The Unified Business Identifier (UBI) Policies & Procedures Manual provides guidance to state and city employees who assist citizens with the business license application and registration process.

The UBI number assigned to new businesses allows five state agencies and several cities to gather and share registration information.

The state agencies are:

  • Department of Revenue (DOR)
  • Business Licensing Service (BLS)
  • Department of Labor and Industries (L&I)
  • Office of the Secretary of State (SOS)
  • Employment Security Department (ES)

Businesspersons can walk into a single office and submit the information needed by these five agencies.

Chart illustrating five state agencies that use UBI information 1) Department of Revenue 2) Department of Licensing 3) Department of Labor and Industries 4) Secretary of State 5) Employment Security Department Business Owner/Operator UBI Master Application (information distributed to 5 state agencies): Taxes (Department of Revenue) Licenses (Department of Licensing) Workers' comp premiums (Labor & Industries) Corporate registration - Secretary of State Unemployment insurance (Employment Security Department)

You can download the entire UBI Policies & Procedures Manual as a single document (approximately 208 pages), or you can view/print chapters individually, as listed below.

UBI Policies & Procedures Manual
UBI Policies & Procedures Manual
PDF file Chapter   Description

Introduction

 Introductory Letter — From the UBI Operations Committee
T O C Table of Contents
Quick Start
 Quick Start — Checklist for accepting master applications
Chapter 1
 Unified Business Identifier (UBI) Number - Guidelines on searching for, issuing and correcting UBI numbers; name and address conventions
Chapter 2
 FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) — Guidelines on assigning FEINs, SS-4 forms, Q&As
Chapter 3
 Master Application — Guidelines for accepting and completing
Chapter 4
 Transmitting Master Application Payments — Guidelines on handling fees or cash and how to transmit them to appropriate recipients
Chapter 5
 Specialty Section — Guidelines for special applications, temporary or seasonal registration, trade names, and minor work permits
Chapter 6
 Questions & Help — Frequently asked questions and help resources
Chapter 7
 Forms — Guidelines for completing UBI forms, sample forms and where to order forms
Chapter 8
 Understanding MMLS — Guidelines for navigating the Master License Service system, data entry conventions and more
Chapter 9
 UBI / DOR Navigation — Guidelines for navigating the Department of Revenue's UBI database
Chapter 10
 Internet Related Items — Web site addresses for UBI agencies, the IRS, postal standards and more

Chapter 11

 Confidentiality — Guidelines for releasing business information to the public and other state agencies.
Chapter 12 Blank — Reserved for future expansion
Chapter 13
 Glossary — Acronyms and definitions
Chapter 14
 Index


Back to Top