Wholesalers need a copy of customer's reseller permit

Reseller permits required to make purchases for resale

Resale certificates are no longer valid. Every business that sells at wholesale and has customers' resale certificates on file must now have valid reseller permits or other documentation for those customers.

Verifying reseller permits

The Department has tools to assist you in verifying a reseller permit:

Documenting wholesale sales

In case of an audit, a seller must provide documentation to prove that a sale is a wholesale sale rather than a retail sale. That documentation must be kept for five years after it was last used. You have up to 120 days from the date of the sale to collect the documentation.

Documentation options include:

Other documents used for tax-exempt purchases

Your customers may also use specific exemption documents to make purchases without paying sales tax. These may include:

The Department routinely examines purchases made with reseller permits to verify they are used appropriately. Sellers are not responsible for uncollected sales tax if they have record of a reseller permit or other valid exemption certificate that supported the sale.

When to collect sales tax

If a buyer does not have a valid reseller permit or exemption certificate, you need to collect sales tax. You may refuse to make a sale without charging tax if you have reason to believe:

  • Your customer is not reselling the items.
  • The permit is expired or otherwise not valid.

Things to know about reseller permits

Permit numbers: Unique to each business. The last two digits are the year it expires.
Effective dates: Listed in the upper-right corner.
Misuse: Misuse of a permit may result in penalties for the buyer and the permit being revoked.

Reseller permits may be used to buy:

Reseller permits may NOT be used to buy: