Washington: Economic Nexus Effective June 1, 2010

Washington's new legislation created an “economic nexus” standard effective June 1, 2010. It requires some businesses earning apportionable income from Washington customers to be subject to taxes whether or not they maintain offices in the state or have any physical presence. The nexus standard applies only to “apportionable income,” which includes income from various service activities and royalty income. The legislation also updated the apportionment method from “cost apportionment,” to single factor sales apportionment and establishes a “trailing nexus” for one year. For more information, please contact me at brian.strahle@bakertilly.com [1] or visit Washington's website page, Economic Nexus. [2] Washington has published notices for financial institutions [3]and franchisors [4] to provide some guidance on how economic nexus will be applied.