Businesses that make taxable sales in the District of Columbia register with the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue and receive a Certificate of Registration for each D.C. location. Remote sellers must register once they have more than $100,000 in D.C. sales or 200 or more D.C. retail sales in the current or previous calendar year.
You need to register for Washington, D.C. sales and use tax before you make retail sales that are taxable in the District. D.C. law bars anyone from making taxable retail sales without a Certificate of Registration, which the Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) issues after you file Form FR-500.
D.C. taxes software, whether canned, prepackaged, or customized, as a data processing service. SaaS isn't listed by name, so check how that rule applies to SaaS in D.C. before deciding you don't need to register.
If you have no physical presence in Washington, D.C., you must register once you meet either of D.C.'s economic nexus thresholds in the current or previous calendar year:
This applies to foreign remote sellers too.
All of these sales count:
A remote seller must start collecting Washington, D.C. sales tax as soon as its sales cross either threshold. Sales made before you crossed aren't taxed, and the obligation continues through the next calendar year even if your sales drop below the thresholds.
For example, if you cross $100,000 in Washington, D.C. sales in August, you collect on your D.C. sales from that point on and for all of the following year. You can also register voluntarily before you reach either threshold.
If you crossed a threshold in the past and never registered, a voluntary disclosure agreement may reduce the penalties on back taxes.
Any physical nexus in Washington, D.C. means you need to register, and there’s no minimum sales threshold. Any of these activities counts as engaging in business in the District and creates physical nexus:
Register before your first taxable sale. Under Washington, D.C. Code § 47-2026, selling without a certificate can bring a fine of up to $50 for each day you make sales.
Under Washington, D.C.'s marketplace facilitator law, marketplaces must collect and remit D.C. sales tax on the sales they facilitate for third-party sellers.
Whether you still need to register depends on how and where you sell:
Using a warehouse or storage place in D.C., "directly or indirectly," counts as engaging in business. OTR hasn't published an exception for inventory a marketplace stores for you in D.C., so treat it as a possible reason to register.
Register with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP) first, if required. Corporations, LLCs, and partnerships operating in D.C. register through BOSS/CorpOnline. Next, complete the FR-500 with OTR, then go back to DLCP for your business license.
You must register online at MyTax.DC.gov. OTR doesn't list a paper option.
Anyone listed as an officer needs an SSN or ITIN. If someone doesn't have an SSN, they need to get an ITIN from the IRS first.
The FR-500 is a combined application that registers you for every Washington, D.C. tax that applies to your business, not only sales tax. Expect to answer:
OTR's step-by-step FR-500 guide shows each screen of the online application. The steps below follow it.
Go to the MyTax.DC.gov homepage. In the Business section, select Register a New Business - Form FR-500.
You don't need to log in to a MyTax.DC.gov account to register a new business.
The first screen, Combined Registration Application for District of Columbia Business Taxes/Fees/Assessments, lists what you need and the documents to attach. Select Next when you're ready.
The application screens have a Save Draft button if you need to stop partway through.
On the Business Information screen, choose your Organization Type and ID Type (FEIN, ITIN, or SSN), then enter your ID number twice and your Business/Legal Name. If you operate under another name, check Register Accounts Using Doing Business As (DBA) / Trade Name.
Under Physical Address, enter where your business is physically located.
Tip: The business name field only accepts letters, numbers, hyphens, ampersands, apostrophes, commas, and periods. If your legal name has other characters, decide how to enter it before you start.
On the General Information screen, enter the date your business started or will start in Washington, D.C. and whether you've registered with D.C. before.
Select Add/Lookup NAICS to choose your NAICS code. Then select New/Edit Officer to add each officer's details.
The Account Registration screen asks a Yes or No question for each Washington, D.C. tax. Answer Yes to the question about collecting sales and use tax, plus any other taxes that apply to you.
Each account's start date defaults to your business start date, so change it if your sales tax obligation starts on a different date. The Account Registration Summary screen then lists every account you'll be registered for.
In the Sales and Use Tax section, select Add/Edit Locations and add every Washington, D.C. location that will collect sales tax. You can't move past this screen without adding at least one location.
Depending on your answers in step 5, you'll also see sections for other taxes, such as franchise tax, withholding, or personal property tax.
On the Verify and Submit screen, review your application. Use Add Attachment to upload your Articles of Incorporation, Articles of Organization, or Certificate of Trade Name Registration, then select Submit.
Warning: Once you submit the FR-500, you can't revise it online. Check every answer on the Verify and Submit screen first.
Enter and confirm your email address in the confirmation pop-up, then select OK. On the confirmation page, select Printable View to save a copy for your records. There's no fee.
OTR issues a Certificate of Registration for each D.C. location you listed. Each location must display its own certificate.
To file returns, you'll need a MyTax.DC.gov account. You may need the Notice Number from a letter OTR sent you to verify your identity.
Registering for Washington, D.C. sales tax is free, and D.C. Code § 47-2026 requires OTR to issue each location's certificate without charge.
There's no renewal fee for the sales tax registration. The Basic Business License, covered below, is a separate license with its own fee.
OTR doesn't publish a processing time, but a new FR-500 can take up to 10 business days to process.
Plan for that if you need your registration in place before applying for a business license.
The sales tax registration isn't a business license. Anyone engaging in business activity within the District must be licensed for that activity. For most businesses, that's a Basic Business License (BBL).
You register with OTR before you apply for the license. When you apply through BOSS.DC.GOV, DLCP checks that your tax number is registered with OTR and runs a Clean Hands check.
Under the District's Clean Hands mandate, you can be denied a license if you owe more than $1,000 to OTR or the Department of Employment Services, or if you haven't filed all required D.C. tax returns. The look-back period is five years.
General business license fees depend on the term:
Renewals cost the same as the original license, and late renewals carry penalties. DLCP's steps also call for a Home Occupation Permit if you run the business from home, or a Certificate of Occupancy for a commercial location.
Charge Washington, D.C. sales tax from the start date on your sales tax account. The general rate is 6%, and some items have higher rates, such as 10% on food and drinks prepared for immediate consumption and 18% on parking.
A planned increase in the general rate to 7% has been postponed, and the rate stays at 6% through Sept. 30, 2027.
OTR assigns your filing frequency. It's based on your sales and use tax liability per period:
New registrants other than marketplace facilitators start on quarterly filing, so check the frequency OTR assigns to your account.
You file Washington, D.C. sales tax returns on MyTax.DC.gov by the 20th day of the month after each period. Annual returns are due Oct. 20.
You must file a return even if you made no sales. If a payment for a period is more than $5,000, you must pay electronically.
Washington, D.C. law doesn't set an expiration date or renewal requirement for the sales tax Certificate of Registration. The certificate can't be transferred, so a new owner needs to register.
OTR can revoke the certificate of businesses that don’t pay the sales tax they collected.
Your Basic Business License does expire and must be renewed. Sales tax registration rules differ by state, and several require sales tax permits to be renewed.
No. The FR-500 is OTR's combined registration application, which registers your business for sales and use tax and any other D.C. taxes that apply.
The document that lets you make taxable sales is the Certificate of Registration that OTR issues after it processes your FR-500.
Yes. You can register a sales and use tax account with an SSN or ITIN.
You'll need an FEIN for accounts such as corporate franchise tax and wage withholding.
Yes. Washington, D.C. requires a Certificate of Registration for each retail establishment, and you list them all on one FR-500.
If you sell from vehicles with no fixed place of business, each vehicle counts as a retail establishment.
Yes. Anyone vending at a special event in D.C. must register on MyTax.DC.gov through the new business registration process.
Event promoters register separately on Form FR-500B. Promoters must give OTR a preliminary list of vendors and exhibitors at least 30 days before the event.
It depends. Amazon must collect Washington, D.C. sales tax on all the sales it facilitates for you, including Amazon FBA orders, but those sales still count toward the remote seller thresholds.
If you also sell through your own website and your combined D.C. sales cross a threshold, you must register and collect on your direct sales. OTR hasn't said whether a remote seller whose D.C. sales all go through Amazon can skip registration, so ask OTR.
Yes. A Washington, D.C. certificate of registration can't be transferred, so you need to file your own FR-500.
Under D.C.'s Bulk Sales Act, you must also notify OTR by certified mail 15 days before taking possession of the business. If you don't, you can be held responsible for the seller's unpaid taxes.
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