How to move an LLC or corporation out of Seattle and keep the EIN [step-by-step]

Attorney and CPA Chad D. Cummings presents this powerful presentation on the controlled experiment playing out between Seattle and Bellevue. Downtown Seattle lost 30,000 jobs after imposing the JumpStart payroll tax in 2020, while Bellevue ten miles across the lake imposed no such tax. The Downtown Seattle Association reported on June 15, 2026 that the result has been a slowdown, not a jump start. Downtown Seattle office values fell 48 percent from 2020 to 2025 while Bellevue’s rose 7 percent. Seattle’s central business district vacancy climbed from 6.7 percent to 32 percent. Amazon has grown from 450 employees in Bellevue to more than 15,000 and directed major housing and transportation investment there. Seattle collected hundreds of millions in payroll tax revenue and lost half the value of its office district. The same pattern appears at the state level, where Washington ranks 45th on the Tax Foundation’s 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index and high-profile departures to Florida continue. Two cities, same labor market, same geography. One changed the tax. The results are in. Learn more about transferring a company out of Washington: https://www.cummings.law/redomestication/move-business-out-of-washington/