StateSide

WA · payroll profile

Washington

Everything an out-of-state employer needs before running a Washington payroll: what to withhold, which form the employee signs, whether reciprocity applies, and who to register with.

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Personal income tax
None on wages
Reciprocal agreements
None
SUI wage base 2026
$78,200
Local income taxes
No

Income tax withholding

Imposes wage income tax No
Rate structure n/a
Withholding certificate none
Accepts federal Form W-4 No
Convenience-of-the-employer rule No
Nonresident withholding threshold From the first dollar
No wage income tax withholding. Employers must register with the Employment Security Department for unemployment insurance, PFML and WA Cares, and with the Department of Revenue for business taxes.
Local income taxes No
No personal income tax on wages and no local wage income tax. HOWEVER Washington has significant employee-withheld payroll programs: Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) premiums and the WA Cares Fund long-term care premium (0.58% of wages, employee-paid). Washington also imposes a 7% excise tax on long-term capital gains above an indexed threshold -- this is not wage income and is not withheld. Seattle levies a JumpStart payroll expense tax, which is employer-paid.

Reciprocity

States that exempt Washington residents

A Washington resident working in these states files that state's certificate and is taxed only by Washington.

District of Columbia

Unemployment insurance and paid leave

Taxable wage base 2026 $78,200
2025 base was $72,800.
New employer rate varies by industry
New employers pay the average rate for their industry (not less than 1.00%), so there is no single statewide new-employer rate. Range shown is the total 2026 rate (experience rate plus graduated social cost) from ESD's 2026 rate table; US DOL reports the experience-rate array alone as 0.00%-5.40%.
Experience rate range 0.24% – 6%
Experience-rating method benefit ratio
Employee UI contribution No
Paid family / medical leave Yes
Washington PFML total premium rose to 1.13% for 2026 (from 0.92%) on wages up to $184,500. Employees pay 71.43% of the premium (about 0.8072% of wages) and employers with 50+ employees pay 28.57%. Separately, the WA Cares Fund long-term care premium of 0.58% is withheld from employees.

Employer registration

Tax agency
Washington State Department of Revenue
UI agency
Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD)

Sources

dor.wa.gov · esd.wa.gov · taxfoundation.org · oui.doleta.gov · oui.doleta.gov · oui.doleta.gov · esd.wa.gov · esd.wa.gov

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This is a determination aid, not advice. StateSide encodes published state rules and applies them mechanically to the facts you enter. It does not know your entity structure, your nexus history, your equity compensation, or the dozens of exceptions that turn a clean rule into a judgement call. Every determination cites the state source it came from — verify against that source, and take anything consequential to a payroll tax professional before you act on it.