Washington’s litter tax is a 0.015 percent excise tax that manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers pay on the value of taxable products they produce or sell in the state, limited to thirteen product categories commonly found in the waste stream. The tax is on the privilege of doing business in Washington and applies independently of the business and occupation (B&O) tax and the retail sales tax.1eLaws. Washington Administrative Code 458-20-243 – Litter Tax You report and pay it on your regular Washington excise tax return. Revenue goes to the Department of Ecology for litter cleanup, recycling, and public education.
Who Owes the Tax
Three types of businesses pay litter tax: manufacturers producing taxable products in Washington, wholesalers selling those products for resale, and retailers selling to consumers.2Washington State Legislature. RCW 82.19.010 – Tax Imposed
A single business can owe the tax in more than one capacity. If you manufacture a product and also sell it at retail, the tax applies at both stages. The same goes when goods move from manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer: the tax is imposed at each subsequent sale of the same product so long as it falls within one of the taxable categories and the sale is not exempt.3Cornell Law Institute. Washington Administrative Code 458-20-243 – Litter Tax For vertically integrated businesses, those stacked charges quietly add up.
The Thirteen Taxable Product Categories
Litter tax only applies to products in one of these thirteen categories:4Washington State Legislature. RCW 82.19.020 – Litter Tax
- Food for human or pet consumption
- Groceries
- Cigarettes and tobacco products
- Soft drinks and carbonated beverages
- Beer and other malt beverages
- Wine
- Newspapers and magazines
- Household paper and paper products
- Glass containers
- Metal containers
- Plastic or fiber containers made of synthetic material
- Cleaning agents and toiletries
- Nondrug drugstore sundry products
Some categories are broader than they sound. “Groceries” covers essentially everything sold in a grocery store, and “newspapers and magazines” includes free community papers, real estate guides, and vehicle-trader publications.3Cornell Law Institute. Washington Administrative Code 458-20-243 – Litter Tax Household paper products reach well beyond paper towels into wrapping paper, stationery, personal checks, and printer paper. Nondrug drugstore sundries cover most items sold in a pharmacy except drugs, building materials, clothing, furniture, and appliances.5Washington State Legislature. WAC 458-20-243 – Litter Tax
If your inventory mixes taxable and nontaxable goods, you’ll need to separate them when you calculate the tax. Anything outside the thirteen categories isn’t subject to litter tax at all.
Exemptions
Some sales inside the taxable categories are still exempt:6Washington State Legislature. RCW 82.19.050 – Exemptions
- Products manufactured or sold for use and consumption outside Washington.
- Sales exempt from the B&O tax under RCW 82.04.330, which includes sales to the United States government and to Washington state and its political subdivisions.
- Sales by a qualified grocery distribution cooperative to its customer-owners.
- Food or beverages sold solely for immediate consumption indoors at the seller’s place of business, on a connected deck or patio, or in an eating area next to the business.
- Prepared food or beverages served by caterers for immediate consumption in nonsingle-use containers at a location the customer controls.
The dine-in exemption catches a lot of food-service businesses off guard, because to-go and delivery orders remain taxable even when sit-down meals are not. A restaurant that offers both needs to track those transactions separately.7Washington Department of Revenue. Litter Tax The same logic applies to food courts: if the customer says they’re dining in, no litter tax; if they take the food elsewhere, it’s taxable.3Cornell Law Institute. Washington Administrative Code 458-20-243 – Litter Tax
How to Calculate the Tax
The rate is 0.015 percent, or 0.00015 as a decimal multiplier.7Washington Department of Revenue. Litter Tax Apply it to the value of taxable products you manufactured or the selling price of taxable products you sold during the reporting period.2Washington State Legislature. RCW 82.19.010 – Tax Imposed The rate is the same at every level.
A retailer with $500,000 in taxable product sales during a quarter owes $75 ($500,000 × 0.00015). Per dollar of revenue the amount is small, but it adds up for high-volume sellers of groceries, beverages, and packaged goods.
The Drugstore Shortcut
Pharmacies have a simplified option. Instead of tracking which sales qualify as nondrug sundries, a drugstore can report and pay litter tax based on fifty percent of its total sales.5Washington State Legislature. WAC 458-20-243 – Litter Tax If your actual nondrug sales run below fifty percent, you may prefer to track them individually and report the lower figure.
Mixed Inventory
If you sell both taxable and nontaxable products, your point-of-sale system or accounting software should tag items by litter-tax status so you can pull accurate numbers at filing time. Lumping everything together and estimating invites problems during an audit.
Filing and Paying
You report litter tax on your regular Washington excise tax return rather than a separate form.7Washington Department of Revenue. Litter Tax File through the Department of Revenue’s My DOR online portal. The Department assigns each business a monthly, quarterly, or annual filing frequency based on overall tax activity, and your frequency shows in your My DOR account.
E-check payment through My DOR is free. Credit and debit card payments are accepted but carry a convenience fee.8Washington Department of Revenue. Payment Methods After you submit, the portal generates a confirmation number; keep it as proof of filing.
Penalties and Interest for Late Returns
Washington uses a tiered penalty structure on excise tax returns filed after their due date:9Washington Department of Revenue. Excise Tax Return Due Dates
- One month late: 9 percent penalty on the tax due.
- Two months late: 19 percent.
- Three or more months late: 29 percent.
Unpaid tax also accrues interest at an annual assessment rate of 6 percent for 2026.10Washington Department of Revenue. Interest Rate Tables Because litter tax rides on your excise tax return, a missed payment pulls in the same penalties and interest as any other line on that return. The dollar amounts tend to be small, but letting returns sit unfiled for months can nearly double what you owe.
Records to Keep
The Department of Revenue can audit your litter tax reporting and expects records that support every figure on your return. To show that a sale was exempt or that a product sits outside the thirteen categories, hold on to resale certificates, purchase orders, invoices, shipping documents, and anything else that establishes what was sold, to whom, and where it was consumed or delivered.5Washington State Legislature. WAC 458-20-243 – Litter Tax Records must be available for Department review at any time. If you can’t produce documentation during an audit, the Department can estimate your liability from available information, including industry averages, and that estimate will typically be higher than what proper records would have supported.