Sales tax permit · West Virginia

How to Get a West Virginia Business Registration Certificate

The short answer. In West Virginia, the registration a business must hold before it makes sales subject to West Virginia sales tax is a West Virginia Business Registration Certificate, issued by the West Virginia Tax Division.

West Virginia Business Registration Certificate at a Glance

What West Virginia calls it	West Virginia Business Registration Certificate
Issued by	West Virginia Tax Division
How to apply	Online or paper
Fee	$30 per location (see Cost)
Security deposit or bond	Required in stated cases
Expires	Does not expire (see Renewal)
Several locations	One for each location
Local sales tax	Depends (see Local taxes)
Threshold for sellers outside the state	$100,000 in sales or 200 separate transactions

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

Who Needs a West Virginia Business Registration Certificate

Every person or business must get a West Virginia Business Registration Certificate from the Tax Commissioner before engaging in any business activity in the state, which includes making taxable sales.

For a seller outside West Virginia, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales or 200 separate transactions in the previous or current calendar year. West Virginia's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.

How to Apply

You apply to the West Virginia Tax Division. You can apply online or on a paper application. Go to West Virginia's registration page.

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

What It Costs

The Business Registration Certificate costs $30 for each location. This is West Virginia's business registration tax, which pays for the certificate covering all business activity at that location, not only sales tax, and it is paid again whenever a new certificate is issued. Certain organizations are exempt from it.

West Virginia requires security, such as a bond or deposit, in stated cases. A transient vendor (a seller from outside West Virginia with no business location in the state) must post a $500 bond or certified check with its application, which the Tax Commissioner may reduce or drop after a period of compliance. A nonresident contractor must also post a bond for its contracts.

Does It Expire?

The Business Registration Certificate does not expire. A change of business name, location or ownership counts as closing the business, so you need a new certificate, but a change of partners, members or officers does not.

More Than One Location

A business needs a separate Business Registration Certificate for each place of business in West Virginia.

Local Sales Taxes in West Virginia

Municipal sales and use taxes are administered by the West Virginia Tax Division with the state tax. Hotel occupancy taxes are paid to the county or city that imposes them, and cities and counties may have their own business registration and license tax rules, so check with the local mayor's office and county.

More for West Virginia Businesses

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

Frequently Asked Questions

: Every person or business must get a West Virginia Business Registration Certificate from the Tax Commissioner before engaging in any business activity in the state, which includes making taxable sales. West Virginia calls the registration a West Virginia Business Registration Certificate. For a seller outside West Virginia, the economic nexus threshold is $100,000 in sales or 200 separate transactions in the previous or current calendar year. West Virginia's own rule sets which sales count toward it and when registration must follow.
: The Business Registration Certificate costs $30 for each location. This is West Virginia's business registration tax, which pays for the certificate covering all business activity at that location, not only sales tax, and it is paid again whenever a new certificate is issued. Certain organizations are exempt from it. West Virginia requires security, such as a bond or deposit, in stated cases. A transient vendor (a seller from outside West Virginia with no business location in the state) must post a $500 bond or certified check with its application, which the Tax Commissioner may reduce or drop after a period of compliance. A nonresident contractor must also post a bond for its contracts.
: The Business Registration Certificate does not expire. A change of business name, location or ownership counts as closing the business, so you need a new certificate, but a change of partners, members or officers does not.
: A business needs a separate Business Registration Certificate for each place of business in West Virginia.
: Municipal sales and use taxes are administered by the West Virginia Tax Division with the state tax. Hotel occupancy taxes are paid to the county or city that imposes them, and cities and counties may have their own business registration and license tax rules, so check with the local mayor's office and county.

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 West Virginia 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.

code.wvlegislature.gov/11-12-3/W. Va. Code 11-12-3, Business registration certificate required; tax levied
code.wvlegislature.gov/11-12-4/W. Va. Code 11-12-4, Application for business registration certificate; municipal license taxes
code.wvlegislature.gov/11-12-5/W. Va. Code 11-12-5, Time for which registration certificate granted; certificate permanent
code.wvlegislature.gov/11-12-6/W. Va. Code 11-12-6, Change of name, location, ownership
code.wvlegislature.gov/11-12-7/W. Va. Code 11-12-7, Display of registration certificate
code.wvlegislature.gov/11-12-20/W. Va. Code 11-12-20, Registration of transient vendors
code.wvlegislature.gov/11-12-21/W. Va. Code 11-12-21, Bond of transient vendors
code.wvlegislature.gov/11-15A-6b/W. Va. Code 11-15A-6b, Collection of tax by marketplace facilitators and referrers; economic nexus
code.wvlegislature.gov/8-13C-6/W. Va. Code 8-13C-6, State level administration of municipal sales and use taxes
code.wvlegislature.gov/7-18-1/W. Va. Code 7-18-1, Hotel occupancy tax
code.wvlegislature.gov/7-18-10/W. Va. Code 7-18-10, Hotel occupancy tax return and payment
tax.wv.gov/Business/BusinessRegistration/Pages/BusinessRegistration.aspxWest Virginia Tax Division, Business Registration
tax.wv.gov/Documents/TSD/tsd360.pdfTSD 360, Business Registration Procedures (Rev. March 2023)

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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.