Sales tax permit · Massachusetts

How to Get a Massachusetts Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate

The short answer. In Massachusetts, the registration a business must hold before it makes sales subject to Massachusetts sales tax is a Massachusetts Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate, issued by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

Massachusetts Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate at a Glance

What Massachusetts calls it	Massachusetts Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate
Issued by	Massachusetts Department of Revenue
How to apply	Not confirmed
Fee	Not confirmed
Security deposit or bond	May be required
Expires	Not confirmed
Several locations	One for each location
Local sales tax	Covered by the state registration
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 Massachusetts Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate

Every vendor doing business in Massachusetts must have a registration issued for each place of business before selling. DOR counts as a vendor anyone who sells tangible personal property or telecommunications services in Massachusetts or has a business location there.

For a seller outside Massachusetts, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the preceding calendar year, or in the current calendar year (collection then starts on the first day of the second month after the month the $100,000 is passed). Massachusetts's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

How to Apply

You apply to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Go to Massachusetts's registration page.

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

What It Costs

We have not confirmed whether Massachusetts charges a fee for the Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate; check with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

Massachusetts may require security, such as a bond or deposit. The Commissioner may require a registered vendor to file a surety bond to secure payment of the tax, in an amount the Commissioner sets but no more than the vendor's average tax liability for six months. State or federal bonds may be deposited instead.

Does It Expire?

We have not confirmed whether the Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate expires; check with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

More Than One Location

A business needs a separate Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate for each place of business in Massachusetts.

Local Sales Taxes in Massachusetts

Massachusetts has no local general sales tax. Cities and towns may adopt a local sales tax on restaurant meals or on marijuana sales, and the vendor pays it to the Department of Revenue with the state sales tax.

More for Massachusetts Businesses

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

Frequently Asked Questions

: Every vendor doing business in Massachusetts must have a registration issued for each place of business before selling. DOR counts as a vendor anyone who sells tangible personal property or telecommunications services in Massachusetts or has a business location there. Massachusetts calls the registration a Massachusetts Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate. For a seller outside Massachusetts, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the preceding calendar year, or in the current calendar year (collection then starts on the first day of the second month after the month the $100,000 is passed). Massachusetts's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.
: We have not confirmed whether Massachusetts charges a fee for the Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate; check with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Massachusetts may require security, such as a bond or deposit. The Commissioner may require a registered vendor to file a surety bond to secure payment of the tax, in an amount the Commissioner sets but no more than the vendor's average tax liability for six months. State or federal bonds may be deposited instead.
: We have not confirmed whether the Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate expires; check with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.
: A business needs a separate Sales and Use Tax Registration Certificate for each place of business in Massachusetts.
: Massachusetts has no local general sales tax. Cities and towns may adopt a local sales tax on restaurant meals or on marijuana sales, and the vendor pays it to the Department of Revenue with the state sales tax.

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 Massachusetts 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.

malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter64H/Section7M.G.L. c. 64H, s. 7, Registration of vendors
malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter62C/Section67M.G.L. c. 62C, s. 67, Licenses and registration certificates
malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter62C/Section66M.G.L. c. 62C, s. 66, Bonds
malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter64L/Section2M.G.L. c. 64L, s. 2, Local sales tax on restaurant meals
malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter64N/Section3M.G.L. c. 64N, s. 3, Local sales tax on marijuana
sec.state.ma.us/reg_pub/pdf/800/830064H.pdf830 CMR 64H.1.9, Remote Retailers and Marketplace Facilitators
sec.state.ma.us/reg_pub/pdf/800/830062C.pdf830 CMR 62C.67.1, Display of Certificates of Registration
mass.gov/guides/sales-and-use-taxMassachusetts DOR, A Guide to Sales and Use Tax (archived copy)
mass.gov/info-details/register-your-business-with-masstaxconnectMassachusetts DOR, Register Your Business with MassTaxConnect (archived copy)

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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.