Do I need a sales tax permit in Indiana?

A retail merchant may not make a retail transaction in Indiana until it has applied to the Department of Revenue for a registered retail merchant's certificate. Indiana calls the registration an Indiana Registered Retail Merchant Certificate. For a seller outside Indiana, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year. Indiana's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

Sales tax permit · Indiana

How to Get an Indiana Registered Retail Merchant Certificate

The short answer. In Indiana, the registration a business must hold before it makes sales subject to Indiana sales tax is an Indiana Registered Retail Merchant Certificate, issued by the Indiana Department of Revenue. The Registered Retail Merchant Certificate costs $25 for each location. The fee is nonrefundable, and renewal is free if your returns and payments are current.

Indiana Registered Retail Merchant Certificate at a Glance

What Indiana calls it	Indiana Registered Retail Merchant Certificate
Issued by	Indiana Department of Revenue
How to apply	Online or paper
Fee	$25 per location (see Cost)
Security deposit or bond	May be required
Expires	Renewed every 2 years
Several locations	One for each location
Local sales tax	No local tax
Threshold for sellers outside the state	$100,000 in sales

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

Who Needs an Indiana Registered Retail Merchant Certificate

A retail merchant may not make a retail transaction in Indiana until it has applied to the Department of Revenue for a registered retail merchant's certificate.

For a seller outside Indiana, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year. Indiana's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

How to Apply

You apply to the Indiana Department of Revenue. You can apply online or on a paper application. Go to Indiana's registration page.

Indiana requires your registration to be displayed at the place of business.

What It Costs

The Registered Retail Merchant Certificate costs $25 for each location. The fee is nonrefundable, and renewal is free if your returns and payments are current.

Indiana may require security, such as a bond or deposit. The Department can require security whenever it considers it necessary to ensure payment of sales and use tax. The amount cannot exceed twice its estimate of your quarterly sales and use tax liability.

Does It Expire?

The Registered Retail Merchant Certificate is renewed every 2 years. The Department renews it automatically at no cost if you have filed all returns and paid all listed taxes. If you catch up after a notice of nonrenewal and before the certificate expires, it is renewed for one year only.

More Than One Location

A business needs a separate Registered Retail Merchant Certificate for each place of business in Indiana.

Local Sales Taxes in Indiana

Indiana has no local sales tax, so there is no local registration for it.

Worth Knowing in Indiana

Some Indiana counties and cities levy a food and beverage tax on prepared food, and some counties levy an innkeeper's tax on lodging. These are not general sales taxes, and the Department's business tax application (Form BT-1) registers you for them alongside your certificate.

More for Indiana Businesses

Indiana resale certificate, for buying inventory for resale.
Sales tax nexus checker, to see which other states your sales may require you to register in.
Indiana LLC guide, for forming and running an LLC in the state.
LLC guide for eBay sellers in Indiana, for selling only through a marketplace.

Frequently Asked Questions

: A retail merchant may not make a retail transaction in Indiana until it has applied to the Department of Revenue for a registered retail merchant's certificate. Indiana calls the registration an Indiana Registered Retail Merchant Certificate. For a seller outside Indiana, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year. Indiana's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.
: The Registered Retail Merchant Certificate costs $25 for each location. The fee is nonrefundable, and renewal is free if your returns and payments are current. Indiana may require security, such as a bond or deposit. The Department can require security whenever it considers it necessary to ensure payment of sales and use tax. The amount cannot exceed twice its estimate of your quarterly sales and use tax liability.
: The Registered Retail Merchant Certificate is renewed every 2 years. The Department renews it automatically at no cost if you have filed all returns and paid all listed taxes. If you catch up after a notice of nonrenewal and before the certificate expires, it is renewed for one year only.
: A business needs a separate Registered Retail Merchant Certificate for each place of business in Indiana.
: Indiana has no local sales tax, so there is no local registration for it.

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 law and tax agency say about the registration a business holds before it makes taxable sales, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you whether your own business must register: that turns on what you sell, where you sell it from, and how much you sell into the state, and fees, security rules and thresholds change between our reviews. Confirm your own position with the tax agency named on this page before you start selling.

Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Indiana 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.

iga.in.gov/ic/2025/Title_6.pdfIndiana Code 2025, Title 6 (IC 6-2.5-2-1, 6-2.5-2-2, 6-2.5-6-12, 6-2.5-8-1)
in.gov/dor/business-tax/sales-tax/Indiana Department of Revenue: Sales Tax
forms.in.gov/Download.aspx?id=2466Form BT-1, Business Tax Application, and checklist (R24 / 12-25)
in.gov/dor/files/gb102.pdfDOR General Tax Information Bulletin #102, Collection of Tax from Transient Merchants (March 2023)
in.gov/dor/business-tax/county-tax-information/Indiana Department of Revenue: County Tax Rates: Businesses

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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.