Businesses

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​About the ta​x

On May 16, 2019, Governor Kate Brown signed House Bill 3427 into law.

The legislation accomplishes the following:

• Establishes a "Fund for Student Success" that is separate and distinct from the state's general fund.
• Adopts a new Corporate Activity Tax (CAT) imposed on all types of business entities.

The CAT is in addition to the state's current corporate income tax. Revenue from the CAT will be transferred to the Fund for Student Success and will be used for education spending. 

The CAT is imposed on businesses for the privilege of doing business in this state. It is measured on a business's commercial activity, which is the total amount a business realizes from transactions and activity in Oregon. Certain items are excluded from the definition of commercial activity and, therefore, will not be subject to the CAT. In addition, Oregon's CAT allows a 35 percent subtraction for certain business expenses.​

The CAT is applied to taxable Oregon commercial activity in excess of $1 million. The tax is computed as $250 plus 0.57 percent of taxable Oregon commercial activity of more than $1 million. Only taxpayers with more than $1 million of taxable Oregon commercial activity will have a payment obligation.

​​Frequently asked questions​​​

Basic information on the Corporate Activity Tax​​

​​Beyond the FAQ​​​​

High-level summaries of the rules and topics to help with taxpayer compliance​​​​

CAT training materials

The CAT policy team recently held a pair of live training sessions via the Zoom video-conferencing platform. The PowerPoint presentation used in the sessions is available for download​. Questions emailed by participants during the live training sessions and answers from the CAT policy staff are grouped by subject and posted below.

• Questions about wholesaling.
• Questions about what is considered commercial activity.
• Questions about unitary groups.
• Questions about the agent exclusion.
  
• Questions about tax relief options.
• Questions about sourcing commercial activity​.
• Questions about payments.
• Questions about labor costs and cost inputs.
• Question about passing the tax.
• Miscellaneous questions.

Check back for a series of short training videos on key topics covered during the training.

Taxpayers with general questions about the CAT can email cat.help.dor@oregon.gov or call 503-945-8005.

​​Subscribe to the CAT mailing list

If you would like to sign up for additional information as it becomes available, please subscribe to our mailing list.​ You can also download Publication OR-CAT-BRO​ for additional information.​

Quick li​nks

• Summary of changes in HB ​4202​​.​​​
  
• ORS ​317A​.​​​
  
• Forms and publications​.​
  
• CAT registration training​​​.​
  
• CAT payment training​​​.​
  

Estimated payments

For the 2020 tax year, if you expect a Corporate Activity Tax liability of $10,000 or more, then you are required to make estimated payments by April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31 for the preceding calendar quarter​.​ If the due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the estimated payment is due on the next business day. Use the CAT estimated payments worksheet to help with calculations.

Administrative rules

​Draft rules

• 150-317-1420 Damages Received as a Result of Litigation
  
• 150-317-1310 Estimated Tax Payments Delinquent or Underestimated Payment or Both, Constitutes Underpayment​​​​
  

​Contact us

For general questions about the CAT, email ​cat.help.dor@oregon.gov.
​To provide rule input, email catrules.dor@oregon.gov.
Call 503-945-8005 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.​
You can also follow us on Twitter at #OregonCAT​.​