The city of Spokane has launched a business registration amnesty program through which unregistered businesses that are located in the city or do business here can come into compliance without any penalties for delinquencies. 

Margaret Redd, taxes and license specialist, says about 20,000 businesses are located in Spokane or do business in the city, but at any given time, about 3,000 of those companies either have let their registration lapse or never have registered.

The amnesty program started at the beginning of this month and is scheduled to run through July, Redd says. 

City spokesman Brian Coddington says, “The majority of businesses are legitimate businesses and operating in good faith, so we want to take this opportunity to clear up any confusion.”

One potential source of confusion, Redd says, is that the city business registration now is handled through the Washington state Business Licensing Service, a division of the Washington state Department of Revenue. That same entity issues state business licenses, but companies here are supposed to take additional steps to register with the city. 

For-profit businesses that are located within the Spokane city limits or do business within the city are required to register. Nonprofits that perform a business activity, such as operating a thrift store, must register as well. 

Upon discovering a business that isn’t in compliance, she says, the city typically will try to work with it to become registered without levying any penalties. If a business ignores the city or refuses to register, it’s subject to a $536-a-day fine.

The annual cost of registration is a $113 base fee, plus a per-person cost that varies depending on business size.