Exemption
Digital automated service - storage, hosting and backup
Retail Sales & Use Tax exemption · RCW 82.04.192(3)(b)(xiv) · enacted 2009
No 2025–26 change identified — this preference was reviewed against the 2025–26 session laws and is unchanged from the 2024 study baseline.
Details
- Citation
- RCW 82.04.192(3)(b)(xiv)
- Study reference
- E1562-1
- Tax type
- Retail Sales & Use Tax
- Preference type
- Exemption
- Category
- Business
- Year enacted
- 2009
- End date
- None scheduled
Fiscal impact (2024 study estimates)
- Revenue if repealed — local ($M)
- FY 2024: 0 · FY 2025: 38.56 · FY 2026: 43.94 · FY 2027: 46.03
- Revenue if repealed — state ($M)
- FY 2024: 0 · FY 2025: 36.57 · FY 2026: 43.27 · FY 2027: 47.04
- Taxpayer savings — local ($M)
- FY 2024: 40.51 · FY 2025: 42.07 · FY 2026: 43.94 · FY 2027: 46.03
- Taxpayer savings — state ($M)
- FY 2024: 90.08 · FY 2025: 93.54 · FY 2026: 97.7 · FY 2027: 102.35
CTI = confidential taxpayer information · D = unable to disclose
From the 2024 DOR Tax Exemption Study
Det. No. 11-0081, 32 WTD 46 (February 27, 2013) 47 ISSUES 1. Are domain name registration services that Taxpayer purchased from a registrar “digital automated services” under RCW 82.04.192(3)(a)? 2. If so, is Taxpayer’s purchase of digital automated services from a registrar a “retail sale” under RCW 82.04.050(8)(a)? 3. Is Taxpayer’s resale of digital automated services to its customers a “retail sale” under RCW 82.04.050(8)(a)? FINDINGS OF FACT A resolution of the issues in this determination requires an understanding of the domain name registration process. The Domain Name System helps users find their way around the internet. Every computer on the internet has a unique address, called an Internet Protocol address (or IP address). Each IP address is a unique string of numbers and/or symbols. To ease comprehension of the IP addresses, each sequence is given a secondary, simpler expression called a domain name.2 For example, instead of typing in the IP address “192.0.34.163,” which is difficult to remember, users type in “www.icann.org” to access ICANN’s webpage. No two domain names can be the same. To insure that all websites have unique domain names, a global nonprofit organizati
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This is reference data from the 2024 study — not advice, and 2025–26 legislation may have changed it. Three ways to go deeper: