Burien, WA Local Taxes & Fees: Business Tax Classification (2026)

BMC 3.11.050(1) levies the tax on the act or privilege of engaging in business activities within Burien, whether the person's office or place of business sits inside or outside the city. Seven classifications each carry their own measure, and every one uses the same rate of one-tenth of two percent (0.002). Extractors and manufacturers pay on the value of products, including byproducts, regardless of the place of sale. Wholesalers and retailers pay on gross proceeds of sales without regard to the place of delivery. Printers, publishers, extractors for hire and processors for hire pay on gross income, while sellers of retail services pay on gross proceeds of sales.

Subsection (g) catches every other business activity at gross income and names custom software development, royalties, commissions and services that are not a retail sale, wholesale sale or retail service. A person whose activities fall under two or more subsections is taxable under each one (BMC 3.11.070(1)). Credits under 3.11.070(4) through (6) apply to a business that sells in the city products it extracts, manufactures, prints or publishes, for eligible gross receipts taxes paid on that earlier activity, and a credit never exceeds the tax liability arising from the sale of those products.

Service income earned in more than one jurisdiction is apportioned by a fraction whose numerator is the payroll factor plus the service income factor and whose denominator is two (3.11.077(6)). Under 3.11.050(2) the tax does not apply when gross receipts from all activities within Burien are $20,000 or less in a calendar year, or $5,000 or less in a quarter for quarterly filers. A second test exempts a business whose receipts from activities inside or outside Burien are $200,000 or less in a year, or $50,000 or less in a quarter. Section 3.11.120 states that the tax is part of the cost of doing business and not a tax on the customer.