Do I need a sales tax permit in Tennessee?

Every business that sells, rents or leases tangible personal property or provides taxable services in Tennessee must register with the Department of Revenue and get a Certificate of Registration before it starts doing business. Tennessee calls the registration a Tennessee certificate of registration. For a seller outside Tennessee, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous 12 months. Tennessee's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

Sales tax permit · Tennessee

How to Get a Tennessee Certificate of Registration

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

Tennessee Certificate of Registration at a Glance

What Tennessee calls it	Tennessee Certificate of Registration
Issued by	Tennessee Department of Revenue
How to apply	Not confirmed
Fee	Free
Security deposit or bond	Not confirmed
Expires	Not confirmed
Several locations	One for each location
Local sales tax	Depends (see Local taxes)
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 Tennessee Certificate of Registration

Every business that sells, rents or leases tangible personal property or provides taxable services in Tennessee must register with the Department of Revenue and get a Certificate of Registration before it starts doing business.

For a seller outside Tennessee, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous 12 months. Tennessee's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

How to Apply

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

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

What It Costs

Tennessee charges no fee for the certificate of registration.

We have not confirmed whether Tennessee can require security, such as a deposit or bond; check with the Tennessee Department of Revenue.

Does It Expire?

We have not confirmed whether the certificate of registration expires; check with the Tennessee Department of Revenue.

More Than One Location

A business needs a separate certificate of registration for each place of business in Tennessee.

Local Sales Taxes in Tennessee

Local sales taxes are collected by the Tennessee Department of Revenue with the state tax. Local hotel and motel (occupancy) taxes are paid to the city or county that charges them, unless the stay is booked through a short-term rental marketplace.

More for Tennessee Businesses

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

Frequently Asked Questions

: Every business that sells, rents or leases tangible personal property or provides taxable services in Tennessee must register with the Department of Revenue and get a Certificate of Registration before it starts doing business. Tennessee calls the registration a Tennessee certificate of registration. For a seller outside Tennessee, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales in the previous 12 months. Tennessee's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.
: Tennessee charges no fee for the certificate of registration. We have not confirmed whether Tennessee can require security, such as a deposit or bond; check with the Tennessee Department of Revenue.
: We have not confirmed whether the certificate of registration expires; check with the Tennessee Department of Revenue.
: A business needs a separate certificate of registration for each place of business in Tennessee.
: Local sales taxes are collected by the Tennessee Department of Revenue with the state tax. Local hotel and motel (occupancy) taxes are paid to the city or county that charges them, unless the stay is booked through a short-term rental marketplace.

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 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.

tn.gov/content/dam/tn/revenue/documents/tax_manuals/august-2026/sales-use-tax-manual.pdfTennessee Sales and Use Tax Manual (August 2026)
tn.gov/content/dam/tn/revenue/documents/notices/sales/sales20-14.pdfSales and Use Tax Notice 20-14, New Filing Threshold for Out-of-State Dealers (July 2020)
revenue.support.tn.gov/hc/en-us/articles/360058139252-SUT-10-Sales-and-Use-Tax-Account-Registering-for-an-AccountSUT-10, Sales and Use Tax Account, Registering for an Account
revenue.support.tn.gov/hc/en-us/articles/360057896931-LOT-2-Local-Occupancy-Tax-OverviewLOT-2, Local Occupancy Tax, Overview
revenue.support.tn.gov/hc/en-us/articles/360057881691-LOT-1-Local-Occupancy-Tax-Administration-Changed-in-2020-Legislation-SessionLOT-1, Local Occupancy Tax Administration Changed in 2020 Legislation Session
revenue.support.tn.gov/hc/en-us/articles/360057122752-GEN-32-Taxes-Not-Administered-By-The-Department-of-RevenueGEN-32, Taxes Not Administered By The Department of Revenue

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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.