CPA and tax preparation in Beaverton

A Beaverton CPA who starts with your address

Beaverton is in Washington County, not Multnomah County, and it is one of the 24 cities inside Metro's service boundary. Those two facts decide more about a Beaverton tax return than most people expect. A household here can owe a regional Metro tax while skipping the Multnomah County tax that a household in Multnomah County at the same income would pay.

Before anyone looks at deductions, the first job is confirming which districts your home and your workplace sit in. The City of Portland Revenue Division points people to Portland Maps for an address check, and Metro has its own boundary address lookup. A few minutes with those tools can keep a return from missing a local tax or paying one that does not apply. It also tells you which forms to expect before tax season starts.

Mailing addresses can blur the picture. In 2014 the Postal Service created ZIP codes 97003 and 97078 for the Beaverton and Aloha area, so a Beaverton mailing address is not proof of living inside city limits. The ZIP code alone does not settle which city license, district or local tax applies, so we look at the actual address.

Metro SHS applies, Preschool for All usually does not

The Metro Supportive Housing Services (SHS) personal income tax covers people who live in Metro, work in Metro or have income from Metro sources. For tax year 2025, it is 1% of taxable income above $125,000 for single filers or $200,000 for joint filers. For tax year 2026, those thresholds move up to $128,000 and $205,000. Full year Metro residents file Form MET-40 with the City of Portland Revenue Division.

Multnomah County's Preschool for All (PFA) tax works differently for Beaverton. County residents pay it on all of their Oregon taxable income above the threshold. Beaverton residents are not county residents, so they owe PFA only on income sourced in Multnomah County.

This is where your commute matters. If your workplace is in Multnomah County, such as an office in downtown Portland, part of your wages can count as county sourced income, and Form MC-40-NP may be needed once you pass the threshold. For tax year 2025, PFA is 1.5% above $125,000 single or $200,000 joint, with another 1.5% above $250,000 or $400,000. If you work in Beaverton or Hillsboro, both in Washington County, PFA on wages usually does not come up.

Like the other local returns, SHS follows the federal calendar and is typically due on 4/15. The Revenue Division notes that an extension gives you more time to file but not more time to pay, so a Beaverton household that extends should still send an estimated payment by the original due date.

Tax preparation for Beaverton employees paid partly in stock

When part of your pay arrives as restricted stock units (RSUs), shares bought through an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) or stock options, the return gets more involved than a single W-2. Shares from work tend to appear twice: once as pay on your W-2, and again as a sale on the brokerage form your broker sends after you sell.

Cost basis is the amount you are treated as having paid for shares. Before filing, a CPA checks that the basis on your brokerage form accounts for the value already counted as pay on your W-2. If it does not, you can end up paying tax twice on the same dollars, and that error is easy to miss on software that simply copies the broker's numbers.

A big vest year can also push a household over the SHS threshold even when base salary sits well below it. For tax year 2026, the Revenue Division raises its quarterly estimated payment threshold for these local taxes to $5,000. Planning sales and estimated payments ahead of time helps avoid a surprise at the 4/15 deadline.

Small business accounting inside Beaverton city limits

A business located in Beaverton deals with the city's own business license. The city bases the fee on your average number of employees. For apartments, hotels and motels, it uses the number of dwelling units instead, which matters for landlords with larger buildings. Nonprofits do not pay the fee, but they still have to apply.

For payroll, the TriMet district matters. TriMet lists 97003, 97005 and 97006 as completely inside its district, while 97007 and 97078 are only partly inside, so an address check matters there. Employers and self employed people pay the TriMet transit payroll tax, listed at 0.8237%, on wages and net self employment earnings for work done inside the district.

Growing companies have two more lines to watch. The Metro SHS business income tax applies at 1% to businesses operating within Metro with gross receipts above $5 million, though sole proprietors pay the SHS personal tax instead. Oregon's Corporate Activity Tax (CAT) requires registration at $750,000 of Oregon commercial activity and a return once that passes $1 million.

Beaverton businesses with Portland clients

If your Beaverton business takes on jobs or clients inside Portland city limits, the City of Portland Business License Tax can apply even though you are based in Washington County. The city exempts businesses whose gross receipts from all activity are under $75,000 for tax year 2026, rising to $100,000 for 2027 and later.

Work in Multnomah County can also bring in the Multnomah County Business Income Tax, which is 2%. Businesses with total gross receipts under $100,000 are exempt. For a single member LLC, the owner who reports the business income on a federal return is the filer.

Tracking where work is performed, by job or by invoice, makes all of this far easier at year end. It is also what a CPA needs to split income between places fairly instead of guessing.

If you use a single member LLC, remember that the owner who reports the business income on a federal return is the filer for these local business taxes.

How Beaverton clients work with us

Our office is at 515 NW Saltzman Rd in Portland, and we do not have a Beaverton office. Most clients work with their CPA online: you upload documents, ask questions by email or video, and review the return before it is filed. If a meeting in person would help, it can be arranged.

Tell us what you need and a licensed CPA who works with people like you gets in touch with a clear, fixed quote. Mention whether you work in Beaverton, Portland or somewhere else, and whether stock pay is part of the picture, so the right CPA picks up your request.

It also helps to send last year's federal, Oregon and local returns with your request. They show at a glance which forms you filed, whether you paid Metro or PFA tax, and where your business income came from, which makes the fixed quote more accurate.

Common questions