On May 20, 2025, Governor Ferguson signed off on Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5814 to make it law. This bill had narrowly passed in both the State House and Senate.

Around 8/19/25, the Washington Department of Revenue emailed businesses stating that 7 new categories of services were going to be responsible for charging sales taxes on their services beginning on 10/1/25.

These 7 new service categories were:

• Advertising services
• Custom website development
• Custom software & customization
• Information technology (IT) services
• Investigation, security, and armored car services
• Live presentations
• Temporary staffing

For most small continuing education businesses and instructors in the massage world this was the first that anyone had heard of this new law. Sales Taxes on the 7 services were to go live on October 1, 2025, which meant that most services affected by this law had approximately 41-42 days to implement this sale tax and start charging customers. Many businesses heard about this through word of mouth as they did not receive prior notification by the Dept. of Revenue. This law is part of our state government’s effort to raise enough taxes to the state’s budget deficit.

The part that affects massage therapists the most is that sales tax was to be collected on “Live Presentations”, also known as continuing education. There have been several “Interim Guidances” created by the Dept. of Revenue to help businesses understand the law. The remaining excerpts are taken from the primary interim guidance on Live Presentations.

What is a “Live Presentation?

To be a “live presentation,” it is sufficient that the presenter or instructor and/or audience are allowed to give, receive, and discuss information with one another in real time, whether this occurs in-person or electronically. A taxable live presentation requires a fee, charge, or any other exchange of consideration between any parties involved.

The following considerations can be used to help determine if you are providing a live presentation:

• The purpose of the activity is to inform, explain, persuade, or educate on a particular subject;
• The structure of the activity is in the form of a seminar, lecture, workshop, course, or any similar event;
• The activity must allow for more than one attendee.

NOTE: The determination of whether a service meets the definition of a “live presentation” is based on the specific facts and circumstances of a particular transaction. While the considerations above are generally features of a live presentation, the specific tax results of a particular transaction may vary.

Live presentations include, but are not limited to, the following types of activities:

• Courses, classes, seminars, workshops, or other programs for personal or professional enrichment such as art, music, choir, pottery, business and marketing, cooking, and CPR classes or lessons.
• Continuing professional education including: continuing legal education, continuing medical education, continuing education for trades, continuing education for teachers, etc.
• Driving education courses or lessons.
• In-person and online instructional classes, lessons, workshops, seminars, or other programs that are provided in real time.

Note: With respect to any of the activities identified directly above, the activities would not be a live presentation if the activity is provided by and as part of a learning program by a public or private elementary or secondary school, or as part of a learning program encompassed within the accreditation of a higher education institution.

What is not included in a live presentation is one-on-one instructional activities such as tutoring, consulting, or music lessons.

Dept of Revenue Interim Guidance on “Live Presentations: Interim guidance statement regarding changes made by ESSB 5814 for live presentations as of September 12, 2025.