January 2018 Update

Local Government 2018 Deposit Dates Available

Office of State Treasurer (OST) dates for 2018 local government fund distribution and deposits are now available. Funds collected by BLS are sent to OST for deposit into your city or town account. Revenues are usually deposited in 10 days. 
Deposit dates are also available as a downloadable PDF document.

Walla Walla Joins BLS

World-famous sweet onions, quaint wineries, and a charming town center are hallmarks of Walla Walla. On January 2, the “city so nice they named it twice” starts its BLS partnership to support its thriving local enterprises.

The historic southeast Washington city of 30,000 has more than 3,000 active businesses that now have the advantage of renewing state-issued registrations with their city license in a streamlined online process. A complete list of BLS partner cities is on the BLS website.

No Change of Ownership to Spouse for Sole Proprietors

If a sole proprietoriship business doesn't list a spouse, BLS is no longer changing ownership from one spouse to the other. This includes requests made in the event of the owner's death. The surviving spouse needs to apply for their own UBI and license endorsements.

Email and Phone Viewable on City Endorsement Info Report

The City Endorsement Information report generates a PDF that is a snapshot summary of the account. Enhancements made this winter now show location email and phone numbers for the business in the report. Create the report this way:
1. In the Partner Portal window, click the Reports link.
2. Select the City Endorsement Information link to open the report screen.
3. Enter the full 16 digit UBI without any hyphens and the endorsement type (General, Home Occupation, etc.)
4. Click Generate, then View Report.
5. The report can be saved to your LAN drive or routed accordingly 

Renewal Letters Can Print with Penalty Fees

ATLAS users who manually create and print license renewal letters can now choose to include the penalty fees if the license expiration date is less than 15 days away. When you add the renewal letter (gal0015), you can check or uncheck the box at the bottom of the screen to print the letter with a penalty fee. 

Reminder 1: No System Changes Through April 

ATLAS configuration work is ongoing in 2018. To support the tax system replacement, ATLAS will be in a “code freeze” from mid-January to mid-April. Regulatory changes or programming enhancements will not be made until after a stabilization period expected to end in June. 

Reminder 2: Fee and License Changes Require 75-day notice

A 2017 law requires a 75-day lead-time to make changes to local licenses after approval by city leadership. 
Written notice should be sent to the Business Licensing Service’s Partnership Services team after the city council or city management has approved changes. 
For changes in license structure, contact BLS as early as possible to ensure our system can readily accommodate the proposed changes. 

Reminder 3: Physical Address Changes are Made by BLS Staff

Partners can update mailing addresses and request physical address changes in ATLAS. Physical address change requests are processed by BLS staff. Customers who need a physical address change should use My DOR.