The sales tax permit, state by state.
A sales tax permit, called a seller's permit in plenty of places, is what authorizes a business to collect sales tax from its customers and hand it to the state. You register where you have nexus, and since Wayfair that means more states than the ones you keep an office in. Pick your state to see when registration is required there.
Four things that change with your state.
Sales tax is administered state by state, and the differences are not cosmetic. Whether you register at all, when you cross the line, and how often you file afterwards are decided locally. These four catch people out.
When registration is required
Every state page opens on the same question: when do you need a permit here. The answer turns on nexus, meaning a connection to the state strong enough to make you its collector. Physical presence has always counted. Since Wayfair, economic activity can count on its own.
Economic nexus is not uniform
Post-Wayfair thresholds are written state by state. Some measure sales alone. Others pair a sales figure with a transaction count, so a business shipping many small orders can cross the line well before one shipping a few large ones. The numbers themselves sit on the state pages.
What registration actually does
A permit authorizes you to collect sales tax from customers in that state and commits you to sending it on. It is a registration rather than a business license, it sits with the state tax authority rather than the business registry, and the reporting obligation begins with it.
What happens after you register
Registration is the start of something, not the end of it. The state puts you on a filing frequency and expects returns on that schedule for as long as the permit is open. The frequency is assigned rather than chosen, and each state page sets out how it works.
Nexus decides where you register. The state decides everything that happens next.
Pick your state.
Each state page covers the same ground for that state: when a sales tax permit is required, how nexus is defined there, what the registration process asks for, and how often you file once you hold one. Start with the states you actually sell into.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
Registration is straightforward once you know where it applies. The work is in the mapping beforehand, because the states that want a permit are rarely the states you would guess.
Map where you sell
List the states your customers are in, plus anywhere you hold inventory or people. That map, rather than your formation state, is what decides where the permit question even comes up.
Compare against nexus
Take each state in turn and read its threshold. Physical presence counts on its own. Economic activity counts once you have crossed the line that particular state has drawn.
Register where required
Where a state says you have nexus, registration is the next step. The state page sets out what the application asks for and what the state issues at the end of it.
File on the schedule
Once you hold a permit, returns follow on the frequency that state assigns. Put those dates in the same calendar as your annual report so they stop arriving as surprises.
Selling into a state is what starts this. Nexus is just the word for the line you crossed.
The rest of Secretary of State directory.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
Secretary of State
The Secretary of State, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State annual report
The annual report, state by state
All 51 states → HubArticles of Amendment
Articles of amendment, state by state
All 51 states → HubBusiness license
Business license requirements, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State business search
Secretary of State business search, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State Certificate of Good Standing
Certificate of Good Standing, state by state
All 51 states → HubEntity conversion
Entity conversion, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State DBA
Secretary of State DBA, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on Secretary of State directory.
The questions people ask before they register.
What is a sales tax permit?
It is the registration that authorizes a business to collect sales tax from customers in a given state and obliges it to pass that money on. It is issued by the state that will receive the tax, it is separate from your formation filing, and it brings a reporting schedule with it. Each state page explains when that state expects one.
Is a seller's permit the same thing?
In practice, yes. Different states use different words for the same registration, and the pages here carry both because searchers use both. Whatever it is called locally, it does the same job: it puts you on the state's register as a collector of sales tax and starts the filing obligation that goes with that status.
What did Wayfair change?
Before Wayfair, nexus generally meant a physical connection to a state. After it, states could treat economic activity alone as enough, so a seller with no office, no staff and no inventory in a state can still be required to register there. Every state set its own threshold in response, which is why the answer now has to be checked state by state instead of assumed.
Do I need a permit in every state?
No. You register where you have nexus, not everywhere you have a customer. For most businesses that means a home state at first and a growing list as sales spread. The practical discipline is tracking sales by state as you grow, because thresholds are crossed quietly and nothing arrives in the post to tell you it has happened.
Do marketplaces collect the tax for me?
Often, for sales made through them. Marketplace facilitator rules place the collection duty on the platform rather than the seller, which can change what you register for and what you report. They do not necessarily cover the same goods sold through your own site, so a business selling on both can end up treating the two channels differently.
How often will I have to file?
The state decides. When you register, you are assigned a filing frequency, and returns are due on that schedule for as long as the permit stays open. It is not a setting you choose to suit your bookkeeping. Each state page covers how frequency works there so you can put real dates in a calendar rather than a vague intention.
Keep going, in order.
Secretary of State directory
Every hub in secretary of state directory, in one place.
Open the index → IndexAll 51 state guides
Every filing a business does, organised by jurisdiction.
Open the index → ServiceCompliance calendar
Every deadline that touches your entity, watched.
Track deadlines → ServiceTalk to a specialist
A person who files these every day, not a call centre.
Get in touch →