Get your tax IDs in Washington, D.C.

An EIN, if you need one, comes from the IRS. The Office of Tax and Revenue then registers the business on FR-500¹. Sales tax, franchise tax, and employer accounts are separate questions. The answer depends on what you sell, how the business is taxed, and whether you pay anyone.

What’s different in Washington, D.C.

• An unincorporated business can owe franchise tax. That includes many LLCs and sole proprietors once they have gross receipts of more than $12,000. The 2025 rate is 8.25%. The minimum is $250 at District gross receipts of $1 million or less, or $1,000 at District gross receipts greater than $1 million².
• An S corporation files the corporation return. S corporations, including qualified subsidiaries, are C corporations for District tax and file Form D-20⁴.
• Sales tax is not one rate. General sales are 6%. Prepared food is 10%. Lodging is 15.95%⁹.
• Withholding for a resident uses a quarterly return. A District regulation makes it due on or before the last day of the month after each quarter ends, so the third quarter is due October 31¹⁴. The withholding FAQ instead prints October 30¹⁶ for that quarter.
• Unemployment tax starts with the first worker. It applies to one or more people performing services in the District, including part-time or temporary work¹⁷.

Do this

1. Get an EIN from the IRS if you need one. It is free and, if approved, issued immediately¹⁹ online. Don’t pay a website to apply for you. A sole proprietor who will not withhold can often use a Social Security number on FR-500¹. Withholding cannot. The District requires an EIN, not a Social Security number¹⁶.
2. Register on FR-500. You need an EIN or Social Security number, the legal form of the business, the business address, and the names, titles, home addresses, and Social Security numbers of the owners or officers. Attach articles of incorporation for a corporation, articles of organization for an LLC, or a trade-name certificate if you registered a trade name¹. The registration page does not state a fee.* Check the screen in MyTax.DC.gov.
3. Read the franchise tax that matches the structure. Corporations, including S corporations, use Form D-20. Unincorporated businesses use Form D-30 when the statute applies. The rates, the minimums, and the exemptions are below. This page does not compute your tax.
4. Register for sales tax through MyTax if you make taxable sales into the District. The rates and remote-seller threshold are below. Sales tax returns are also filed there.
5. Register for withholding through MyTax when you withhold District tax from a resident’s pay. The return is FR-900Q, due on or before the last day of the month after each quarter ends¹⁴. File electronically for tax years 2023 and later¹⁶. The hiring guide covers the federal side.
6. Open a DOES unemployment employer account in ESSP when you are liable, and report new hires separately. The tests are below. New hires are due within 20 days of the hire date at the District of Columbia Directory of New Hires, the directory named in the employer handbook. The handbook was revised January 2022²⁰.

Franchise tax

The rates page lists 8.25% for corporations and for unincorporated businesses for 2025. Corporations pay a minimum of $250 at District gross receipts of $1 million or less, and $1,000 at District gross receipts of more than $1 million. A corporation is not exempt from the minimum tax just because other income is exempt. Unincorporated businesses use $250 at District gross receipts of $1 million or less, or $1,000 at District gross receipts greater than $1 million².

Every corporation, including a small business, a professional corporation, and an S corporation, that does business in the District or receives District income³ must file Form D-20. It is due April 15, 2026 for tax year 2025, or the 15th day of the fourth month for a fiscal year. An exempt organization with unrelated business income files by the 15th day of the fifth month after the tax year ends, and pays at least the minimum tax. A corporation pays estimated tax on Form D-20ES if it expects its District franchise tax to exceed $1,000 for the year⁴. The D-20 booklet does not print the voucher dates. It points to the D-20ES booklet.* Use the dates in that year’s D-20ES booklet.

Section 47-1808.01 says an unincorporated business is a trade or business conducted by an individual, a partnership, or any other entity that is not a corporation, unless an exception applies⁷. Section 47-1801.04 counts any organization that is taxable as a corporation under federal income tax law, including an S corporation⁸, as a corporation. So an LLC taxed as a corporation files D-20, and any other LLC is an unincorporated business that files D-30 when the rules below apply. The rates page applies the tax at gross receipts of more than $12,000. Before taxable income, the page allows a 30% salary allowance for owners and a $5,000 exemption. A business is exempt when more than 80% of gross income is the members' own personal services and capital is not a material income-producing factor. A trade, business, or profession that by law, custom, or ethics cannot be incorporated is exempt². Whether capital is a material factor in your work is a question for a CPA. This page does not decide it.

Form D-30 is due April 15, 2026 for a calendar year, or the 15th day of the fourth month for a fiscal year. An unincorporated business pays estimated tax if it expects its District unincorporated business franchise tax to exceed $1,000 for the year. The vouchers are due April 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15 for a calendar year. The extension is Form FR-130. The 2025 instructions say to file it no later than the return due date⁵. The forms list puts a fiscal-year filer’s extension at the 15th day of the third month after a fiscal year ends⁶, a month before that return is due.* File by the earlier date.

The 2025 D-30 instructions also say a single-member LLC treated as a disregarded entity can be reported on another return that includes its income⁵. If your LLC is owned by another business that already files, ask that filer whether you belong on Schedule K instead of on your own D-30.

Sales tax

From the sales tax FAQ:

• 6%⁹ on a general sale. The same line includes medical marijuana.
• 8%⁹ on soft drinks.
• 10%⁹ on food and drink prepared for immediate consumption, and on alcohol sold for consumption on the premises.
• 10.25%⁹ on alcohol sold for consumption off the premises, unless an alcoholic beverage licensee sells it.
• 15.95%⁹ on rooms, lodgings, or accommodations.
• 18%⁹ on parking or storing motor vehicles or trailers.

The Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act of 2026 (D.C. Law 26-189, effective October 2, 2026¹²) sets the next general rate and the rental-vehicle rate. The general rate changes to 7.0% beginning October 1, 2027, which the taxable and non-taxable services page also says. Renting out a vehicle or utility trailer is taxed at 11% from October 1, 2026¹¹, and section 47-2002.02 adds a separate 1%¹³ on those rentals. OTR’s sales tax FAQ still prints 10.25%⁹ for rental vehicles.

Returns are due the 20th day of the month after the monthly, quarterly, or annual period ends. October 20 is the annual filer’s date. The FAQ does not say how a new business is assigned a monthly, quarterly, or annual period.* Use the period on your account. A late return with tax due costs 5% to 25% if the return is late and tax is due, plus interest of 10% a year, compounded daily⁹.

A remote seller starts collecting after more than $100,000 of retail gross receipts delivered into the District, or more than 200 separate retail sales delivered here, in the prior or current calendar year⁹. Sales on your own site and sales through a marketplace both count toward that threshold. The FAQ says exemption-certificate sales count too.

Income tax on the owners

District income tax applies to a person domiciled in the District at any time during the year, or who keeps an abode here for 183 days or more¹⁵. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2021, the rate table is:

• 4% on taxable income not over $10,000¹⁵.
• $400 plus 6% of the amount over $10,000, up to $40,000¹⁵.
• $2,200 plus 6.5% of the amount over $40,000, up to $60,000¹⁵.
• $3,500 plus 8.5% of the amount over $60,000, up to $250,000¹⁵.
• $19,650 plus 9.25% of the amount over $250,000, up to $500,000¹⁵.
• $42,775 plus 9.75% of the amount over $500,000, up to $1,000,000¹⁵.
• $91,525 plus 10.75% of the amount over $1,000,000¹⁵.

File by April 15, or the next business day if that date is a weekend or a legal holiday²¹. Someone who is not taxed as a District resident does not use this table. The business can still owe franchise tax on District income.

Unemployment and new hires

An employer is liable with one or more people performing services in the District, including part-time or temporary work. Household help is different: $500 of household wages in a calendar quarter. Partners' own pay is not reported. Wages of other employees are¹⁷. A written contract does not decide whether someone is an employee. The department uses the ordinary rules for who is an employee and who is an independent contractor. If you are unsure, ask the tax staff before you treat the person as a contractor.

A new employer pays 2.7%²², or the average rate paid by all employers the year before, whichever is higher. The rate stays until the account can be rated on its own experience. The 2026 notice says the new-employer rate, the taxable wage base of $9,000, and the administrative assessment of 0.2% remain the same. Tax Table VI stays in effect in 2026 for employers that are not new¹⁸. Employers with five or more employees file through ESSP. Fewer than five may use paper Form UC-30²⁰.

Report new hires and rehires within 20 days of the hire date²⁰ at the District of Columbia Directory of New Hires.

What you get back

An EIN if you applied, an FR-500¹ registration, and a MyTax account for each tax you added. Write down the sales-tax filing period the Office of Tax and Revenue assigns. Franchise tax and the biennial report are separate calendars. Stay compliant puts them in order.