Slaughtering, breaking and/or processing perishable meat products and/or selling the same at wholesale

Manufacturing/wholesaling

Businesses that slaughter, break, or process perishable meat products and sell them at wholesale are taxable under the Slaughtering, Breaking, and Processing Perishable Meat classification of the business and occupation (B&O) tax. This classification includes both the manufacturing and the wholesaling activity. This classification also applies to meat processing that results in a non-perishable product such as canned food.

Butchers

Businesses that slaughter, break, and/or process perishable meat products and sell them at retail must report under all the following classifications:

• Manufacturing B&O.
• Retailing B&O.
• Retail Sales.

Sales of perishable meat products for human consumption may be deducted from the Retail Sales tax classification as Exempt Food Sales.

Note: If the customer owns the animal that is being slaughtered, cut, processed, etc., then you are only taxable under the Retailing and Retail Sales tax classifications because you are providing a retail service. There is no exempt food sales deduction because you are not selling food or food ingredients.

Multiple Activities Tax Credit (MATC)

Businesses that perform more than one taxable activity for the same product will report each activity under the proper classification, and then take the MATC so B&O tax is only paid once.

For more information, please see the MATC section of this guide.

Litter tax

Businesses that process perishable meat products must report Litter tax on the total value of meat products processed or sold (wholesale and retail) in Washington.