In May 2023, the City of Newport passed Ordinance 2111 to regulate the issuance of business licenses for the City of Newport. No person or entity may engage in business within the city without first obtaining a valid and current business license to do so. The license is an endorsement added to an existing State of Washington business license.
Application for the City of Newport business license endorsement is made through Business Licensing Services, Washington State Department of Revenue.
Please visit the Washington State Department of Revenue website for more information and to apply for the endorsement.
For more information on business licensing please review Newport Municipal Code 5.05 Business Licenses.
FEES:
General Business license: $20.00
Home Business: $20.00
Non-resident business: Revenue $0-$2000.00 – $0.00, Revenue above $2000.00 – $20.00
Some of the definitions for individuals and businesses needing a license:
- Owning, renting, leasing, maintaining, or having the right to use, or using, tangible personal property, intangible personal property, or real property permanently or temporarily located in the City.
- Soliciting sales
- Making repairs or providing maintenance or service to real or tangible personal property, including warranty work and property maintenance.
- Providing technical assistance or service, including quality control
- Installing, constructing, or supervising the installation or construction of real or tangible personal property.
- Collecting current or delinquent accounts
- Picking up and transporting tangible personal property, solid waste, construction debris, or excavated materials.
- Meeting with customers or potential customers, even when no sales or orders are solicited at the meetings
- Training or recruiting agents, representatives, independent contractors, brokers, or others.
- Pest control services, landscaping, architectural services, security system services, surveying, and real estate services.
- Delivering goods in vehicles owned, rented, leased, used, or maintained by the person or another acting on its behalf.
Businesses located outside city limits but engage in business activity inside the city limits:
Unless otherwise exempt, all requirements of NMC 5.05 cover and apply to any business located outside the city that engages in some business activity inside the city limits, except that only employees working within the city limits are to be counted.
Exemptions: The license and license fee provisions do not apply to the following persons, sales, or services unless otherwise indicated:
- A governmental entity including public and private elementary, secondary, high schools, and universities
- A person who delivers newspapers or periodicals
- A person soliciting orders from retail establishments for the delivery and sale of goods, wares, and merchandise to retailers for resale unless located within the City
- A person under the age of 18 engaged in business, including but not limited to activities such as babysitting, lawnmowing, or similar activities
- A person selling his or her own produce
- A person that the City is forbidden to tax by law
- A Landlord
Licenses are required for the following, but there is no fee:
- A person or organization conducting a nonprofit enterprise when the enterprise is operated without private profit, for a public, charitable, educational, literary, fraternal, or religious purpose. (Nonprofits have to obtain a business license but will not be charged a fee).
- A person or business whose annual value of products, gross proceeds or sales, or gross income of the business in the City is equal to or less than $2,000 and who does not maintain a place of business within the City (Non Resident Business License). However, a person or business who qualifies for this exemption must still submit a business license registration to the City, the fee for this submission is $0.00.
If you have multiple locations within the City, each business location must be licensed separately.
A business license issued pursuant to the provisions of NMC 5.05 expires on the date determined by the Business Licensing Service (“BLS”), and must be renewed by that expiration date in order to continue in business within the city. Renewal of a license is accomplished through BLS and must include all fees due for the licenses held as well as the handling fee authorized by RCW 19.02.075. The city license term and expiration date will be coordinated with the expiration date established for a business by BLS and the license term and fees may be prorated to synchronize with the BLS expiration. License renewals are administered by BLS in cooperation with the city.
A person who violates a provision NMC 5.05 shall be deemed to have committed a Class 1 civil infraction and shall be assessed a monetary penalty as set forth in NMC 1.16.030.