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3. WA DOR publishes all sales tax rate change notices on their website. https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/sales-and-use-tax-rates/local-sales-tax-change-notices ht

3. WA DOR publishes all sales tax rate change notices on their website. https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/sales-and-use-tax-rates/local-sales-tax-change-notices https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/sales-and-use-tax-rates/local... In 2020, there were fewer than a 2 dozen rate changes throughout the entire year at the local level, none at the state level, and certainly not any rate changes in a single tax locale occurring multiple times during the year at any level. And this was verified by running tax rate reports for the state of WA in Avalara for each quarter in 2020. I understand the point you're trying to make, but you're not going to win this argument by making up such blatant falsehoods. (Note that I actually handle the sales tax compliance for my company, including the state of WA, and I am definitely more familiar with sales tax rate changes than you are.) 4. The Feds do not have the power to require states to join the SST as it would violate the states' right to control intrastate commerce. 4a. Zip-coded based taxation is not sufficiently granular. For example, a single zip code in LA can contain multiple municipalities. A number of zip codes cross county and state lines. (9-digit zip codes are more granular, but only areas with sufficient mail volume are assigned the extra 4 digits.) 4b. I don't know what is behind your fascination with updating sales tax rates every quarter. Sales tax rates are generally updated every few years for any given tax location. It only seems like they update more frequently than that because you are conflating local tax jurisdictions with state-level jurisdictions. 4c. I know how VATMOSS works; as I have stated elsewhere I am a tax professional and handle indirect compliance functions for my company. There is not a single VAT rate per country; there are 3 or more rates, corresponding to the different VAT classifications of goods. Most EU countries have 3 rates; during COVID several of them had as many as 7 rates (as a result of short-term discounted rates on certain types of goods and services). Furthermore, only a limited number of VAT-subject digital goods and services are handled by the VAT MOSS system; physical goods are not VAT MOSS eligible, and classification/taxation of physical goods is 99% of the complexity of indirect tax regimes. Additionally, the EU is legally and structurally fundamentally different from the U.S. VAT MOSS is possible in the EU because the member nations are bound to participate in EU economic initiatives as a condition of being a member of the EU (see, for example, the issues leading to Brexit). No similar legal arrangement exists between the American states; moreover, the U.S. Constitution does not grant the central/federal government the power to control commerce within a state. It is simply not possible to have something like the VATMOSS in the U.S. It would require significant changes to the basic structure of American government. The best we'll get is the SST, and it's very unlikely that states like CA and NY will ever agree to give up control of their own tax systems to a system run by the Midwestern and Southeastern states. Indeed, the SST exists primarily because most out-of-state sellers to these states would not sell enough to reach the nexus thresholds and so those sales would not be subject to sales tax; the SST is the carrot to get sellers to agree to handle sales tax compliance, and that is why it is mandatory to agree to sales tax for all SST member states as a condition of using the SST. (For example, without getting into specifics, my company's sales to all SST member states combined is less than the sales to CA, or NY, or FL, or CO, or TX, or IL.)

tzs 5y ago
Washington publishes downloadable CSV files with rates here: https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/sales-and-use-tax-rates/downloadable-database https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/sales-and-use-tax-rates/downl... Here are commands to download the rates for the 7 most recent quarters and lookup the entries for 98520-6503: curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/Zip4Q221E.zip > 21q2.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/Zip4Q121E.zip > 21q1.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/Zip4Q420E.zip > 20q4.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/Zip4Q320E.zip > 20q3.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/ZIP4Q220E.zip > 20q2.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/ZIP4Q120E.zip > 20q1.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/ZIP4Q419E.zip > 19q4.zip for i in *zip; do unzip $i; done grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ42019-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ12020-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ22020-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ32020-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ42020-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ12021-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ22021-Long.txt Here is the output: 98520,6503,1401,0.06500,0.02480,0.08980,20191001,20191231 98520,6503,1400,0.06500,0.02300,0.08800,20200101,20200331 98520,6503,1400,0.06500,0.02400,0.08900,20200401,20200630 98520,6503,1401,0.06500,0.02580,0.09080,20200701,20200930 98520,6503,1400,0.06500,0.02400,0.08900,20201001,20201231 98520,6503,1401,0.06500,0.02580,0.09080,20210101,20210331 98520,6503,1400,0.06500,0.02400,0.08900,20210401,20210630 Washington also has a lookup page here: https://webgis.dor.wa.gov/taxratelookup/salestax.aspx https://webgis.dor.wa.gov/taxratelookup/salestax.aspx That also shows it changing, but not as frequently (and always has it in location code 1401, whereas the ZipRates files have that zip sometimes in 1400 and sometimes 1401). There is also the short format files (just change the "E" in the name to "C" to get them), which give yet another story. They put 98520-6503 in location 1400 or omit it completely. When they include it, they match the rate from the long files.
- tzs 5y ago
  Addendum: I took a look at the boundary file that Washington provides to SST (WAB2021Q3MAY27.zip available here [1]). Here's what that file says about O addresses in the 101-199 range of E. Wishkah ST. A,20160701,20170331,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20170401,20170630,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01401,53,53,,00100 A,20180401,20180930,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20181001,20191231,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01401,53,53,,00100 A,20200101,20200331,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20200401,20200630,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20200701,20200930,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01401,53,53,,00100 A,20201001,20201231,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20210101,20210331,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01401,53,53,,00100 A,20210401,20210630,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20210701,99991231,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01401,53,53,,00100 It has the same bouncing around between SER codes 1400 and 1401 that it does in the earlier files. At first it looks like that depends on whether or not it is listed as being in the county or the city, but notice the last 3 entries all have it in the city but it still bounces around. When it is listed as in 1400 it has state 53 tax and county 027 tax. When it is listed as being in 1401, it has state 53 tax, no county tax, and place 00100 tax. The statewide component of sales tax in Washington is 6.5%. Here are the county 027 tax rates, according to the rates file WAR2021Q3MAY27.zip that Washington provides to SST, found here [2]. 53,00,027,0.02000,0.02000,0.02000,0.02000,20140401,20161231 53,00,027,0.02300,0.02300,0.02300,0.02300,20170101,20200331 53,00,027,0.02400,0.02400,0.02400,0.02400,20200401,99991231 Here are the place 00100 tax rates: 53,01,00100,0.02130,0.02130,0.02130,0.02130,20140401,20161231 53,01,00100,0.02430,0.02430,0.02430,0.02430,20170101,20190630 53,01,00100,0.02480,0.02480,0.02480,0.02480,20190701,20200331 53,01,00100,0.02580,0.02580,0.02580,0.02580,20200401,20290630 Matching the rates and the boundaries files by validity ranges, I get for 101-199 E. Wishkah ST odd addresses for 2019q4 through 2021q2 8.98, 8.8, 8.9, 9.08, 8.9, 9.08, and 8.9, which are exactly the same as what I got earlier from the zip+4 long files. I have no idea why these are not the same as the results using the Washington interactive lookup gives for those address, nor why Avalara apparently gives different results, now why the results using the zip+4 short files differ from the long files. You might suggest that it was because I was going by zip+4 rather than address, and tax boundaries do not necessarily follow zip boundaries (even when you use zip+4). But with the files Washington gives SST, I'm going strictly by street address so that cannot be it. Washington also has street address based files in its own format available to download. I've not looked at those. I probably should, to see if perhaps that is where their own interactive page and Avalara are getting data. I have previously found inconsistencies in Washington's various tax files and interfaces (and reported them). Perhaps this is another case of that. Perhaps I'll report this one, after doing a little more checking around. [1] https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/ratesandboundry/Boundary/ https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/ratesandboundry/Boundary... [2] https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/ratesandboundry/Rates/ https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/ratesandboundry/Rates/ Edit: I grabbed the street-based rates from Washington's site. Same result as I got from the zip+4 long and from the boundaries and rates files that Washington provides to SST.

tzs 5y ago

Washington publishes downloadable CSV files with rates here: https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/sales-and-use-tax-rates/downloadable-database https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/sales-and-use-tax-rates/downl... Here are commands to download the rates for the 7 most recent quarters and lookup the entries for 98520-6503: curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/Zip4Q221E.zip > 21q2.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/Zip4Q121E.zip > 21q1.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/Zip4Q420E.zip > 20q4.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/Zip4Q320E.zip > 20q3.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/ZIP4Q220E.zip > 20q2.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/ZIP4Q120E.zip > 20q1.zip curl https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/downloads/Add_Data/ZIP4Q419E.zip > 19q4.zip for i in *zip; do unzip $i; done grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ42019-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ12020-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ22020-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ32020-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ42020-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ12021-Long.txt grep 98520,6503 Zip4RatesQ22021-Long.txt Here is the output: 98520,6503,1401,0.06500,0.02480,0.08980,20191001,20191231 98520,6503,1400,0.06500,0.02300,0.08800,20200101,20200331 98520,6503,1400,0.06500,0.02400,0.08900,20200401,20200630 98520,6503,1401,0.06500,0.02580,0.09080,20200701,20200930 98520,6503,1400,0.06500,0.02400,0.08900,20201001,20201231 98520,6503,1401,0.06500,0.02580,0.09080,20210101,20210331 98520,6503,1400,0.06500,0.02400,0.08900,20210401,20210630 Washington also has a lookup page here: https://webgis.dor.wa.gov/taxratelookup/salestax.aspx https://webgis.dor.wa.gov/taxratelookup/salestax.aspx That also shows it changing, but not as frequently (and always has it in location code 1401, whereas the ZipRates files have that zip sometimes in 1400 and sometimes 1401). There is also the short format files (just change the "E" in the name to "C" to get them), which give yet another story. They put 98520-6503 in location 1400 or omit it completely. When they include it, they match the rate from the long files.

tzs 5y ago
Addendum: I took a look at the boundary file that Washington provides to SST (WAB2021Q3MAY27.zip available here [1]). Here's what that file says about O addresses in the 101-199 range of E. Wishkah ST. A,20160701,20170331,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20170401,20170630,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01401,53,53,,00100 A,20180401,20180930,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20181001,20191231,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01401,53,53,,00100 A,20200101,20200331,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20200401,20200630,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20200701,20200930,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01401,53,53,,00100 A,20201001,20201231,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20210101,20210331,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01401,53,53,,00100 A,20210401,20210630,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01400,53,53,027 A,20210701,99991231,101,199,O,E,WISHKAH,ST,,,,,,ABERDEEN,98520,6503,,,,,01401,53,53,,00100 It has the same bouncing around between SER codes 1400 and 1401 that it does in the earlier files. At first it looks like that depends on whether or not it is listed as being in the county or the city, but notice the last 3 entries all have it in the city but it still bounces around. When it is listed as in 1400 it has state 53 tax and county 027 tax. When it is listed as being in 1401, it has state 53 tax, no county tax, and place 00100 tax. The statewide component of sales tax in Washington is 6.5%. Here are the county 027 tax rates, according to the rates file WAR2021Q3MAY27.zip that Washington provides to SST, found here [2]. 53,00,027,0.02000,0.02000,0.02000,0.02000,20140401,20161231 53,00,027,0.02300,0.02300,0.02300,0.02300,20170101,20200331 53,00,027,0.02400,0.02400,0.02400,0.02400,20200401,99991231 Here are the place 00100 tax rates: 53,01,00100,0.02130,0.02130,0.02130,0.02130,20140401,20161231 53,01,00100,0.02430,0.02430,0.02430,0.02430,20170101,20190630 53,01,00100,0.02480,0.02480,0.02480,0.02480,20190701,20200331 53,01,00100,0.02580,0.02580,0.02580,0.02580,20200401,20290630 Matching the rates and the boundaries files by validity ranges, I get for 101-199 E. Wishkah ST odd addresses for 2019q4 through 2021q2 8.98, 8.8, 8.9, 9.08, 8.9, 9.08, and 8.9, which are exactly the same as what I got earlier from the zip+4 long files. I have no idea why these are not the same as the results using the Washington interactive lookup gives for those address, nor why Avalara apparently gives different results, now why the results using the zip+4 short files differ from the long files. You might suggest that it was because I was going by zip+4 rather than address, and tax boundaries do not necessarily follow zip boundaries (even when you use zip+4). But with the files Washington gives SST, I'm going strictly by street address so that cannot be it. Washington also has street address based files in its own format available to download. I've not looked at those. I probably should, to see if perhaps that is where their own interactive page and Avalara are getting data. I have previously found inconsistencies in Washington's various tax files and interfaces (and reported them). Perhaps this is another case of that. Perhaps I'll report this one, after doing a little more checking around. [1] https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/ratesandboundry/Boundary/ https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/ratesandboundry/Boundary... [2] https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/ratesandboundry/Rates/ https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/ratesandboundry/Rates/ Edit: I grabbed the street-based rates from Washington's site. Same result as I got from the zip+4 long and from the boundaries and rates files that Washington provides to SST.