Eligible for the program? We can help!
The Washington Department of Revenue (DOR) has announced that international remote sellers and marketplace facilitators will be able to participate in a temporary Voluntary Disclosure program. This program will run from February 1 to May 31, 2026, and offers a limited four-year plus the current year lookback period for business and occupation (B&O) taxes and twelve months for uncollected retail sales tax. In addition to the limited lookback, the program offers to waive up to 39% in potential penalties, and unremitted liabilities can be summarized by the DOR in a single assessment.
To be eligible, a business must meet certain criteria. The business must be headquartered outside of the United States, must not have an active registration with or have reported taxes to the Washington DOR in the statutory period (four years plus the current year), must not have been contacted by the DOR for enforcement purposes within the statutory period, and must not have engaged in tax evasion or misrepresentation. Businesses who have collected but not remitted sales tax will be subject to an unlimited lookback period and a 29% late payment of a return penalty only for collected and unremitted amounts.
Applications will be processed by the DOR as they are received, and applicants are encouraged to include all documents to have their applications considered “complete” at the time of submission. Applications that are considered complete may be prioritized by the department over incomplete submissions. The application is available through Washington’s website and must include the following:
Registration with the department is required by applicants and should be completed online after the voluntary disclosure application has been submitted. Businesses who wish to take advantage of the program may choose to apply anonymously but must then disclose the business identity within fifteen days of the application. The DOR will offer protection from discovery by the department only for those fifteen days.
The goal of this program is to encourage compliance with the sales tax requirements in the state of Washington. Since the program is available for both remote sellers and remote marketplace facilitators, foreign taxpayers should assess their sales to determine if they have sufficient nexus in Washington and should strongly consider taking advantage of this limited time program. (International Remote Seller Voluntary Disclosure Program, https://dor.wa.gov/open-business/apply-business-license/voluntary-disclosure-program/international-remote-seller-voluntary-disclosure-program, Washington Department of Revenue, November 21, 2025)