BILL REQ. #:  S-4763.1 

Read first time 01/31/08.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to clarifying the definition of customer location for purposes of municipal business and occupation taxes; and amending RCW 35.102.130.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 35.102.130 and 2003 c 79 s 13 are each amended to read as follows:
     A city that imposes a business and occupation tax shall provide for the allocation and apportionment of a person's gross income, other than persons subject to the provisions of chapter 82.14A RCW, as follows:
     (1) Gross income derived from all activities other than those taxed as service or royalties shall be allocated to the location where the activity takes place.
     (a) In the case of sales of tangible personal property, the activity takes place where delivery to the buyer occurs.
     (b) If a business activity allocated under this subsection (1) takes place in more than one city and all cities impose a gross receipts tax, a credit shall be allowed as provided in RCW 35.102.060; if not all of the cities impose a gross receipts tax, the affected cities shall allow another credit or allocation system as they and the taxpayer agree.
     (2) Gross income derived as royalties from the granting of intangible rights shall be allocated to the commercial domicile of the taxpayer.
     (3) Gross income derived from activities taxed as services shall be apportioned to a city by multiplying apportionable income by a fraction, the numerator of which is the payroll factor plus the service-income factor and the denominator of which is two.
     (a) The payroll factor is a fraction, the numerator of which is the total amount paid in the city during the tax period by the taxpayer for compensation and the denominator of which is the total compensation paid everywhere during the tax period. Compensation is paid in the city if:
     (i) The individual is primarily assigned within the city;
     (ii) The individual is not primarily assigned to any place of business for the tax period and the employee performs fifty percent or more of his or her service for the tax period in the city; or
     (iii) The individual is not primarily assigned to any place of business for the tax period, the individual does not perform fifty percent or more of his or her service in any city(([,])), and the employee resides in the city.
     (b) The service income factor is a fraction, the numerator of which is the total service income of the taxpayer in the city during the tax period, and the denominator of which is the total service income of the taxpayer everywhere during the tax period. Service income is in the city if:
     (i) The customer location is in the city; or
     (ii) The income-producing activity is performed in more than one location and a greater proportion of the service-income-producing activity is performed in the city than in any other location, based on costs of performance, and the taxpayer is not taxable at the customer location; or
     (iii) The service-income-producing activity is performed within the city, and the taxpayer is not taxable in the customer location.
     (c) If the allocation and apportionment provisions of this subsection do not fairly represent the extent of the taxpayer's business activity in the city or cities in which the taxpayer does business, the taxpayer may petition for or the tax administrators may jointly require, in respect to all or any part of the taxpayer's business activity, that one of the following methods be used jointly by the cities to allocate or apportion gross income, if reasonable:
     (i) Separate accounting;
     (ii) The use of a single factor;
     (iii) The inclusion of one or more additional factors that will fairly represent the taxpayer's business activity in the city; or
     (iv) The employment of any other method to effectuate an equitable allocation and apportionment of the taxpayer's income.
     (4) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section.
     (a) "Apportionable income" means the gross income of the business taxable under the service classifications of a city's gross receipts tax, including income received from activities outside the city if the income would be taxable under the service classification if received from activities within the city, less any exemptions or deductions available.
     (b) "Compensation" means wages, salaries, commissions, and any other form of remuneration paid to individuals for personal services that are or would be included in the individual's gross income under the federal internal revenue code.
     (c) "Individual" means any individual who, under the usual common law rules applicable in determining the employer-employee relationship, has the status of an employee of that taxpayer.
     (d) "Customer location" means the location within the city or unincorporated area of a county where the majority of the contacts between the taxpayer and the customer take place. For the purposes of this subsection (4)(d):
     (i) It will be presumed that the customer's billing address as regularly used in the taxpayer's books and records is the "customer location."
     (ii) Where the taxpayer can show that the customer's billing address is not the location where the majority of the contacts between the taxpayer and the customer take place, the taxpayer may use the taxpayer's physical office location as the customer location.
     (iii) Cities may require the use of a different customer location, where there is clear and convincing evidence that the taxpayer has manipulated the customer's billing address to reduce its municipal tax obligation.
     (e) "Primarily assigned" means the business location of the taxpayer where the individual performs his or her duties.
     (f) "Service-taxable income" or "service income" means gross income of the business subject to tax under either the service or royalty classification.
     (g) "Tax period" means the calendar year during which tax liability is accrued. If taxes are reported by a taxpayer on a basis more frequent than once per year, taxpayers shall calculate the factors for the previous calendar year for reporting in the current calendar year and correct the reporting for the previous year when the factors are calculated for that year, but not later than the end of the first quarter of the following year.
     (h) "Taxable in the customer location" means either that a taxpayer is subject to a gross receipts tax in the customer location for the privilege of doing business, or that the government where the customer is located has the authority to subject the taxpayer to gross receipts tax regardless of whether, in fact, the government does so.