Business Personal Property

If you do not have a personal property account yet, complete the Electronic Filing of Personal Property Listing form in the Forms section below and email or mail it to us. Once we process your first listing, we assign an account number and register your email address, and you can file online every year after that.

Setup takes a few minutes and only happens once. After that, filing is just log in and verify.

1. Register your email with us. The business owner's email address must be on file with our office. Include it on your listing or call the Personal Property Specialist at (360) 416-1797. Login requests and technical support are handled by phone, not email.
2. Create your Okta login. On the portal home page, under Getting Started, click Request Access. Sign up with the same email address you registered with us. That email is what connects you to your account. Okta will send you a verification code each time you log in.
3. Return to the portal. Okta does not send you back automatically. Go back to the portal and click Log In.

Go to the Business Personal Property Portal

Go to the portal, click Log In, and verify with Okta. Choose View Properties to see every account connected to your email. Click File Rendition on an account to file its listing. If you have more than one account, file each one separately.

Owners can give staff or an accountant their own login, so no one needs to use the owner's email.

1. Log in and choose View Properties.
2. Click Manage Access on the account you want to share.
3. Enter the person's name and email address and click Submit. Changes are not immediate.
4. Each person you add completes the Okta setup and logs in with their own email.

Why access comes from the owner: personal property listings contain confidential business information, and the owner is responsible for the filing and for any late filing penalty. Sharing access this way keeps the owner informed while letting others file.

A note for accountants: we need a list of the equipment actually in use on January 1, not only the federal depreciation schedule. Listings built only from a depreciation schedule often need correction, which delays processing.

In Washington State, listing business personal property is a self-reporting system. Under WAC 458-12-060, every business must file a listing of its personal property with the county assessor each year, even if it did not receive a listing form. If you own any business personal property in Skagit County, you are required to file.

Property tax is a local tax based on the assessed value of your real and personal property. Taxes paid to the federal or state government are most commonly based on transactions like income or sales, not on property values. Real property is subject to excise tax when it is purchased, and then to property tax every year after. Personal property is similarly subject to sales or use tax when it is purchased, and then to property tax every year after. Personal property tax is listed, assessed, and paid at the county level to fund the same local services as real property taxes, including public schools, county services, cities and towns, libraries, parks and recreation, emergency medical services, hospitals, fire departments, and ports.

File online through the Business Personal Property Portal. It is the fastest option and the one we prefer. You can also email or mail a listing using the forms above. Listing forms are mailed each January to existing accounts. If you have not received a listing form by the end of February, contact us so we can verify your account information.

Instructions for completing the paper listing form are on the form itself and in the Forms section above. In most cases, if you provided an asset list in a prior year, that list is included on the following year's listing form. Cross out assets you have removed from your business and write in assets you acquired during the previous year. The result should be a current list of all assets used by the business as of the January 1 lien date.

Yes. The law requires every business to file a listing each year, even if nothing changed from the previous year. If you are claiming an exemption, include it with your listing.

Under RCW 84.40.130, a penalty of 5 percent of the following year's tax is added for each month the listing is late, up to a maximum of 25 percent. The penalty is a percentage of the taxes due, not of the value. For example, a listing returned in May carries a 5 percent penalty, in June 10 percent, and so on until it reaches the maximum of 25 percent on September 1. The penalty appears as a percentage on your Notice of Value and is converted into a dollar amount on the following year's tax bill.

Skagit County accepts a government postmark of April 30 as timely filing. Hand delivered listings are date stamped by our office on the day received, and listings filed online are date stamped automatically. A postage meter stamp is not proof of timely filing. We always use the earliest filing date available. If you amend a filing, resubmit in a different format, or file the same form a second time in a year for any reason, the original filing date is used to determine the penalty.

Request your asset detail from the Skagit County Assessor's Office. Because it contains proprietary information, we can only provide a copy to a third party, such as a tax preparer, after receiving a letter of authorization from the owner.

Most disagreements on personal property accounts come from an error or a misunderstanding of the process, and we can usually correct them without an appeal. Whenever an error is found, regardless of cause, we want to fix it. If you believe there is an error in our assessment or in your reporting, contact us for a review. We can correct errors on the current assessment and the three prior years.

You also have the right to appeal your value to the Skagit County Board of Equalization. Your value notice shows the filing deadline, which is generally July 1 or 30 days after the notice is mailed, whichever is later.

The current year’s assessment of your business personal property results in a tax obligation (lien) per RCW 84.56.120. If you moved or closed your business after January 1st of last year, you are liable for the full amount of this year’s tax. If you move or close your business after January 1st of this year, you are also responsible for paying the full amount of next year’s tax. All taxes must be paid before the personal property is sold to another business entity. You must request a final advance tax bill by contacting the Assessor’s office.

The Head of Family Exemption reduces the taxes owed by making the first $15,000 of the total assessed value non-taxable. Any assessed value remaining after the exempted portion is still taxable, and other exemptions may be claimed in addition to this one. 

To qualify for the Head of Family Exemption, the business must be a sole proprietorship, and the owner of the business must meet at least one definition of "head of family" as described in WAC 458-16-115. That definition includes the following residents of the state of Washington:

• Any person receiving an old age pension under the laws of this state.
• Any citizen of the United States, over the age of sixty-five years, who has resided in the state of Washington continuously for ten years.
• The husband, wife, or domestic partner, when the claimant is a married person or has entered a domestic partnership, or a surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner, who has neither remarried nor entered a subsequent domestic partnership; and
• Any person who resides with, and has under his or her care and maintenance, any of the following:
  • His or her minor child or grandchild, or the minor child or grandchild of his or her deceased spouse or deceased domestic partner.
  • His or her minor brother or sister or the minor child of a deceased brother or sister.
  • His or her father, mother, grandmother, or grandfather, or the father, mother, grandmother, or grandfather of a deceased spouse or deceased domestic partner; or
  • Any of the other relatives mentioned in this subsection who have attained the age of majority and are unable to take care of or support themselves.

PLEASE NOTE: This exemption is not available to any partnerships or corporations, including those with only one governing member, because those types of businesses are not sole proprietorships.

To claim this exemption, mark the appropriate box(es) shown on the asset listing form to which it pertains. This exemption is shown on every asset listing form (both online and on paper) available from our office, but it cannot be claimed retroactively.

This exemption reduces the taxes owed by removing the state portion of the levies from the resulting tax statement. Local levies are not affected by this exemption, so claiming this exemption will not normally remove all of the taxes owed. Other exemptions may be claimed in addition to this one. To qualify for this exemption, the business must conduct farming as its primary operations, and only the equipment used for farming is eligible. The definition of "farming" is provided in RCW 82.04.213, and it specifically excludes the growing of cannabis and related products. To claim this exemption, the exemption's application form must be completed, signed, and submitted annually with the asset listing form to which it pertains. A copy of that exemption form is provided by our office attached to every asset listing form (both online and on paper) for eligible businesses with existing accounts.

Determination of the exempt status from personal property assessment and taxation for non-profit entities is a function of the Washington State Department of Revenue. Application must be made annually to the State Department of Revenue. RCW 84.36.020 allows exemption of church-owned property used for church purposes. Property must be used for such things as a church, parking, parsonage, convent, and caretaker’s residence. The land for which an exemption is granted may not exceed five acres. After initial application, a renewal application must be submitted annually. RCW’s 84.36.030 through 84.36.350 allow tax exemptions for property used in character building, benevolent, protective or rehabilitative social services, camp facilities, veterans and relief organizations, libraries, orphanages, day care centers, nursing homes and hospitals, schools and colleges, art, scientific and historical collections, fire companies, humane societies, musical and artistic associations, public assembly halls, certain public authorities, and sheltered workshops for the disabled. Exemption must be claimed annually and ceases upon cessation of the exemption-qualifying use of the property. Applications must be made to the State Department of Revenue.

Heavy equipment rental property owned by a heavy equipment rental dealer is exempt from property tax (RCW 84.36.597). To claim it, dealers must file the Heavy Equipment Rental Exemption Application and their personal property listing by April 30 with the assessor of the county where the property is located. Both forms must list the heavy equipment rental property claimed.

We review each application to confirm the dealer meets the 50 percent rental revenue requirement and that the listed items qualify as heavy equipment rental property. If either test is not met, the exemption may be denied in whole or in part. Dealers may appeal a denial to the Skagit County Board of Equalization.

Under RCW 84.70.010, if property on the assessment roll is destroyed in whole or in part during a calendar year, its value may be reduced for that year. To apply, complete the Taxpayer's Claim for Reduction of Assessment form, available from our office, and return it to the Personal Property Specialist listed below.