Do I need a sales tax permit in Kentucky?

Every person engaged in business, or planning to engage in business, as a retailer or seller in Kentucky must apply to the Department of Revenue for a permit for each place of business. Kentucky calls the registration a Kentucky sales and use tax permit. For a seller outside Kentucky, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous calendar year or current calendar year (gross receipts exceeding $100,000). Kentucky's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

Sales tax permit · Kentucky

How to Get a Kentucky Sales and Use Tax Permit

The short answer. In Kentucky, the registration a business must hold before it makes sales subject to Kentucky sales tax is a Kentucky sales and use tax permit, issued by the Kentucky Department of Revenue. Kentucky charges no fee for the sales and use tax permit.

Kentucky Sales and Use Tax Permit at a Glance

What Kentucky calls it	Kentucky Sales and Use Tax Permit
Issued by	Kentucky Department of Revenue
How to apply	Online or paper
Fee	Free
Security deposit or bond	May be required
Expires	Does not expire (see Renewal)
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 a Kentucky Sales and Use Tax Permit

Every person engaged in business, or planning to engage in business, as a retailer or seller in Kentucky must apply to the Department of Revenue for a permit for each place of business.

For a seller outside Kentucky, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous calendar year or current calendar year (gross receipts exceeding $100,000). Kentucky's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

How to Apply

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

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

What It Costs

Kentucky charges no fee for the sales and use tax permit.

Kentucky may require security, such as a bond or deposit. The Department of Revenue may require security whenever it considers it necessary to ensure compliance, in an amount it sets within limits based on the business's average tax liability.

Does It Expire?

The sales and use tax permit does not expire. The account stays active until the retailer cancels it.

More Than One Location

A business needs a separate sales and use tax permit for each place of business in Kentucky.

Local Sales Taxes in Kentucky

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

More for Kentucky Businesses

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

Frequently Asked Questions

: Every person engaged in business, or planning to engage in business, as a retailer or seller in Kentucky must apply to the Department of Revenue for a permit for each place of business. Kentucky calls the registration a Kentucky sales and use tax permit. For a seller outside Kentucky, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous calendar year or current calendar year (gross receipts exceeding $100,000). Kentucky's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.
: Kentucky charges no fee for the sales and use tax permit. Kentucky may require security, such as a bond or deposit. The Department of Revenue may require security whenever it considers it necessary to ensure compliance, in an amount it sets within limits based on the business's average tax liability.
: The sales and use tax permit does not expire. The account stays active until the retailer cancels it.
: A business needs a separate sales and use tax permit for each place of business in Kentucky.
: Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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.

apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=28866KRS 139.240, Application for retailer's or seller's permit
apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=28867KRS 139.250, Seller's permit: issuance, nonassignability, display
apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=58190KRS 139.340, Retailer's duty to collect; remote retailer registration (effective August 1, 2026)
apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=28941KRS 139.660, Security for compliance with chapter
taxanswers.ky.gov/Sales-and-Excise-Taxes/Pages/Remote-Retailers-Marketplace-Providers-FAQs.aspxKentucky DOR TAXANSWERS: Remote Retailers and Marketplace Providers FAQs
revenue.ky.gov/Business/Sales-Use-Tax/Pages/default.aspxKentucky DOR: Sales & Use Tax
revenue.ky.gov/Business/Pages/Register-Business.aspxKentucky DOR: Business Registration
revenue.ky.gov/Forms/10A100(P)(4-25)_FINAL_locked%20Fill-in.pdfKentucky DOR Form 10A100(P) (4-25), Kentucky Tax Registration Application and Instructions

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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.