Welcome to the Sandy Business Community!

Sandy’s public transit system is supported by a local business tax per Ordinance No. 2012-10.  The business transit tax is assessed on all businesses and is an employer-paid tax.  Sandy Municipal Code Chapter 5.05 provides the details for this tax.  All forms of taxable compensation are subject to the tax. Transit service information, the ordinance and a transit tax form (listed at the bottom of the page) are also available on this website.

Self-employed business owners and partnerships must file and remit payment on net earnings by the same date the federal tax is due, April 15 of the following year.  Self-employment earnings are those reported on your individual federal Schedule SE, line three, as defined in IRC € 1402. If a taxpayer has more than one business included on federal Schedule SE, only include those businesses from line three of your federal Schedule SE that have net earnings. Do not use a business with a net loss to offset a business with net earnings. If your business is a sole proprietorship or partnership and you have employees, you will be assessed both quarterly for your payroll and annually for your net earnings as they are reflected on the federal 1040 Form or 1065 Form.

If you have a corporation, you must file and remit payment quarterly on your business payroll and all forms of compensation (including officers).  Payroll tax remittance is due by the end of the month following each quarter.  Quarters are determined on a calendar year basis: January-March; April-June; July-September; October-December.

For your convenience, some highlights of the ordinance are:

• The tax rate is 0.006, or six-tenths of 1% of payroll. TriMet's transit tax, by comparison, is assessed at 0.008137 of payroll as of January 1, 2024 and will incorporate annual increases of 0.0001 until it reaches 0.008237 of payroll in 2025.
• The City of Sandy collects and administers its payroll tax directly.
• Payroll taxes for each quarter are due by the end of the following month.
• Net earnings for sole-proprietors and partnerships are due by April 15 of the following year.
• Several businesses have independent contractors, i.e. real estate brokers, beauty salons and mortgage brokers. Please advise all such associates of their personal self-employment tax responsibility; their self-employment net earnings are subject to this tax.
• Late payments are immediately subject to a 10% penalty.
• A second penalty of 15% is assessed when the payment is more than 30 days late.
• Interest of 1.5% per month will be levied.
• If you are filing for a federal extension the tax is still due. The transit tax form allows a space to indicate that the tax is based on an estimate.

If you have any questions or would like schedules and route maps, please contact SAM/STAR dispatch at (503) 668-3466, Transit Operations at (503) 489-0927 or npayne@ci.sandy.or.us