WAC 458-20-19301   Multiple activities tax credits.  (1) Introduction. Under the provisions of RCW 82.04.440 as amended effective August 12, 1987, Washington state's business and occupation taxes imposed under chapter 82.04 RCW were adjusted to achieve constitutional equality in the tax treatment of persons engaged in intrastate commerce (within this state only) and interstate commerce (between Washington and other states). The business and occupation tax system taxes the privilege of engaging in specified business activities based upon "gross proceeds of sales" (RCW 82.04.070) and the "value of products" (RCW 82.04.450) produced in this state. In order to maintain the integrity of this taxing system, to eliminate the possibility of discrimination between taxpayers, and to provide equal and uniform treatment of persons engaged in extracting, manufacturing, and/or selling activities regardless of where performed, a statutory system of internal and external tax credits was adopted, effective August 12, 1987. This tax credits system replaces the multiple activities exemption which, formerly, assured that the gross receipts tax would be paid only once by persons engaged in more than one taxable activity in this state in connection with the same end products. Unlike the multiple activities exemption which only prevented multiple taxation from within this state, the credits of the new system apply for gross receipts taxes paid to other taxing jurisdictions outside this state as well.

     (2) Definitions. For purposes of this section the following terms will apply.

     (a) "Credits" means the multiple activities tax credit(s) authorized under this statutory system also referred to as MATC.

     (b) "Gross receipts tax" means a tax:

     (i) Which is imposed on or measured by the gross volume of business, in terms of gross receipts or in other terms, and in the determination of which the deductions allowed would not constitute the tax an income tax or value added tax; and

     (ii) Which is not, pursuant to law or custom, separately stated from the selling price.

     (c) "Extracting tax" means a gross receipts tax imposed on the act or privilege of engaging in business as an extractor, and includes the tax imposed by RCW 82.04.230 (tax on extractors) and similar gross receipts taxes paid to other states.

     (d) "Manufacturing tax" means a gross receipts tax imposed on the act or privilege of engaging in business as a manufacturer, and includes:

     (i) The taxes imposed in RCW 82.04.240 (tax on manufacturers) and subsections (2) through (5) and (7) of RCW 82.04.260 (tax on special manufacturing activities) and

     (ii) Similar gross receipts taxes paid to other states.

     The term "manufacturing tax," by nature, includes a gross receipts tax upon the combination of printing and publishing activities when performed by the same person.

     (e) "Selling tax" means a gross receipts tax imposed on the act or privilege of engaging in business as a wholesaler or retailer of tangible personal property in this state or any other state. The term "selling" has its common and ordinary meaning and includes the acts of making either wholesale sales or retail sales or both.

     (f) "State" means:

     (i) The state of Washington,

     (ii) A state of the United States other than Washington or any political subdivision of such other state,

     (iii) The District of Columbia,

     (iv) Territories and possessions of the United States, and

     (v) Any foreign country or political subdivision thereof.

     (g) "Taxes paid" means taxes legally imposed and actually paid in terms of money, credits, or other emoluments to a taxing authority of any "state." The term does not include taxes for which liability for payment has accrued but for which payment has not actually been made. This term also includes business and occupation taxes being paid to Washington state together with the same combined excise tax return upon which MATC are taken.

     (h) "Business," "manufacturer," "extractor," and other terms expressly defined in RCW 82.04.020 through 82.04.212 have the meanings given in those statutory sections regardless of how the terms may be used for other states' taxing purposes.

     (3) Scope of credits. This integrated tax credits system is intended to assure that gross receipts from sales or the value of products determined by such gross receipts are taxed only one time, whether the activities occur entirely within this state or both within and outside this state. External tax credits arise when activities are taxed in this state and similar activities with respect to the same products produced and sold are also subject to similar taxes outside this state. There are five ways in which external tax credits may arise because of taxes paid in other states.

     (a) Products or ingredients are extracted (taken from the ground) in this state and are manufactured or sold and delivered in another state which imposes a gross receipts tax on the latter activity(s). The credit created by payment of the other state's tax may be used to offset the Washington extracting tax liability.

     (b) Products are manufactured, in whole or in part, in this state and sold and delivered in another state which imposes a gross receipts tax on the selling activity. Again, payment of the other state's tax may be taken as a credit against the Washington manufacturing tax liability.

     (c) Conversely, products or ingredients are extracted outside this state upon which a gross receipts tax is paid in the state of extracting, and which are sold and delivered to buyers here. The other state tax payment may be taken as a credit against Washington's selling taxes.

     (d) Similarly, products are manufactured, in whole or in part, outside this state and sold and delivered to buyers here. Any other state's gross receipts tax on manufacturing may be taken as a credit against Washington's selling tax.

     (e) Products are partly manufactured in this state and partly in another state and are sold and delivered here or in another state. The combination of all other states' gross receipts taxes paid may be taken as credits against Washington's manufacturing and/or selling taxes.

     Thus, the external tax credits may arise in the flow of commerce, either upstream or downstream from the taxable activity in this state, or both. Products extracted in another state, manufactured in Washington state, and sold and delivered in a third state may derive credits for taxes paid on both of the out-of-state activities.

     Internal tax credits arise from multiple business activities performed entirely within this state, all of which are now subject to tax, but with the integrated credits offsetting the liabilities so that tax is only paid once on gross receipts. Under this system Washington extractors and manufacturers who sell their products in this state at wholesale and/or retail must report the value of products or gross receipts under each applicable tax classification. Credits may then be taken in the amount of the extracting and/or manufacturing tax paid to offset the selling taxes due. There are three ways in which credits may arise because of taxes paid exclusively in this state.

     (f) Products are extracted in Washington and directly sold in Washington. Extracting business and occupation tax and selling business and occupation tax must both be reported but the payment of the former is a credit against the latter.

     (g) Similarly, ingredients are extracted in Washington and manufactured into new products in this state. The extracting business and occupation tax reported and paid may be taken as a credit against manufacturing tax reported.

     (h) Products manufactured in Washington are sold in Washington. Again, the payment of the manufacturing tax reported may be credited against the selling tax (wholesaling and/or retailing business and occupation tax) reported.

     All of the external and internal tax credits derived from any flow of commerce may be used, repeatedly if necessary, to offset other tax liabilities related to the production and sale of the same products.

     (4) Eligibility for taking credits. Statutory law places the following eligibility requirements and limitations upon the MATC system.

     (a) The amount of the credit(s), however derived, may not exceed the Washington tax liability against which the credit(s) may be used. Any excess of credit(s) over liability may not be carried over or used for any purpose.

     (b) The person claiming the credit(s) must be the same person who is legally obligated to pay both the taxes which give rise to the credit(s) and the taxes against which the credit is claimed. The MATC is not assignable.

     (c) The taxes which give rise to the credit(s) must be actually paid before credit may be claimed against any other tax liability. Tax liability merely accrued is not creditable.

     (d) The business activity subject to tax, and against which credit(s) is claimed, must involve the same ingredients or product upon which the tax giving rise to the credit(s) was paid. The credits must be product-specific.

     (e) The effective date for developing and claiming credit(s) for products manufactured in Washington state and sold and delivered in other states which impose gross receipts selling taxes is June 1, 1987.

     (f) The effective date for developing and claiming all credits other than those explained in subsection (e) above, is August 12, 1987.

     (g) Persons who are engaged only in making wholesale or retail sales of tangible personal property which they have not extracted or manufactured are not entitled to claim MATC. Also, persons engaged in rendering services in this state are not so entitled, even if such services have been defined as "retail sales" under RCW 82.04.050. (See WAC 458-20-194 for rules governing apportionment of gross receipts from interstate services.)

     (5) Other states' qualifying taxes. The law defines "gross receipts tax" paid to other states to exclude income taxes, value added taxes, retail sales taxes, use taxes, or other taxes which are generally stated separately from the selling price of products sold. Only those taxes imposed by other states which include gross receipts of a business activity within their measure or base are qualified for these credit(s). The burden rests with the person claiming any MATC for other states' taxes paid to show that the other states' tax was a tax on gross receipts as defined herein. Gross receipts taxes generally include:

     (a) Business and occupation privileges taxes upon extracting, manufacturing, and selling activities which are similar to those imposed in Washington state in that the tax measure or base is not reduced by any allocation, apportionment, or other formulary method resulting in a downward adjustment of the tax base. If costs of doing business may be generally or routinely deducted from the tax base, the tax is not one which is similar to Washington state's gross receipts tax.

     (b) Severance taxes measured by the selling price of the ingredients or products severed (oil, logs, minerals, natural products, etc.) rather than measured by costs of production, stumpage values, the volume or number of units produced, or some other formulary tax base.

     (c) Business franchise or licensing taxes measured by the gross volume of business in terms of gross receipts or other financial terms rather than units of production or the volume of units sold.

     Other states' tax payments claimed for MATC must be identifiable with the same ingredients or products which incurred tax liability in Washington state, i.e., they must be product specific.

     (d) The department will periodically publish an excise tax bulletin listing current taxes in other jurisdictions which are either qualified or disqualified for credit under the MATC system.

     (6) Deductions in combination with MATC. Effective August 12, 1987, with the enactment of the MATC system, the liability for actual payment of tax by persons who extract, manufacture, and sell products in this state was shifted from the selling activity (wholesaling or retailing) to the production activity (extracting and/or manufacturing). As explained, the payment of the production taxes may now be credited against the liability for selling taxes on the same products. However, the deductions from tax provided by chapter 82.04 RCW (business and occupation tax deductions) may still be taken before tax credits are computed and used, with noted exceptions. In order for the MATC system to result in the correct computation of tax liabilities and credit applications, the tax deductions which may apply for any reporting period must be taken equally against both levels of tax liability reported, i.e., at both the production and selling levels. Failure to report tax deductions in this manner will result in overreporting tax due and may result in overpayment of tax. Thus, with the exceptions noted below, tax deductions formerly reported only against selling activities should now be reported against production activities as well. All such deductions, the result of which is to reduce the measure of tax reported, should be taken against both the production taxes (extracting or manufacturing) and the selling taxes (wholesaling and/or retailing) equally.

     (a) Example:

     (i) A company manufactures products in Washington which it also sells at wholesale for $5,000 and delivers to a buyer in this state. The buyer defaults on part of the payment and the seller incurs a $2,000 credit loss which it writes off as a bad debt during the tax reporting period. The bad debt deduction provided by RCW 82.04.4284 must be shown on both the manufacturing-other line and the wholesaling-other line of the combined excise tax return. Taking the deduction on only one of those activities results in overreported tax liability on the $2,000 loss.

     (b) Exceptions. The deductions generally provided by RCW 82.04.4286, for interstate or foreign sales (where goods are sold and delivered outside this state) may not be taken against tax reported at the production level (extracting or manufacturing). This is because the MATC system itself provides for tax credits instead of tax deductions on gross receipts from transactions involving goods produced in this state and sold in interstate or foreign commerce. Thus, deductions which eliminate transactions from tax reporting may be taken only against selling taxes.

     (c) Applicable deductions should be shown on the front of the combined excise tax return (Column #3) on each applicable tax classification line and detailed on the back side of the return, as usual, before MATC is taken.

     (d) It is not the intent of the MATC law to invalidate or nullify the business and occupation tax exemption for taxable amounts below minimum (see WAC 458-20-104). Thus any person whose gross receipts or value of products reported under any single tax classification with respect to the production and sale of any product is less than the minimum taxable amount will not incur tax liability merely because of the requirement to report those gross receipts or value of products on the same product under other tax classifications as well.

     (i) Example: A person both manufactures and sells at wholesale $2,000 worth of widgets in the first quarter of a tax year. The requirement to report the $2,000 tax measure under both the manufacturing-other classification and the wholesaling-other classification gives the false appearance of $4,000 in gross receipts during this quarter. However, only the amount reported under the manufacturing-other classification need be considered to determine eligibility for the amount-below-minimum exemption.

     (7) How and when to take MATC. The credits available under the MATC system are all to be taken on the combined excise tax return beginning in August, 1987 and thereafter. The return form has been modified to accommodate these credits. Each tax return upon which MATC has been taken must be accompanied by a completed Schedule C. This schedule details the business activities and credits computations. The line by line instructions insure that no more or no less credits are claimed than are authorized under the law.

     (8) Consolidation of tax liabilities and credits. Under the MATC system a person's Washington tax liability for all activities involved in that person's production and sale of the same ingredients or products (extracting, and/or manufacturing, and/or selling) is to be reported only at the time of the sale of such products or at the time of that person's own use of such products for commercial or industrial consumption. All of the taxable activities are to be reported on that same periodic excise tax return. Also, all external and internal tax credits derived from the payment of any gross receipts taxes on any of these activities are to be taken at that time. Thus, the taxable activities and the tax credits are procedurally consolidated for reporting. This consolidation generally overcomes any need to track ingredients or products from their extraction to their sale. It also overcomes any need to report and pay Washington tax liability during one reporting period and to take credits against that tax liability in a different reporting period. Thus, except as noted below, there can be no credit carryovers or carrybacks under this system.

     (a) Exception. Where different tax reporting periods are assigned by Washington state and another state to a company doing business both within and outside Washington state, the other state's gross receipts tax on the same products may not yet have been paid when the Washington tax is due for reporting and payment. In such cases the Washington tax due must be timely reported and paid during the period in which the sale is made. The external credit arising later, when the other state's tax is paid, may be taken as a credit against any Washington business and occupation tax reported during that later period. Thus, the limitation that the MATC must be product-specific by being limited to the amount of Washington tax paid on the same products does not mean that the credit(s) can only be used against precisely those same Washington taxes paid.

     (i) In the situation described in subsection (a) above, if there is not sufficient Washington business and occupation tax due for payment in the later period, when the external tax credit arises, to allow for utilization of the entire credit, the amount of any overage may be carried forward and taken against Washington taxes reported in subsequent reporting periods until fully used.

     When filing such exception returns, the full amount of any credits should be claimed, even though that credit amount will exceed the amount of tax liability reported for that period. The department of revenue itself will make the necessary adjustments and will perform the carrying over of any excess credits into future reporting periods.

     (ii) In the same situation, if the person entitled to claim such credit overage is no longer engaged in taxable business in this state or for any other reason does not incur sufficient Washington business and occupation tax liability to fully utilize the perfected credit overage, a tax refund will be issued.

     (iii) No tax refunds, MATC carryovers, or MATC carrybacks will be allowed under any circumstances other than those explained above.

     (b) Special circumstances may arise where it is not possible to specifically identify ingredients or products as they move from production to sale (e.g., fungible commodities from various sources stored in a common warehouse). In such cases the taxpayer should seek advance approval from the department, in writing, for tax reporting and credit taking on a test period, formulary, or volume percentage basis, subject to audit verification.

     (9) Recordkeeping requirements. Persons claiming the MATC must keep and preserve such records and documents as may be necessary to prove their entitlement to any credits taken under this system (RCW 82.32.070). It is not required to submit copies of such proofs when credits are claimed or together with the Schedule C detail. Rather, such records must be kept for a period no less than five years from the date of the tax return upon which the related tax credits are claimed. Such records are fully subject to audit for confirmation of the validity and amounts of credits taken. Records which must be preserved by persons claiming external tax credits include:

     (a) Copies of sales contracts, or other written or memorialized evidence of any sales agreements, including purchase and billing invoices showing the origin state and destination state of products sold.

     (b) Copies of shipping or other delivery documents identifying the products sold and delivered, reconcilable with the selling documents of subsection (a) above, if appropriate.

     (c) Copies of production reports, transfer orders, and similar such documents which will reflect the intercompany or interdepartmental movement of extracted ingredients or manufactured products where no sale has occurred.

     (d) Copies of tax returns or reports filed with other states' taxing authorities showing the kinds and amounts of taxes paid to such other states for which MATC is claimed.

     (e) Copies of cancelled checks or other proofs of actual tax payment to the other state(s) giving rise to the MATC claimed.

     (f) Copies of any other state(s) taxing statutes, laws, ordinances, and other appropriate legal authorities necessary to establish the nature of the other states' tax as a gross receipts tax, as defined in this section.

     (g) Failure to keep and preserve proofs of entitlement to the MATC will result in the denial of credits claimed and the assessment of all taxes offset or reduced by such credits as well as the additional assessment of interest and penalties as required by law. (See RCW 82.32.050.)

     (10) MATC in combination with other credits. The tax credits authorized under this system may be taken in combination with other tax credits available under Washington law. Such other credit programs, however, authorize credit carryovers from reporting period to period until the credits are fully utilized. Thus, the MATC must be computed and used to offset business and occupation tax liabilities during any tax reporting period before any other program credits to which a claimant may be entitled are claimed or applied. Failure to compute and take the MATC before applying other available credits may result in the loss of the other credit benefits.

     (11) Superseding provisions. The MATC provisions of this section supersede and control the provisions of other sections of chapter 458-20 WAC (other tax rules) relating to intrastate, interstate, and foreign transactions to the extent that such provisions are or appear to be contrary or conflicting.

     (12) Unique or special credit situations -- Appeals. The provisions of this section generally explain the nature of the MATC system and the tax credit qualifications, limitations, and claiming procedures. The complexity of the integrated tax reporting and credit taking procedures may develop situations or questions which are not addressed herein. Such matters and requests for specialized rulings should be submitted to the department of revenue for prior determination before credits are claimed. Generally, prior determinations will be provided within sixty days after the department receives the information necessary to make such a ruling. Adverse rulings, tax credit denials, or tax assessments resulting from audits or other examinations of returns upon which the MATC is claimed may be administratively appealed under the provisions of chapter 82.32 RCW and WAC 458-20-100.



[Statutory Authority: RCW 82.32.300. 87-23-008 (Order 87-8), § 458-20-19301, filed 11/6/87.]