On April 12, 2022, the Administrative Review and Hearings Division of the Washington Department of Revenue released decision number 41 WTD 118 (originally issued on June 4, 2020), concluding that a company providing online account access services to credit unions was providing taxable digital automated services (DAS) and not data processing services which is excluded from taxable DAS. The company’s online account access services included an online banking platform allowing member credit unions to provide various online banking services to their customers, and an automated phone system for customers to make inquiries, access account information, and activate credit cards. In concluding the services were taxable DAS, the decision explained that each of the services were a component part of a larger integrated service that constituted a taxable DAS. The decision also ruled that the tax was not discriminatory against e-commerce under the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act because there was not a non-digital equivalent to categorize as similar for purposes of establishing discrimination.
