Why You’ll See Sales Tax on Our Invoices Starting October 2025
- Guest Expert
- Jun 5
- 2 min read
At KB Tenacious, we pride ourselves on being open with our clients—even when the news isn’t great. Today’s post is about one of those less-than-exciting updates, but it’s important if you use investigative services in Washington State.
🧾 What’s Changing?
Starting October 1, 2025, a new state law—Senate Bill 5814—goes into effect. It changes how Washington State classifies services like:
Private investigation
Security consulting
Background checks
Surveillance work
Any reports or findings we deliver (physical or digital)
These services are now considered “retail services” under Washington law. This means we’re legally required to charge sales tax if you’re located in Washington or use the services here.
💡 Why This Affects You
If you’ve worked with us before, you probably noticed that we’ve never charged sales tax on investigations. That’s because PI work was historically treated like a professional service—not retail.
But with SB 5814, the rules changed. The state will now treat our services the same way it treats the sale of physical products.
Whether we send you a PDF report, video footage, or meet you in person to deliver findings—if the service is for use in Washington, it’s taxable.
📍 Does This Apply If You’re Out of State?
That depends:
If you’re out of state and using our services for something outside Washington, no sales tax applies.
But if your case, your use of the information, or the results affect something inside Washington—even if you're out of state—then sales tax still applies.
We’ll help make that clear on your invoice.
🗣️ Why We’re Sharing This Now
We post updates like these to stay transparent, not to pass the buck. This isn’t a fee increase—we don’t get a cut of the tax—but it will show up on your invoice starting in October 2025.
You deserve to be informed, not surprised. That’s why we’re putting this out there early and openly.
📬 Got Questions?
We get it. It’s confusing. And it’s frustrating.
So if you have any questions about how this law affects your case, your invoice, or your business—reach out. We’ll walk you through it.
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