Do I need a sales tax permit in Maine?

A seller with a substantial physical presence in Maine that sells tangible personal property or taxable services there must register with the State Tax Assessor, including any seller that keeps an office, warehouse or other place of business in Maine. Casual sellers are not included. Maine calls the registration a Maine Retailer Certificate. For a seller outside Maine, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous calendar year or current calendar year (gross sales delivered into Maine exceeding $100,000). Maine's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

Sales tax permit · Maine

How to Get a Maine Retailer Certificate

The short answer. In Maine, the registration a business must hold before it makes sales subject to Maine sales tax is a Maine Retailer Certificate, issued by Maine Revenue Services. Maine charges no fee for the Retailer Certificate. The Retailer Certificate does not expire. It stays valid until you cancel it or Maine Revenue Services revokes it.

Maine Retailer Certificate at a Glance

What Maine calls it	Maine Retailer Certificate
Issued by	Maine Revenue Services
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	Not confirmed
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 Maine Retailer Certificate

A seller with a substantial physical presence in Maine that sells tangible personal property or taxable services there must register with the State Tax Assessor, including any seller that keeps an office, warehouse or other place of business in Maine. Casual sellers are not included.

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

How to Apply

You apply to Maine Revenue Services. You can apply online or on a paper application. Go to Maine's registration page.

What It Costs

Maine charges no fee for the Retailer Certificate.

Maine may require security, such as a bond or deposit. The State Tax Assessor may require a surety bond, or accept a deposit of money or securities instead, either before issuing the certificate or afterward, in an amount and on conditions the assessor sets.

Does It Expire?

The Retailer Certificate does not expire. It stays valid until you cancel it or Maine Revenue Services revokes it.

More Than One Location

A business needs a separate Retailer Certificate for each place of business in Maine.

Local Sales Taxes in Maine

We have not confirmed whether any local sales tax in Maine needs its own registration; check with Maine Revenue Services.

Worth Knowing in Maine

Keep a copy of the certificate at each place of business, where Maine Revenue Services or authorized municipal officials can inspect it. The separate Resale Certificate, which lets you buy inventory tax free, is issued only to retailers expecting at least $3,000 a year in gross sales and does expire.

More for Maine Businesses

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

Frequently Asked Questions

: A seller with a substantial physical presence in Maine that sells tangible personal property or taxable services there must register with the State Tax Assessor, including any seller that keeps an office, warehouse or other place of business in Maine. Casual sellers are not included. Maine calls the registration a Maine Retailer Certificate. For a seller outside Maine, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous calendar year or current calendar year (gross sales delivered into Maine exceeding $100,000). Maine's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.
: Maine charges no fee for the Retailer Certificate. Maine may require security, such as a bond or deposit. The State Tax Assessor may require a surety bond, or accept a deposit of money or securities instead, either before issuing the certificate or afterward, in an amount and on conditions the assessor sets.
: The Retailer Certificate does not expire. It stays valid until you cancel it or Maine Revenue Services revokes it.
: A business needs a separate Retailer Certificate for each place of business in Maine.
: We have not confirmed whether any local sales tax in Maine needs its own registration; check with Maine Revenue Services.

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 Maine 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.

legislature.maine.gov/statutes/36/title36sec1754-B.html36 M.R.S. 1754-B, Registration of sellers
legislature.maine.gov/statutes/36/title36sec1759.html36 M.R.S. 1759, Bonds
legislature.maine.gov/statutes/36/title36sec1757.html36 M.R.S. 1757, Revocation of registration
maine.gov/revenue/sites/maine.gov.revenue/files/inline-files/Business%20Guide%20for%20December%202025%20FINAL.pdfMRS Business Guide to Sales and Use Tax (rev. December 22, 2025)
maine.gov/revenue/sites/maine.gov.revenue/files/inline-files/IB54%20FINAL%20Resale%20Certificates_08152025.pdfMRS Instructional Bulletin No. 54, Resale Certificates (August 15, 2025)
maine.gov/revenue/faq/sales-use-service-provider-taxMRS Sales, Use and Service Provider Tax FAQ

More for Maine 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.