
- Click +Add an owner or officer to enter information about owners, officers, or partners.
- Select whether the owner or officer is an individual or a business:
- If the owner is a person, enter the Last Name, First Name and either the Social security number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), and telephone number, and whether they are married, and spouse first and last name (if applicable).
- If the owner is a business, enter the requested information about percent owned, business name and address..
- Click Next to continue.
Business names and registering a trade name
- Enter the Doing business as name (DBA) for the business. By having a DBA name, it is possible for sole proprietors and general partnerships to do business using a name other than the owners' personal name(s). This name will also be searchable in the Department of Revenue’s Business Lookup tool.
- Click Next to continue.
- The DBA name entered will default as a trade name to register in Washington State. A trade name is any name used in the course of business that doesn’t include the full legal name of all the owners of the business.
- If you have additional names that the business will use, you can enter the names on this page. Learn more about trade names and why they should be registered.
- Click Next to continue.
Optional coverage for owners
- Determine whether you want to add optional worker's compensation coverage for owners and officers. If yes, then the Department of Labor & Industries will contact you and provide more information and next steps to apply.
- Determine whether you want to add optional workers' compensation coverage for other excluded employment.
- Click Next to continue.
Section 2 of the application requests information about the location of your business. Based on your location(s), you may also be presented with questions relevant for city endorsements (licenses) as well.
Business location and mailing address
- Answer whether the business location is the same as the home address.
- If Yes, the home address will auto-populate.
- If No, enter the business location. This cannot be a PO Box or private mailbox (PMB). You must select the Verify Address button to confirm the address..
- Click Next to continue.
- Answer whether the mailing address for this business is the same as the business location (physical address).
- If Yes, the business location address will auto-populate.
- If No, enter the mailing business location. You must select the Verify Address button to confirm the address.
- Click Next to continue.
Business information
- Enter the First date of business in Washington. The quickest way is to key in the date using either the DD/MM/YYYY or DD-MM-YYYY format. You can also select the date from the calendar.
- Select the range that best estimates the gross annual income in Washington. Gross annual income represents the amount of money the business will earn in one year from all sources before taxes.
- Click Next to continue.
Business Contact
- Enter the Business phone number and email address.
- Click Next to continue.
Additional business questions
This page includes questions about any relationship to a previous or existing business.
- Answer Yes or No to the required questions.
- If you answer Yes to any of the questions, additional rows will display requesting more information. If you know the bank name and branch for your business, please enter in the Bank name and Bank Branch fields.
- Click Next to continue.
City selection/additional locations
Answer whether you will you be traveling to other cities in Washington (other than your primary business location). Home cleaning, landscaping, and construction contractors are common examples of businesses that may travel to offer services or products in additional cities.
If yes, you most likely will need a city license endorsement for each city. You may be able to apply online for a city license with this application. City licenses available with this application display after you select yes. If a city is not listed, you must contact them directly to determine their licensing requirements.
- Check each city where you will be doing business. If a city is not listed, you will need to follow up with them directly.
- Click Next to continue.
- For each city, answer the requested information including first date of business, estimated gross revenue, and number of employees.
- Click Next to continue.
If no, click Next to continue. Skip to Physical location questions.
Nonprofit city license
Answer whether you are applying for a nonprofit city license in any of the cities that are traveling to conduct business.
- If Yes, upload a copy of the IRS tax exemption certificate for your business. Click Next to continue.
- If No, click Next to continue.
Additional city questions
- Answer Yes or No to the required questions. If you answer Yes to some of the questions, additional rows may display requesting more information.
- Click Next to continue.
Physical location questions
For many cities in Washington State, you can apply for a city license as part of state business license application.
If the city license where your business is located is not available through our application, you will need to follow-up with them directly. Your business license application will skip these pages and go directly to the Business Activity section.
If you can apply for a city license as part of this application, you will be presented with questions about the physical location of your business. These questions are specific to the city where your business is physically located. Be prepared to answer questions about the first date of business in the location, estimated annual revenue, and whether this location will have employees. You will also be presented with questions about the characteristics of the property, including automated smoke detection and alarm monitoring services.
When you have completed each page of questions, click Next to continue.
Business activity
Depending on your business activities, there may be additional state (specialty) endorsements required with your business license. By selecting the description(s) that best describes your business activities, we can help determine if there are additional state endorsements needed. State endorsement information will appear later in the application.
- Type the keyword or words that best describes the primary business activity or activities for this business in Washington state and press ENTER.
- Select the description(s) that best match your keywords (click the word Select next to the description). Selected descriptions will appear to the right of the description box. If you cannot find a match based on your keyword, check None of the activities listed above describes the business.
- Click Next to continue.
- Check the category(ies) for your business activity. This information is required as part of the tax registration for this business.
- If you want to share additional information regarding the activities or services of your business, select Yes when asked. You may be required to add this information if you indicated that none of the descriptions in the keyword search matched the primary activities of your business.
- Click Next to continue.