Doing business in Portland: city taxes on top of state filings

The stack

• Portland Business License Tax: 2.6% of net income; exempt under $75,000 of gross receipts in 2026 ($100,000 in 2027).
• Multnomah County Business Income Tax: 2% of net income; exempt under $100,000 of gross receipts.
• Oregon Corporate Activity Tax: $250 plus 0.57% of commercial activity over $1 million.

The local layers

Portland’s Revenue Division administers three local business income taxes together on one combined return: the City of Portland Business License Tax (2.6% of net business income), the Multnomah County Business Income Tax (2% of net income), and Metro’s Supportive Housing Services business income tax (1% of net income, for businesses above its $5 million gross receipts threshold). Each has its own small-business exemption: $75,000 of gross receipts for the Portland tax in 2026, rising to $100,000 in 2027, and $100,000 for the county tax.

Oregon state layers

Oregon taxes C-corporations on income (6.6% up to $1 million, 7.6% above, with a minimum based on Oregon sales) and levies the Corporate Activity Tax on all business types with more than $1 million of Oregon commercial activity: $250 plus 0.57% of taxable activity above $1 million, after a partial subtraction for costs. Oregon has no sales tax.

Worked example

A Portland consulting LLC with $900,000 of receipts and $250,000 of net income pays roughly $6,500 to Portland and $5,000 to Multnomah County, owes no CAT (under $1 million of activity) or Metro tax (under its threshold), and its owners pay Oregon personal income tax on top. Moving the same business across the river to Vancouver, Washington trades those income taxes for Washington B&O on receipts.

The state layer underneath

City taxes sit on top of state obligations, never instead of them. For the OR side, see remote workers and nexus, and check whether a hire or customer in Portland creates a filing duty in the nexus checker.