Chapter 3.25
BUSINESS AND OCCUPATION UTILITY TAX
Sections:
3.25.010 Exercise of revenue licensing power.
3.25.020 Occupation license required.
3.25.030 Utility taxes levied.
3.25.070 Tax penalty – Refund.
3.25.010 Exercise of revenue licensing power.
The provisions of this chapter shall be deemed to be an exercise of the power of the city of Entiat to have license revenue. (Ord. 635, 2005; Ord. 585 § 1, 2001)
3.25.020 Occupation license required.
No person, firm or corporation shall engage or carry on any business, occupation, act or privilege for which a tax is imposed by EMC 3.25.030 without first having obtained and being the holder of a license so to do, to be known as an occupation license. Each such person, firm or corporation shall promptly apply to the city for such license upon giving such information as the clerk-treasurer shall deem reasonably necessary to enable the city clerk-treasurer’s office to administer and enforce this chapter; and upon acceptance of such application by the clerk-treasurer, said clerk-treasurer shall thereupon issue such license to the applicant. Such occupation license shall be personal and nontransferable and shall be valid as long as the licensee shall continue in said business and shall comply with this chapter. (Ord. 635, 2005; Ord. 585 § 2, 2001)
3.25.030 Utility taxes levied.
There is hereby levied upon and there shall be collected from every person, firm or corporation engaged in carrying on the following for hire or for sale of a commodity or a service within or partly within the incorporated limits of the city, a tax for the privilege of doing business as defined in this section:
(1) Upon any telephone business, there shall be levied a tax equal to six percent of the total gross operating revenues, including revenues from intrastate toll, derived from the operation of such business within the city. Gross operating revenues for this purpose shall not include charges which are passed on to the subscribers by a telephone company pursuant to tariffs required by regulatory order to compensate for the cost to the company of the tax imposed by this chapter. “Telephone business” means the business of providing access to a local telephone network, local telephone network switching service, toll service, or coin telephone network services, or providing telephonic, video, data, or similar communication or transmission for hire, via a local telephone network, toll line or channel, or similar communication or transmission system. It includes cooperative or farmer line telephone companies or associations operating an exchange. “Telephone business” does not include the providing of competitive telephone service, nor the providing of cable television service. “Competitive telephone service” means the providing by any person of telephone equipment, apparatus, or service, other than toll service, which is a type which can be provided by persons that are not subject to regulation as telephone companies under RCW Title 80 and for which a separate charge is made.
(2) There is hereby levied a tax on the sale, service, delivery or distribution of electricity and electrical energy and for the privilege of carrying on said business equal to six percent of the total gross operating revenues derived from sales and service of such electricity to ultimate users within the city.
(3) There is hereby levied a tax on the sale of service of each water distributor provided by the city equal to six percent of the total gross operating revenue derived from sales and service of such water utilities to ultimate users served by the city.
(4) There is hereby levied a tax on the sale of service of each sewer service provided by the city equal to six percent of the total gross operating revenue derived from sales and service of such sewer service to ultimate users served by the city.
(5) There is hereby levied a tax on the sale and service of cellular telephone service within the city equal to six percent of the total gross operating revenue derived from sales and service of such cellular phone service to ultimate users within the city. “Cellular telephone service” means two-way voice and data telephone/telecommunications system based in whole or substantially in part on wireless radio communications and which is not currently subject to regulation by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC). Cellular telephone service includes cellular mobile service. The definition of cellular mobile service includes other wireless radio communications service such as specialized mobile radio (SMR), personal communications service (PCS) and any other evolving wireless radio communications technology which accomplishes the same purpose as cellular mobile service.
Payments by a customer for cellular telephone service from telephones without a fixed location shall be allocated among taxing jurisdictions to the location of the customer’s principal service address during the period for which the tax applies. There is a presumption that the service address a customer supplies to the taxpayer is current and accurate, unless the taxpayer has actual knowledge to the contrary.
When the cellular telephone service is provided while a subscriber is roaming outside the subscriber’s normal cellular network area, the gross income shall be assigned consistent with the taxpayer’s accounting system to the location of the originating cell site of the call, or to the location of the main cellular switching office that switched the call. (Ord. 880 § 1, 2023; Ord. 808 § 1, 2019; Ord. 635, 2005; Ord. 585 § 3, 2001)
3.25.040 Tax due date.
The tax imposed by this chapter shall be due and payable in monthly installments and remittance shall be made on or before the fifteenth of each month next succeeding the end of the month in which the tax accrued. On or before said due date, the taxpayer shall file with the city clerk-treasurer a written return, upon such form and setting forth such information as the clerk-treasurer shall reasonably require, together with the payment of the amount of tax. (Ord. 635, 2005; Ord. 585 § 4, 2001)
3.25.050 Tax computation.
In computing said tax, there shall be deducted from said gross operating revenues the following items:
(1) The amount of credit losses and uncollectibles actually sustained by the taxpayer;
(2) Amounts derived from transactions in interstate or foreign commerce or from any business which the city is prohibited from taxing under the Constitution of the United States or the state of Washington;
(3) Amounts derived by the taxpayer from the city of Entiat. (Ord. 635, 2005; Ord. 585 § 5, 2001)
3.25.060 Tax audit.
Each taxpayer shall keep records reflecting the amount of his said gross operating revenues, and such records shall be open at all reasonable times to the inspection of the city clerk-treasurer or her duly authorized subordinates, for verifications of said tax returns or for the fixing of the tax of the taxpayer who shall fail to make such return. (Ord. 635, 2005; Ord. 585 § 6, 2001)
3.25.070 Tax penalty – Refund.
If any person, firm or corporation subject to this chapter shall fail to pay tax required in EMC 3.25.030 within 30 days after the due date required in EMC 3.25.040, there shall be added to such tax a penalty of 10 percent of the amount of such tax. Any tax due under this chapter and unpaid, and all penalties thereon, shall constitute a debt to the city and may be collected by court proceedings, which remedy shall be in addition to all other remedies.
Any money paid to the city through error or otherwise not in payment of the tax imposed hereby or in excess of such tax shall, upon request of the taxpayer, be credited against any tax due or to become due from such taxpayer hereunder or, upon the taxpayer’s ceasing to do business in the city, be refunded to the taxpayer. (Ord. 635, 2005; Ord. 585 §§ 7, 8, 2001)
3.25.080 Revenue allocation.
All revenues received by the city from the tax imposed under this chapter shall be placed in the current expense fund for the purpose of maintaining city services. (Ord. 635, 2005; Ord. 585 § 9, 2001)