POS system for Washington businesses

Washington sales tax at a glance

Washington's state sales tax rate is 6.5% as of 2026, administered by the Washington Department of Revenue. Cities, counties and transit authorities add local rates, so combined rates in the Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane areas commonly run above 9%, and in some places over 10%. Local rates are tied to location codes that you report on your return.

For goods sold over the counter, the local rate is the one where the sale happens. Grocery food is generally exempt, while prepared food and restaurant meals are taxable. Local rates in Washington change often, usually at the start of a quarter, so look up your address with the Department of Revenue's tools and confirm before you open.

Building your tax group in SeroPOS

In the back office go to Settings, then Tax Rates, and add the state rate of 6.5%. Then add each local rate that applies at your address, such as your city and transit local rate, ticking "for tax group only" so they can't be picked alone. In the SeroPOS app the same screens are under Admin, then Taxes.

Open Tax Groups and combine the rates into one group named after the place and the total, for example "Seattle combined". Make it the default tax so new products pick it up, and add a 0% rate for exempt items. Name each local rate with its location code, for example "Local" followed by the code, so the Tax Report reads the way your return is laid out.

Restaurants, cafés and food trucks

A Seattle café sells prepared drinks and food, which are taxable, and may also sell packaged coffee beans, which are often treated as grocery food. In SeroPOS the tax is part of each product, so set the beans to 0% and the drinks to your local group, and a mixed order is taxed line by line without the barista doing anything.

Food trucks move between cities with different local rates. If you trade regularly in two places, create a group for each and keep a copy of the menu for each area, or ask your accountant how to treat the sales. The Tax Report filters by location, so a second location set up for the other area keeps its tax separate.

Card terminals that talk to the till

In Washington, as almost everywhere, most customers pay by card or tap, so the terminal matters as much as the till. SeroPOS works with Global Payments, through Global Pay Cloud or on the T650P handheld with Terminal Plus, and with Gravity Payments terminals set up in Gravity Pay Settings.

Each till can have its own terminal, set under Card Terminal for This Till, so the front counter and the bar charge on separate devices. Tips typed on the terminal print on the receipt, Close Batch prints a day-end summary, and Check on Terminal reads the batch when you're not sure whether a card went through.

Already have a merchant account? Keep it if your processor is supported. If you want to compare costs, send us a recent statement and we'll quote a rate. Card processing is arranged separately from your SeroPOS plan. Tell us your monthly card volume and the terminals you use today, and we can say which setup fits your counter before you commit.

Tax reports and QuickBooks Desktop

The Tax Report in the back office shows tax collected on sales, tax paid on purchases and tax on expenses, with an overall figure and the invoices behind each number, filtered by location and date range. Run it for your filing period, and use the Product Taxes section of the daily sales summary to see which products the tax came from.

On the Pro plan SeroPOS sends sales, payments, customers and items to QuickBooks Desktop, US edition 2021 or later (Pro, Premier or Enterprise on Windows), through the Web Connector. It can build your sales tax items, groups and tax agency in QuickBooks for you, matched by rate rather than by name. The QuickBooks Online connection is set up for Canadian companies today.