Chapter 5.04
ANNUAL BUSINESS REGISTRATION
Sections:
5.04.020 Business license required.
5.04.040 Business license – Denial, suspension, revocation, or refusal to renew – Grounds – Appeals.
5.04.010 Definitions.
(1) “Person” or “company,” herein used interchangeably, means any individual, receiver, assignee, trustee in bankruptcy, trust, estate, firm, copartnership, joint venture, club, company, joint-stock company, business trust, corporation, association, society, or any group of individuals acting as a unit, whether mutual, cooperative, fraternal, nonprofit or otherwise.
(2) “Business” includes all activities engaged in with the object of gain, benefit or advantage to the person or to another person or class, directly or indirectly.
(3) Engaging in Business.
(a) The term “engaging in business” means commencing, conducting, or continuing in business, and also the exercise of corporate or franchise powers, as well as liquidating a business when the liquidators thereof hold themselves out to the public as conducting such business.
(b) This section sets forth examples of activities that constitute engaging in business in the city, and establishes safe harbors for certain of those activities so that a person who meets the criteria may engage in de minimis business activities in the city without having to pay a business license fee. The activities listed in this section are illustrative only and are not intended to narrow the definition of “engaging in business” in subsection (3)(a) of this section. If an activity is not listed, whether it constitutes engaging in business in the city shall be determined by considering all the facts and circumstances and applicable law.
(c) Without being all-inclusive, any one of the following activities conducted within the city by a person, or its employee, agent, representative, independent contractor, broker or another acting on its behalf, constitutes engaging in business and requires a person to register and obtain a business license:
(i) Owning, renting, leasing, maintaining, or having the right to use, or using, tangible personal property, intangible personal property, or real property permanently or temporarily located in the city.
(ii) Owning, renting, leasing, using, or maintaining an office, place of business, or other establishment in the city.
(iii) Soliciting sales.
(iv) Making repairs or providing maintenance or service to real or tangible personal property, including warranty work and property maintenance.
(v) Providing technical assistance or service, including quality control, product inspections, warranty work, or similar services on or in connection with tangible personal property sold by the person or on its behalf.
(vi) Installing, constructing, or supervising installation or construction of real or tangible personal property.
(vii) Soliciting, negotiating, or approving franchise, license, or other similar agreements.
(viii) Collecting current or delinquent accounts.
(ix) Picking up and transporting tangible personal property, solid waste, construction debris, or excavated materials.
(x) Providing disinfecting and pest control services, employment and labor pool services, home nursing care, janitorial services, appraising, landscape architectural services, security system services, surveying, and real estate services including the listing of homes and managing real property.
(xi) Rendering professional services such as those provided by accountants, architects, attorneys, auctioneers, consultants, engineers, professional athletes, barbers, baseball clubs and other sports organizations, chemists, psychologists, court reporters, dentists, doctors, detectives, laboratory operators, teachers, veterinarians.
(xii) Meeting with customers or potential customers, even when no sales or orders are solicited at the meetings.
(xiii) Training or recruiting agents, representatives, independent contractors, brokers or others, domiciled or operating on a job in the city, acting on its behalf, or for customers or potential customers.
(xiv) Investigating, resolving, or otherwise assisting in resolving customer complaints.
(xv) In-store stocking or manipulating products or goods, sold to and owned by a customer, regardless of where sale and delivery of the goods took place.
(xvi) Delivering goods in vehicles owned, rented, leased, used, or maintained by the person or another acting on its behalf.
(d) If a person, or its employee, agent, representative, independent contractor, broker or another acting on the person’s behalf, engages in no other activities in or with the city but the following, it need not register and obtain a business license:
(i) Meeting with suppliers of goods and services as a customer.
(ii) Meeting with government representatives in their official capacity, other than those performing contracting or purchasing functions.
(iii) Attending meetings, such as board meetings, retreats, seminars, and conferences, or other meetings wherein the person does not provide training in connection with tangible personal property sold by the person or on its behalf. This provision does not apply to any board of directors member or attendee engaging in business such as a member of a board of directors who attends a board meeting.
(iv) Renting tangible or intangible property as a customer when the property is not used in the city.
(v) Attending, but not participating in, a “trade show” or “multiple vendor events.” Persons participating at a trade show shall review the city’s trade show or multiple vendor event ordinances.
(vi) Conducting advertising through the mail.
(vii) Soliciting sales by phone from a location outside the city.
(e) A seller located outside the city merely delivering goods into the city by means of common carrier is not required to register and obtain a business license; provided, that it engages in no other business activities in the city. Such activities do not include those in subsection (3)(d) of this section.
The city expressly intends that engaging in business include any activity sufficient to establish nexus for purposes of applying the license fee under the law and the constitutions of the United States and the state of Washington. Nexus is presumed to continue as long as the taxpayer benefits from the activity that constituted the original nexus-generating contact or subsequent contacts. (Ord. 1851 § 1 (Exh. A), 2018; Ord. 1709 § 1 (Exh. A), 2011; Ord. 383 § 1, 1968)
5.04.020 Business license required.
Except as provided in this section, no person shall engage in any business or business activity in the city without first having applied to and been approved by the city for a business license as hereafter provided. This business license shall be in addition to any specialized occupational or regulatory license required by any other chapter in this title.
To the extent set forth in this section, the following persons and businesses shall be exempt from the registration, license and/or license fee requirements as outlined in this chapter:
(1) Any person or business whose annual value of products, gross proceeds of sales, or gross income of the business in the city is equal to or less than $2,000 and who does not maintain a place of business within the city shall be exempt from the general business license requirements in this chapter. The exemption does not apply to regulatory license requirements or activities that require a specialized permit. (Ord. 1851 § 1 (Exh. A), 2018; Ord. 1709 § 1 (Exh. A), 2011; Ord. 383 § 2, 1968)
5.04.030 Fee and application.
(1) Each person, before engaging in any business or business activity in the city, shall register with the city by submitting to the State Department of Revenue’s Business Licensing Service a completed master business application and any required addenda forms, along with all fees due for the application filing. Upon approval by the city, the Business Licensing Service will issue a registration and license document bearing an endorsement for the city of Washougal business license. The license document must be displayed in a prominent place at the person’s place of business. The license will expire on the date established by the Business Licensing Service, and must be renewed on or before that date through the Business Licensing Service in order to continue conducting business in the city.
(2) The city business license fee shall be $50.00 per calendar year, effective January 1, 2019, and may be prorated to accommodate the expiration date set by the Business Licensing Service. Total fees due include the Business Licensing Service handling fees, and delinquent renewal penalty fees authorized by RCW 19.02.075 and 19.02.085.
(3) The registration shall be personal and nontransferable and, in case a business is transacted at two or more separate locations by the same business owner, a separate registration shall be required for each location. Where a place of business of a person is changed, a new application must be submitted to the Business Licensing Service within 10 days from the change, and is subject to review and approval by the city. (Ord. 1851 § 1 (Exh. A), 2018; Ord. 1709 § 1 (Exh. A), 2011; Ord. 780 § 1, 1981; Ord. 561 § 1, 1975; Ord. 383 § 3, 1968)
5.04.040 Business license – Denial, suspension, revocation, or refusal to renew – Grounds – Appeals.
(1) In addition to or in alternative to the procedures outlined in other sections under this chapter and pursuant to other chapters of the Washougal Municipal Code, the finance director and/or his or her designee is hereby granted power and authority to deny, suspend, revoke or refuse to renew any business license issued under the provisions of this title in order to further the public interest in public health, safety and welfare.
(2) The finance director and/or his or her designee may deny, suspend, revoke or refuse to renew any license issued under this title upon a finding that any applicant, licensee, owner, or any officer or agent thereof:
(a) Has omitted to disclose any material fact necessary to make a statement not misleading in any application for the license;
(b) Has charges pending against her/him or has been convicted of a crime or offense that directly relates to the activity for which the license is required, and the time elapsed since the date of conviction or release from jail or prison, whichever is more recent, is less than 10 years; or has been convicted of several crimes including at least one within the last 10 years; provided, however, that any licensee whose license is revoked because of charges pending against her/him may engage in the activity for which the license is required, pending a final decision on the charges;
(c) Has been subject to an adverse finding in any judgment or order which directly relates to the activity for which the license is required in any judicial or administrative proceeding in which fraud, deceit, coercion, breach of trust, unfair method of competition, unfair or deceptive trade act or practice, or assertion of unconscionable contractual provisions, or other similar act, practice, or conduct, on the part of the licensee-applicant is proven, and the time elapsed since the judgment or order is less than 10 years;
(d) Has violated or failed to comply with any applicable provisions of the Washougal Municipal Code or any rule or regulation prescribed under this title; provided, that failure to obtain a license shall not be grounds for license denial;
(e) Is in default in any payment of any fee or tax required under WMC Title 3 or 5;
(f) Has been subject to an adverse finding in any judgment or order in any judicial or administrative proceeding for violation of any provision of a city ordinance or rule or regulation prescribed thereunder pertaining to fire, building, health, sanitation, zoning, weights and measures, consumer protection, environmental protection, or any other ordinance or law and that is applicable to the licensed activity or licensed premises;
(g) Has been determined to have discriminated against any person because of race, color, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, political ideology, creed, religion, ancestry, national origin, or the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical handicap in the course of licensed activity, in violation of a city ordinance or any other law, rule or regulation;
(h) Has violated or failed to comply with any final order of the finance director and/or his or her designee or hearing examiner;
(i) Has failed to complete the application for a license as required by the Washougal Municipal Code;
(j) Has failed to obtain a license or permit required by state or other law necessary to engage in the licensed activity;
(k) Has failed to comply with Chapters 49.12 and 28A.28 RCW, and rules and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto, regarding employment of minors;
(l) Any licensee has permitted or authorized his/her agent to violate or fail to comply with any provision of the Washougal Municipal Code; or
(m) The property at which the business is located has been determined by the chief of police to be a chronic nuisance property as provided in Chapter 9.71 WMC.
(3) The finance director and/or his or her designee shall provide notice to the licensee in writing by certified mail of the decision to deny, suspend, revoke or refuse to renew his or her license. The date of service of the notice shall be the postmarked date. The notice shall contain: (a) a concise description of the basis for the denial, suspension, revocation, or refusal to renew the license; (b) the length of the suspension; and (c) an appeal form and statement of the right to appeal this decision. The period of denial, suspension, revocation or nonrenewal shall be at least one calendar year, and the licensee or any company in which the licensee is a principal shall not again be licensed during such period.
(4) Parties aggrieved by the decision to revoke, suspend, deny or refuse renewal of a license issued under this title may appeal the decision. The decision shall become final unless both a written appeal and a $200.00 administrative fee are received by the finance director within 14 days after service of the notice under subsection (3) of this section. Appeals must be written upon the form provided at the time of revocation, suspension, denial, or refusal to renew. All appeals shall be heard and decided by a Washougal municipal court judge. The method of appeal under this chapter shall be sole and exclusive. The decision of the Washougal municipal court judge shall be final. The filing of an appeal shall not stay the decision being appealed.
(5) Upon receipt of the written appeal and required fee, the finance director shall set a hearing with the Washougal municipal court. The appellant shall be notified in writing of the date of the hearing within seven days of scheduling. All appeals shall be conducted in accordance with Chapter 1-08 WAC, Uniform Procedural Rules; provided, however, that WAC 1-08-590 shall be excluded. Should any conflict arise between the provisions of this chapter and the applicable sections of Chapter 1-08 WAC, the provisions of this chapter shall prevail. For purposes of this chapter, all references in the WAC to “agency” shall mean the Washougal municipal court judge. The burden of proof shall be by a preponderance of the evidence. Copies of reports of city departments, agencies and employees, and reports of agents and contractors of the city documenting the basis for the decision being appealed shall be admissible in the appeal. (Ord. 1851 § 1 (Exh. A), 2018; Ord. 1777 § 1 (Exh. B), 2015. Formerly 5.04.050)