Fiserv Says Washington Bill Resolves Tax Fight on Processor Fees

A bill approved Thursday by the Washington House of Representatives has the potential to end a dispute between the state’s revenue department and credit card processing giant Fiserv Inc. over taxation of transaction fees.

The dispute pending in state appellate court centers on whether interchange and network fees are gross receipts subject to Washington’s business and occupations tax, as the state views it, or whether they are phantom income that the company doesn’t collect or keep, as the company argues.

Under the bill (H.B. 2020), the B&O tax would apply only to processing fees. Processors like Fiserv would ...