Washington local sales and use tax rates change in 36 jurisdictions on 1 January 2027, including King and Spokane counties
This page records one dated change. For the rules in United States as they stand today, see the United States guide →
- Jurisdiction
- United States (Washington)
- Tax
- Sales and use tax
- Change type
- Rate change
- Status
- Enacted
- Impact
- Action required
- Effective
- 1 January 2027
- Authority
- Washington State Department of Revenue
- Systems
- Tax engine, POS, E-commerce
- Verified
- Fetched from official source · high confidence
Businesses making retail sales or taxable services sourced to the Washington jurisdictions with Q1 2027 rate changes, and persons owing use tax on untaxed purchases used there.
Update Washington local sales and use tax rates for all 36 affected jurisdictions from January 1, 2027; use DOR Tax Rate Lookup Tool to verify combined rates by location code.
Tax enginePOSE-commerce
The Washington Department of Revenue posted 36 Q1 2027 local sales and use tax change notices in November 2026, effective January 1, 2027. Among them: King County increases 0.11% (0.001 for Transportation Benefit District plus 0.0001 for Children and Family Services), City of Auburn in King/Pierce Counties increases 0.01% (Children and Family Services), Spokane County increases 0.1% (Local Law Enforcement Programs), and City of Stanwood increases 0.1% (Public Safety). All notices are posted at dor.wa.gov.
What changed in detail
The Washington Department of Revenue posted 36 local sales and use tax change notices for the first quarter of 2027, all effective January 1, 2027: 35 rate changes and one new reporting-only location code (the Seattle stadium district, code 1790). Four of them:
- King County — local sales and use tax increases by .0001 for Children and Family Services and by .001 for a Transportation Benefit District, a total increase of .0011. In unincorporated King County (location code 1700) the total rate becomes .1041 (local .0391 plus state .0650).
- City of Auburn (King and Pierce counties) — increase of .0001 for Children and Family Services.
- Spokane County — increase of .001 for Local Law Enforcement Programs; the unincorporated county rate (code 3200) becomes .0820.
- City of Stanwood (Snohomish County) — increase of .001 for Public Safety. The notice adds that Snohomish County has also imposed Local Law Enforcement Programs at .001, so Stanwood’s total rate increases by .002 to .0950 (code 3116).
Each notice says businesses must collect the new rate on retail sales and services, and that the new rate of use tax applies to items bought for personal or business use where sales tax has not been paid. DOR directs businesses to its Tax Rate Lookup Tool for codes and rates.
What it means
This is the routine quarterly refresh, but a large one: 35 rate changes, and several of them stack — Auburn in King County, for example, picks up the King County Transportation Benefit District increase as well as its own. Several of the notices stack more than one levy, so the headline increase in one notice is not always the full change at a location — Stanwood shows why, with its city and county increases together doubling the figure. Rate tables keyed by location code should be reloaded from DOR’s 1 January 2027 rate files rather than patched by hand from the notices, and checked by location code, not city name.
Proof
Effective January 1, 2027, local sales and use tax within King County will increase one-hundredth of one percent (.0001) for Children and Family Services and will increase one-tenth of one percent (.001) for Transportation Benefit District for a total increase of .0011.
Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗Effective January 1, 2027, local sales and use tax within Spokane County will increase one-tenth of one percent (.001). The tax will be used for local law enforcement programs.
Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗Sources
- Local sales tax change: King County — Children and Family Services and Transportation Benefit District, effective January 1, 2027
- Local sales tax change: City of Auburn (King/Pierce Counties) — Children and Family Services, effective January 1, 2027
- Local sales tax change: Spokane County — Local Law Enforcement Programs, effective January 1, 2027
- Local sales tax change: City of Stanwood — Public Safety, effective January 1, 2027