Resale certificate · Hawaii

How to Use the Hawaii Resale Certificate for Goods

The short answer. The Hawaii Resale Certificate for Goods (Form G-17) is given to a supplier for goods bought for resale. The buyer fills in and signs the Hawaii Resale Certificate for Goods and gives it to the seller. Hawaii names 5 documents for this, set out below.

It lets your supplier report the sale at Hawaii's 0.5% wholesale general excise rate instead of the 4% retail rate plus the 0.5% county surcharge (4.5% in Honolulu, Hawaii, Kauai and Maui counties).

Resale Certificates in Hawaii at a Glance

What Hawaii calls it	Resale Certificate for Goods (Form G-17)
How you get it	The buyer fills it in
Documents accepted	The documents the state names
Blank form	Download it from the state
Who may give one	Buyer must be registered in Hawaii
MTC uniform certificate	Accepted, with conditions
Streamlined Sales Tax certificate	Not confirmed
How long it lasts	Does not expire
Blanket certificate	Allowed
What protects the seller	Seller can remain liable, see below
Seller keeps it for	3 years (the state's general excise tax records period)
Law	Hawaii statute and regulation, cited in the sources

Read from the government sources listed at the foot of this page, last checked September 29, 2026. See the sources.

Who May Give a Resale Certificate in Hawaii

A buyer must hold Hawaii's own general excise tax license to give the Hawaii Resale Certificate for Goods.

The buyer fills in and signs the Hawaii Resale Certificate for Goods and gives it to the seller.

Which Documents Are Accepted

Hawaii names these documents:

Form G-17 (Resale Certificate for Goods, General Form 1)
Form G-18 (Resale Certificate, General Form 2)
Form G-19 (Resale Certificate, Special Form, for a contractor's purchases for an identified project)
Form G-82 (for services and amusements bought for resale)
the MTC Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate

Hawaii accepts the Multistate Tax Commission's Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate, with conditions. Hawaii accepts it only as a resale certificate for goods, and it does not exempt the sale: it lets your supplier report Hawaii's lower wholesale general excise tax rate (or no tax on certain imported goods resold at wholesale). It cannot be used for services bought for resale.

We have not confirmed whether Hawaii accepts the Streamlined Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption; check with the Hawaii Department of Taxation.

How Long It Lasts

The Hawaii Resale Certificate for Goods does not expire.

One blanket certificate may cover repeat purchases from the same seller.

For Sellers Who Accept One

Under Hawaii's law, a seller that takes a resale certificate can still be liable for the tax if the sale was not for resale. The seller is assessed the extra tax if a sale covered by the certificate turns out not to be at wholesale, but may demand that amount (with interest) from the buyer who gave the certificate.

The state's general excise tax records period is 3 years.

Worth Knowing in Hawaii

Hawaii has no sales tax exemption for resale: its general excise tax still applies to a sale for resale, at the lower wholesale rate. If a sale covered by your certificate turns out not to be at wholesale, you must pay the seller the extra tax assessed on it when the seller asks. Services bought for resale use a different form (G-82), and contractors buying for a specific project may be asked for Form G-19.

More for Hawaii Businesses

Hawaii's general excise tax registration page
Sales tax nexus checker, to see where your sales may require you to register.
Hawaii LLC guide, for forming and running an LLC in the state.
LLC guide for eBay sellers in Hawaii, for selling through a marketplace.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Hawaii calls it the Resale Certificate for Goods (Form G-17). It lets your supplier report the sale at Hawaii's 0.5% wholesale general excise rate instead of the 4% retail rate plus the 0.5% county surcharge (4.5% in Honolulu, Hawaii, Kauai and Maui counties). The buyer fills in and signs the Hawaii Resale Certificate for Goods and gives it to the seller.
: A buyer must hold Hawaii's own general excise tax license to give the Hawaii Resale Certificate for Goods.
: Hawaii accepts the Multistate Tax Commission's Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate, with conditions. Hawaii accepts it only as a resale certificate for goods, and it does not exempt the sale: it lets your supplier report Hawaii's lower wholesale general excise tax rate (or no tax on certain imported goods resold at wholesale). It cannot be used for services bought for resale. We have not confirmed whether Hawaii accepts the Streamlined Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption; check with the Hawaii Department of Taxation.
: The Hawaii Resale Certificate for Goods does not expire. One blanket certificate may cover repeat purchases from the same seller.
: Under Hawaii's law, a seller that takes a resale certificate can still be liable for the tax if the sale was not for resale. The seller is assessed the extra tax if a sale covered by the certificate turns out not to be at wholesale, but may demand that amount (with interest) from the buyer who gave the certificate. The state's general excise tax records period is 3 years.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state's tax agency, or the multistate bodies' published notes, say about the certificate a buyer gives a supplier when it buys goods for resale, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you whether your own purchase qualifies: that turns on what you buy, whether you resell it, and where you are registered, and a certificate given for a purchase that does not qualify can leave the buyer owing the tax. Confirm your own position with the tax agency named on this page before you give or accept one.

Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Hawaii sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so. Where we hold the citation but no stable public link, the citation is printed on its own rather than pointed at a guessed address.

files.hawaii.gov/tax/forms/current/g17.pdfForm G-17 (Rev. 2016), Resale Certificate for Goods, General Form 1
files.hawaii.gov/tax/forms/current/g18.pdfForm G-18 (Rev. 2016), Resale Certificate, General Form 2
files.hawaii.gov/tax/forms/current/g19.pdfForm G-19 (Rev. 2016), Resale Certificate, Special Form
files.hawaii.gov/tax/forms/current/g82.pdfForm G-82 (Rev. 2016), Certificate for Sales of Services and Amusements Which Qualify as Wholesale Transactions
files.hawaii.gov/tax/legal/har/har_237.pdfHAR chapter 18-237, section 18-237-13-02(d), Resale certificates and sales at wholesale
files.hawaii.gov/tax/legal/hrs/hrs_237.pdfHRS chapter 237, sections 237-4, 237-13(2)(F), 237-41
files.hawaii.gov/tax/legal/tir/1990_09/tir93-5.pdfTax Information Release 93-5: Use in Hawaii of the Uniform Sales and Use Tax Certificate (Multijurisdiction)
files.hawaii.gov/tax/legal/tir/1990_09/tir94-6.pdfTax Information Release 94-6: Resale Certificates
files.hawaii.gov/tax/legal/tir/1990_09/tir98-8.pdfTax Information Release 98-8: Act 247 exemption for goods imported for resale at wholesale
mtc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Unif-Resale-Cert-revised-10-14-22.pdfMTC Uniform Sales & Use Tax Resale Certificate, Multijurisdiction (rev. Oct. 14, 2022), notes 5 and 10
tax.hawaii.gov/geninfo/countysurcharge/Hawaii Department of Taxation, County Surcharge on General Excise and Use Tax
Law on resale certificates in Hawaii: HRS 237-13(2)(F); HRS 237-4(a)(1)
Law on resale certificates in Hawaii: HAR 18-237-13-02(d)

More for Hawaii LLCs

Start and set up

Taxes, money and growth

Stay compliant

Operate in other states

Compare structures

By owner type

By profession

Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.