How To Set Up A Company In Vancouver Washington

How to Set Up a Company in Vancouver, Washington

Setting up a company in the Vancouver, Washington metro area is a lot like setting up a company anywhere else in Washington state, with some exceptions (see below). This article sets forth the steps you’ll want to consider in forming your Vancouver area company.

Register Your Company with These Washington State Agencies

Form your company by registering it with the Washington Secretary of State (WA SOS). Their office allows filings to be made online through their Corporations and Charities Filing System. The WA SOS takes about 1-2 weeks to process company formation filings. Their office will email you when the filing is accepted (or rejected). Once accepted, their office will provide you with a Unified Business Identified (UBI), which you can think of as kind of like your company’s Washington social security number.

After the company is formed, complete a Business License Application with the Washington Department of Revenue (WA DOR). After setting up an account and logging in, you can obtain your business license along with obtaining any other needed state endorsements, registrations, and city licenses – yes, Vancouver will require you to have a business license – all at once. The WA DOR site functions sort of as an all-in-one landing place to complete a lot of registrations simultaneously.

Make Additional Filings and Registrations

Related to the filing with the WA DOR, it’s a good idea to use the WA Business Licensing Wizard to determine if your company will need to make any other filings. In general, starting a company in Washington is complicated. There are many agencies and potential filings at the state and local levels, depending on the type of business the company engages in. Use the Business Licensing Wizard to determine which filings apply to your new company.

If your company will have employees, then after having completed the Business License Application, the WA DOR will notify the WA Employment Security Department (WA ESD), which will, in turn, send a letter to your company with instructions for filing wage reports and paying unemployment insurance taxes.

After your company is registered with the WA DOR, you’ll receive information about the Washington’s business and occupation (B&O) tax requirements. Yes, Washington state has no income tax, but your company will still be required to pay B&O taxes. 

Unlike Oregon, Washington charges sales tax. If your company wants to avoid paying sales taxes on items purchased for resale, then consider applying for a reseller permit (if the permit isn’t proactively issued to your company by the WA DOR).

Determine if any requirements specific to Clark County apply to your business, such as home business permit or establishing a business personal property account with the county assessor’s office.

Take Care of Other Legal Obligations

The following legal obligations apply to every company, regardless of the state of incorporation: 

1. Obtain an employment identification number (EIN) for your company.
2. Draft an LLC Agreement (if your company is an LLC) or Bylaws (if your company is a corporation) (Note: LLC Agreements and Bylaws aren’t technically required by law, but many banks require them to open business bank accounts, and they’re a good record of company ownership and how important decisions are supposed to be made.)
3. New for 2024: If applicable, make sure to complete the filing under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).

If you have any questions about how to correctly set up your Vancouver area company, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll do our best to help.