Washington State Tax Update: May 21, 2025
Washington lawmakers have passed a series of tax increases to address projected budget shortfalls.
Bills passed and taxes include:
- House Bill 2081 increases B&O (business and operation) taxes on businesses. Businesses pay B&O tax on gross revenue, not profits, and depending on the type of business and revenue, the increases will range from 0.03% to 0.8% including the 0.5% surcharge for companies with revenue over $250M.
- Senate Bill 5161 increases the gas tax by 6 cents per gallon and 12 cents per gallon on diesel.
- Senate Bill 5794 increases the B&O tax on storage units up to 1.75%.
- Senate Bill 5814 adds sales tax to certain services including tech, IT, and advertising.
- Senate Bill 5813 increases the state’s capital gain tax from 7% to 9.9% on sales over $1M. It also increases estate tax rates up to 35%
If you are a business owner, these taxes may impact your net revenue and everyone will experience the increases through higher costs of goods and services, but I want to focus specifically on Senate Bill 5813.
Although the Washington State Constitution does not allow an income tax, the capital gains tax was determined to be an excise tax and implemented in 2022. The tax began on gains over $250k and indexes for inflation, so it currently applies to gains over $270k.
During the first year of the tax, the state collected $896M, which dropped to $433M the second year. There are many exemptions from the tax, such as real estate gains, so the primary payers are those selling businesses or stocks. The large drop in revenue received is due to taxpayers planning around the tax. If you plan to sell your business or have significant unrealized capital gains in your investment portfolio, proper planning is critical. Options include spreading out gains to stay below thresholds, relocating your business, and changing residency. There are pros and cons to all options so understanding the costs, complexity, and additional risks is imperative.
Washington is one of 13 states with an estate tax. In 2013, the estate tax exemption (amount you can have without paying estate tax) was $2M and set to index with inflation. Due to a technicality relating to the referenced index for inflation, the exemption amount has been fixed at $2.193M since 2018. Senate Bill 5813 fixes this glitch and moves the exemption amount to $3M and updated the inflation index moving forward.
Along with increasing the exemption, the bill also increases the tax rates. Washington is currently tied with Hawaii for the highest estate tax rate of 20%. As of July 1, 2025, Washington will have the highest estate tax rate by a landslide.
| Washington Taxable Estate Value | Current Rate | New Rate |
| $0 to $1,000,000 | 10% | 10% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 | 14% | 15% |
| $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 | 15% | 17% |
| $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 | 16% | 19% |
| $4,000,000 to $6,000,000 | 18% | 23% |
| $6,000,000 to $7,000,000 | 19% | 26% |
| $7,000,000 to $9,000,000 | 19.5% | 30% |
| $9,000,000 and up | 20% | 35% |
Once again, proper planning is imperative. Washington does not have a gift tax, so proper use of gifting, trusts, charitable giving, relocation and other techniques can reduce or eliminate the tax.
An important note: estates that are subject to the federal estate tax (40% rate) are also subject to the Washington Tax. You receive a deduction at the federal level for the actual amount of tax paid. For example, if an individual had a $50M taxable estate and paid $15.23M to Washington, they would receive their $13.99M exemption at the Federal level, then deduct the tax paid in WA, so they would pay 40% of the remaining $20.78M totaling $8.312M to the Feds. This would result in 47.08% of the estate being paid in taxes. Estates of this size typically aren’t liquid, so planning for how to pay these taxes may be critical to avoid having to sell the business or assets after death.
