Resale certificate · Tennessee

How to Use the Tennessee Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Resale

The short answer. The Tennessee Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Resale lets a business buy goods for resale without paying Tennessee sales tax. The Tennessee Department of Revenue issues the Tennessee Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Resale to a registered buyer, rather than the buyer filling in a form. Tennessee names 4 documents for this, set out below.

Resale Certificates in Tennessee at a Glance

What Tennessee calls it	Tennessee Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Resale
How you get it	Issued by the state
Documents accepted	The documents the state names
Your certificate	Not linked here
Who may give one	Another state's registration accepted (buyers located outside Tennessee that are not required to register)
MTC uniform certificate	Accepted
Streamlined Sales Tax certificate	Accepted
How long it lasts	Depends on the circumstances
Blanket certificate	Allowed
What protects the seller	Obtaining a fully completed certificate
Seller keeps it for	At least 3 years
Law	Tennessee law, 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 Tennessee

A buyer located outside Tennessee that is not required to register there may buy for resale using a registration number issued by another state. The document it gives is its own state's resale certificate, a fully completed Streamlined certificate or the MTC certificate, with the sales tax number another state issued.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue issues the Tennessee Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Resale to a registered buyer, rather than the buyer filling in a form.

Which Documents Are Accepted

Tennessee names these documents:

The Tennessee Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Resale, a blanket certificate the Department of Revenue issues
Another state's resale certificate (out-of-state dealers only)
The Streamlined Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption
The MTC Uniform Sales and Use Tax Certificate, Multijurisdiction

Tennessee accepts the Multistate Tax Commission's Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate.

Tennessee accepts the Streamlined Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption.

How Long It Lasts

How long the Tennessee Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Resale stays valid depends on the circumstances. The certificate has no expiry date, but it stops being valid when the business location it was issued for closes, and it must be updated if that location changes.

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

For Sellers Who Accept One

Under Tennessee's law, a seller that obtains a fully completed certificate is relieved of liability for the tax on that sale. The seller must obtain a fully completed certificate at the time of sale or within 90 days after it, and loses this protection in a case of fraud or illegal solicitation. A certificate obtained after 90 days protects the seller only if it was taken in good faith.

The state says a seller should keep the certificate at least 3 years. The Department counts the three years from December 31 of the year the related sales tax return was filed, which it also describes as three years plus the current year.

Worth Knowing in Tennessee

Tennessee issues the certificate itself: once registered, you print it from TNTAP, and each business location needs its own.

More for Tennessee Businesses

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

Frequently Asked Questions

: Tennessee calls it the Tennessee Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Resale. The Tennessee Department of Revenue issues the Tennessee Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Resale to a registered buyer, rather than the buyer filling in a form.
: A buyer located outside Tennessee that is not required to register there may buy for resale using a registration number issued by another state. The document it gives is its own state's resale certificate, a fully completed Streamlined certificate or the MTC certificate, with the sales tax number another state issued.
: Tennessee accepts the Multistate Tax Commission's Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate. Tennessee accepts the Streamlined Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption.
: How long the Tennessee Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Resale stays valid depends on the circumstances. The certificate has no expiry date, but it stops being valid when the business location it was issued for closes, and it must be updated if that location changes. One blanket certificate may cover repeat purchases from the same seller.
: Under Tennessee's law, a seller that obtains a fully completed certificate is relieved of liability for the tax on that sale. The seller must obtain a fully completed certificate at the time of sale or within 90 days after it, and loses this protection in a case of fraud or illegal solicitation. A certificate obtained after 90 days protects the seller only if it was taken in good faith. The state says a seller should keep the certificate at least 3 years. The Department counts the three years from December 31 of the year the related sales tax return was filed, which it also describes as three years plus the current year.

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 Tennessee 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.

tn.gov/revenue/taxes/sales-and-use-tax/exemptions-certificates-credits/resale-certificate.htmlTennessee Department of Revenue, Resale Certificate
tn.gov/content/dam/tn/revenue/documents/tax_manuals/august-2026/sales-use-tax-manual.pdfTennessee Department of Revenue, Sales and Use Tax Manual (August 2026)
publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules/1320/1320-05/1320-05-01.20220110.pdfRules of the Department of Revenue, chapter 1320-05-01 (January 2022 revision), rules .29 and .68
tn.gov/content/dam/tn/revenue/documents/taxpayer_education/sales/s&u_resale_certificates.pdfTennessee Department of Revenue, Certificate of Resale (updated March 2021)
revenue.support.tn.gov/hc/en-us/articles/360058174992-SUT-31-Sale-for-Resale-Resale-Certificate-OverviewSUT-31, Sale for Resale, Resale Certificate Overview
revenue.support.tn.gov/hc/en-us/articles/360058623991-SUT-33-Sale-for-Resale-Out-of-State-Resale-CertificatesSUT-33, Sale for Resale, Out-of-State Resale Certificates
revenue.support.tn.gov/hc/en-us/articles/13557775819540-SUT-184-Exemptions-Updating-Resale-and-Exemption-CertificateSUT-184, Exemptions, Updating Resale and Exemption Certificate
mtc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Unif-Resale-Cert-revised-10-14-22.pdfMTC Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate, Multijurisdiction (revised 10/14/2022), note 28
streamlinedsalestax.org/Shared-Pages/State-DetailStreamlined Sales Tax Governing Board, State Detail (Full Member States; Associate Member States: Tennessee)
Law on resale certificates in Tennessee: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1320-05-01-.68

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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.