Traveling

Traveling OUT of Washington: If your business is located in Washington, but you are traveling to shoot in another state, please review the sales tax requirements of that state.

Traveling INTO Washington: If you are from another state and are traveling to Washington to shoot, please follow the questions below to find out if you need to charge sales tax in Washington.

When it comes to sales tax, you need to ask yourself three questions. We will walk you through those questions below:

<aside> ❗ In addition to sales tax, Washington imposes a Business & Occupation Tax (B&O Tax) on ALL revenue. The B&O tax is a gross receipts tax that applies to the business's gross income. No deduction is allowed for labor, materials, taxes, or other costs of doing business. (Learn more link in the resources area below)

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Question 1: Do I have a sales tax nexus in Washington?

If your business is located in Washington and you are shooting in Washington, you have nexus in Washington.

If you are traveling from out of state to shoot in Washington, you have nexus in Washington.

Question 2: Is what I’m selling taxable?

The following items address sales tax where everything is happening in Washington. If you have an out-of-state client, see the orange section below that talks about out-of-state clients.

Digital Photos: Taxable (see exception below for business customers)

This specifically refers to digital photos transferred digitally over the internet. Please note any digital images transferred via physical devices like USB drives, CDs, etc., are taxed as physical goods, and all physical goods are taxable.

Washington State law generally treats digital photographs and tangible photographs (i.e., prints or photo files delivered on CD) in the same manner for tax purposes. This means digital images are taxable in Washington.

<aside> ⚠️ Digital photos sold for individual use are taxable, but digital photos sold to business customers for business use are not taxable as long as the business provides a Digital Products and Remote Access Software Exemption Certificate. This applies to electronically transferred photos only. (See Washington Photography Sales Tax Guide in the resources section below for more details)

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