Personal Property is property that is characterized by it's mobility. Land and improvements are considered Real Property. Personal Property is generally used in the operation of business activities and includes, but is not limited to furniture and fixtures; machinery and equipment; supplies and materials not held for sale or do not become a part of an article being produced for sale.

There are two types of Personal Property: tangible items which have physical existence and intangible items which consist of rights and privileges having a legal but not a physical existence.

Some Personal Property is excluded from taxation. This includes livestock, inventories held solely for resale, intangible property except for software licenses and personal effects and household goods in actual use by their owner. RCW 84.04.080

Video Overview of Personal Property Tax

Anyone operating a business in the State of Washington is required to provide an Annual Listing of Personal Property to the county assessor for assessment and taxation purposes. (Washington State Law RCW 84.40.020 and 84.40.040.)

In order to report a new or previously unreported business in Pierce County, complete and submit the New Business Account Registration form. Every business, whether sole proprietorship, corporation, association, partnership, trust, or estate is required to list all Personal Property which is under their ownership, possession, or control on January 1st of each year.

When a new business account number is assigned, the business will also be registered to eFile. You will be notified by email of the account number as well as a User Name and Password to be used to eFile the business assets and supplies.

(Note: Leasing companies will not be registered to eFile. See Instructions to Lessors of Leased Equipment for additional information.)

Once notified of the account number for the business, access eFiling at http://efile.co.pierce.wa.us. This will take you to the eFile Personal Property Filing System welcome page. For instructions on how to eFile the Personal Property listing, select Help on the menu bar, then select from the 3 sections available: 1) Quick Instructions; 2) Detailed Instructions; or 3) eFile Tutorial.

Personal Property account numbers are also assigned to unreported businesses found as a result of research. A new account letter is then sent to the business owner or agent advising them of the account number and the need to enroll in the Assessor-Treasurer?s electronic filing (eFile) system. Once enrolled, a User Name and Password will be emailed to the business owner or agent. In order to accurately assess the business for Personal Property taxes, a detailed listing of assets used to run the business should be submitted by April 30th.

Once enrolled to eFile, you will be notified in late December by email that the Personal Property Listing is available for reporting. Any new and/or removed assets should be reported electronically with the Assessor-Treasurer?s Office. In order to avoid late filing penalties, the eFiling must be submitted every year by April 30th.

An estimation of assessed value will be applied to businesses that fail to complete the filing process by April 30th or within 30 days of the date of the filing notice, whichever is later. Estimated values do not depreciate and are subject to change annually. Failure to provide the detailed asset listing may result in an on-site audit.

By law, property owners are responsible for filing the Personal Property Listing every year. This is true even if the property owner does not receive the Personal Property Listing information. The penalty for failing to file a Personal Property Listing is 5% per month of the total assessed tax due the following year, up to a maximum penalty of 25%. (Washington State Law RCW 84.40.130.)

Personal property values are based on reported cost, year of acquisition and type of asset. Valuation Tables are provided by the Washington State Department of Revenue. These tables are used to determine the taxable value. The Notice of Value is provided to the property owner or agent each year after the property has been assessed. All Personal Property is subject to assessment and taxation except items exempted under RCW 84.36.005 & RCW 84.36.070.

According to the State law RCW 84.40.030, assessors are required to value all taxable property at 100% of its true and fair market value taking into consideration the highest and best use of the property, this includes Personal Property.

Property tax statements are mailed during February each year. If the amount of tax due is $50.00 or less, full payment is due by April 30. If the tax due is over $50.00, half of the amount may be paid by April 30 and the balance by October 31 without incurring a penalty for late payment.

Washington State Department of Revenue valuation guidelines used in making personal property assessments can be found here.

The following forms are available for download in a portable document format (PDF). In order to read and print these forms, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader 6 or later.

New Business Registration
This form is for new businesses (or businesses not currently reporting) to report Personal Property as required by Washington State Law.

Destroyed Personal Property
Taxpayer's claim for reduction of Assessments

Exemption of Farm Machinery and Equipment
Application for exemption from State Property Tax on farm machinery and equipment.

Assumption Letter