Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Named for George Washington, the first U.S. president, the state was made out of the western part of the Washington Territory, in accordance with the Oregon Treaty in the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute. The state is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, Oregon to the south, Idaho to the east, and the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. Olympia is the state capital; the state's largest city is Seattle. Washington is often referred to as Washington state to distinguish it from the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

Washington has a total area of 71,362 square miles (184,827 km2).

Population

The United States Census Bureau estimates Washington's population was 7,614,893 in 2019.

Language

In 2010, 82.51% of Washington residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 7.79% spoke Spanish, 1.19% Chinese, 0.94% Vietnamese, 0.84% Tagalog, 0.83% Korean, 0.80% Russian, and German, 0.55%. In total, 17.49% of Washington's population age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English.

The government of Washington State is the governmental structure of the State of Washington as established by the Constitution of the State of Washington.

• The executive is composed of the Governor, several other statewide elected officials and the Governor's cabinet.
• The Washington State Legislature consists of the House of Representatives and State Senate.
• The judiciary is composed of the Washington Supreme Court and lower courts.
• There is also local government, consisting of counties, municipalities and special districts.

According to The Bureau of Economic Analysis, Washington had a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$ 569.449 billion in 2018. Its per capita personal income was US$ 62,026.

Washington state is the nation's largest concentration of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) workers. The state has a large volume of seaborne foreign trade with Asia. Leading economic sectors are Government, Real Estate and Rental Leasing, and Information; manufacturing comes fourth (8.6% of the state's GDP). Fruit and vegetable production, and hydroelectric power, are other important sectors. Important firms based in Washington include Boeing, Starbucks and Microsoft.

Currency:

United States Dollar (USD)

The corporate laws of Washington are user-friendly and often adopted by other states as a standard for testing corporate laws. As a result, the corporate laws of Washington are familiar to many lawyers both in the US and internationally. Washington has a common law system.

Type of Company/Corporation:

One IBC supply incorporation in Washington service with the common type Limited Liability Company (LLC) and C-Corp or S-Corp.

Business Restriction:

The use of the bank, trust, insurance, or reinsurance within the name of the LLC is generally prohibited as limited liability companies in most states are not allowed to engage in a banking or insurance business.

Company Name Restriction:

The name of each limited liability company as set forth in its certificate of formation: Shall contain the words "Limited Liability Company" or the abbreviation "L.L.C." or the designation "LLC";

• May contain the name of a member or manager;
• Must be such as to distinguish it upon the records in the office of the Secretary of State from the name on such records of any corporation, partnership, limited partnership, statutory trust or limited liability company reserved, registered, formed or organized under the laws of the State of Washington or qualified to do business.

• May contain the following words: "Company," "Association," "Club," "Foundation," "Fund," "Institute," "Society," "Union," "Syndicate," "Limited" or "Trust" (or abbreviations of like import).

Company Information privacy:

No public register of company officers.

Just 4 simple steps are given to start a business in Washington:

• Step 1: Select basic Resident/Founder nationality information and other additional services that you want (if any).
• Step 2: Register or log in and fill in the company names and director/ shareholder(s) and fill in the billing address and special request (if any).
• Step 3: Choose your payment method (We accept payment by Credit/Debit Card, PayPal, or Wire Transfer).
• Step 4: You will receive soft copies of necessary documents including Certificate of Incorporation, Business Registration, Memorandum and Articles of Association, etc. Then, your new company in Washington is ready to do business. You can bring the documents in the company kit to open a corporate bank account or we can help you with our long experience of Banking support service.

* These documents required to incorporate a company in Washington:

• Passport of each shareholder/beneficial owner and director;
• Proof of residential address of each director and shareholder (Must be in English or certified translation version);
• The proposed company names;
• The issued share capital and par value of shares.

Read more:

How to start a business in Washington

Share Capital:

There is no minimum or a maximum number of authorized shares since Washington incorporation fees are not based on the share structure.

Director: 

Only one director required 

Shareholder:

Minimum number of shareholders is one 

Washington company taxation

Companies of primary interest to offshore investors are the corporation and the limited liability company (LLC). LLCs are a hybrid of a corporation and a partnership: they share the legal features of a corporation but may choose to be taxed as a corporation, partnership, or trust.

• Us Federal Taxation: US Limited Liability companies structured for partnership tax treatment with non-resident members and which conduct no business in the US and which have no US-source income are not subject to US federal income tax and are not required to file a US income tax return.
• State Taxation: US limited liability companies that conduct no business in the recommended states of formation with non-resident members are generally not subject to state income tax and are not required to file a state income tax return.

Financial statement

Local Agent:

Washington law requires that every business have Registered Agent in the State of Washington who may be either an individual resident or business that is authorised to do business in the State of Washington

Double Taxation Agreements

Washington, as the state-level jurisdiction within the US, has no tax treaties with non-US jurisdictions or double tax treaties with other states in the US. Rather, in the case of individual taxpayers, double taxation is minimised by providing credits against Washington taxation for taxes paid in other states. 

In the case of corporate taxpayers, double taxation is minimised through allocation and appointment rules related to the income of corporations engaged in multi-state business. 

License Fee & Levy:

A non-refundable Business License Application processing fee is required for each application received in addition to applicable endorsement or trade name fees. The fee for opening the first location of a new business/UBI in Washington state is US$ 90.

Read more: 

• Washington trademark 
• Washington business license 

Payment, Company return due date:

The date your taxes are due depends on your reporting status. Your reporting status indicates how often you are required to file taxes and is listed on your business license.

This table summarizes Washington business license tax due dates for each reporting status: