Payroll tax account closure in Washington
Washington has no withholding to close. File ESD Business Change Form 5208C-1 and the final UI/PFML reports. You keep the client. Quoted.
3 agencies · Verified 2026-08-03
Washington
Washington state tax filings.
Which agencies Washington uses, which forms they take, and what Washington does differently. Every entry carries the date it was checked against the agency's own material.
Who you deal with in Washington
Washington Employment Security Department
Unemployment insurance and Paid Family and Medical Leave
Employer Account Management Services
Washington Department of Revenue
Business license, retail sales tax, and Business and Occupation tax, reported together on the combined excise tax return
Business Licensing Service, then My DOR
3 separate agencies, on 3 separate systems. Doing something with one does nothing to the others.
What Washington does differently
- Washington is the exception that proves the rule, and it is worth knowing because it works in your favour. Revenue states that the information you provide when closing is shared, where applicable, with Business Licensing, your Unemployment Insurance account at Employment Security, and your Workers Compensation account at Labor and Industries. In almost every other state each agency has to be told separately. Here one closure starts the others.
- Washington shares your closure, and that is genuinely unusual. Revenue states that the information you provide is shared, where applicable, with Business Licensing, your Unemployment Insurance account at Employment Security, and your Workers Compensation account at Labor and Industries. Almost every other state makes you tell each agency yourself. Do not assume this behavior anywhere else.
- Workers' compensation is a state account here, not an insurance policy you buy. Labor and Industries runs it, which surprises employers used to states where workers' compensation is arranged through a private carrier. It arrives as part of the same registration.
- Business and Occupation tax surprises people. Washington taxes gross receipts as well as retail sales, and both are reported on the same combined excise tax return. A business budgeting only for sales tax has missed half the picture.
Filings we handle in Washington
Sales tax account closure in Washington
Washington shares your Revenue closure with Employment Security and Labor and Industries, which no other state does. Excise return and payment due the 25th.
1 agency · Verified 2026-08-03
Payroll tax registration in Washington
Washington has no wage withholding, and one Business Licensing Service application opens your unemployment and workers' compensation accounts through Revenue.
3 agencies · Verified 2026-08-03
Sales tax registration in Washington
One Business Licensing Service application covers Washington retail sales tax, B&O tax, and, if you hire, the unemployment and workers' compensation accounts.
1 agency · Verified 2026-08-03
You keep the client. We never email them.