Business Licensing staff in training Tuesday

Partners -
All of the state Business Licensing Service staff will be in all-day training Tuesday, Nov. 15.

The Tumwater service counter will remain open for tax and licensing assistance. Email support and chat support will also be available.

Staff will return Wednesday, Nov. 16.

~BLS Partnership Services 

ATLAS system down Saturday

The state business licensing system will be down all day Saturday for a scheduled upgrade maintenance. This impacts all internal and external ATLAS users, including users of My DOR and the Partner Portal.

How will this impact me?

Users accessing the system via My DOR or Secure Access Washington (SAW) will see the maintenance notice and will not see a link to My DOR  or the Partner Portal.

What time will this happen?

6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, November 12, 2016.

Notice of Fraud Attempt

 We want to make you aware that the Department of Revenue has discovered an attempt by cyber criminals to submit fraudulent tax returns and licensing information to our agency.

These filings were for very large amounts that would be out of the norm. In one case, up to $26.8 billion.

The cyber criminals used foreign addresses in Afghanistan and Brazil. 

We do not yet know the intent, but it is possible that the purpose of these filings was to make requests for refunds or compromise IT security.

Again, this notice is simply to make you aware that this has occurred and to heighten your awareness of this situation.

Revenue has a full investigation underway and is working with the state’s Office of Cyber Security.  If you discover that you have information that may be relevant to this case, please contact Peter Jekel, Chief Information Security Officer, at peter.jekel@dor.wa.gov or (360) 596-3630.

November 2016 BLS Update

Partners –

We hope the autumn season finds you well. As you have seen, improvements to ATLAS are making the system better for all customers. We have added reports, made it easier to print licenses and simplified requests for address changes to name just a few things.

Tell us about planned changes in fees or requirements

Reminder: Let us know about any updates to your fees and requirements. Reply to dorblspartner@dor.wa.gov with your changes. Renewal notices are sent about 60 days before endorsements expire, so the earlier BLS is notified the better it is for your customers who need to comply.

Public versus non-pubic information

The signed confidentiality affidavit requires all of us to protect taxpayer information. Several ATLAS screens, reports, and forms contain nonpublic or confidential information. This includes not only social security numbers, but also email addresses and phone numbers. The Partner Public Disclosure report available in ATLAS contains only public information; export the report to see the information. It can be shared with anyone for non-commercial purposes. If you have questions about what is public information, please contact BLS Partnership Services.

Wait times and processing times decreasing

Phone call wait times for taxpayers and processing times for applications have decreased greatly since June. New applications are being processed in less than 10 days in most cases. Most customer phone calls are being answered within two minutes.

Suspended status prints on licenses; revocation report available

“Tax registration: Suspended” will now show on printed licenses for all businesses in suspended status with the Department of Revenue. Also, the new Revocation Report shows the Tax Registration status for businesses (Department of Revenue endorsement) that are Suspended. Reports can still be sorted various license type, but only those with suspended tax registration status will show in the revocation report.