Your resale certificate number is printed on the sales tax permit your state issued when you registered to collect sales tax. If you no longer have the paper document, the fastest place to find your resale certificate number is your state tax agency’s online portal, where it sits in your account profile. In most states, the resale certificate number and the sales tax permit number are the same identifier.
Start With the Physical Certificate
The paper document itself is the most direct source. When your state approved your registration, it issued a certificate, permit, or license with the number printed on it. The label varies by state: “Certificate Number,” “Permit Number,” “Sales Tax ID,” or “Reseller’s Permit Number.” The number usually sits near the top, next to your business name and address.
If you’ve renewed since the original issue, check the renewal paperwork too. The number stays the same across renewals unless your business entity changed, such as a sole proprietorship converting to an LLC. Some states issue a formal printed certificate; others simply assign you a number and expect you to write it onto a blank exemption form each time you make a tax-exempt purchase.
Log In to Your State’s Online Tax Portal
Nearly every state tax agency runs an online portal for sales tax accounts. If you created a login when you first registered, your permit number is in there. Look for a section called “My Account,” “Business Registrations,” or “Tax Accounts.” The number appears alongside your business details and filing history.
If you never set up an online account, most portals let you create one by verifying your identity with your Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Social Security Number. Some states also publish a public lookup tool where anyone can search a permit number and confirm it’s active. That tool is useful both for retrieving your own number and for verifying a customer or supplier’s certificate before you complete a tax-exempt sale.
Pull It From Your Business Records
Even if the certificate itself is lost, you’ve almost certainly used the number before. Common places it’s already recorded:
- Accounting software. Platforms like QuickBooks or Xero store the permit number in tax settings or compliance modules.
- Past sales tax returns. Every return you’ve filed required the number. Open any prior filing.
- Purchase orders and vendor files. Any wholesale purchase where you claimed a tax exemption required you to hand the supplier a resale certificate. Your copies, and the supplier’s, will show the number.
- Compliance folders. If you keep a binder or digital folder for permits and licenses, the certificate is likely filed with your business license and EIN confirmation letter.
Call Your State Tax Agency
When nothing else surfaces the number, call the state directly. The agency’s name varies: Department of Revenue, Department of Taxation, Tax Commission, or Comptroller’s Office are the common ones. Before you dial, have these on hand:
- The business’s legal name, exactly as it appears on the registration, not a trade name or DBA.
- The EIN or SSN tied to the account.
- The name of the owner or officer authorized on the account.
- The business address on file.
If you can give the approximate date you first applied, that helps the representative narrow the search. Most agencies can read your number back over the phone once your identity is confirmed, and the call rarely runs more than a few minutes.
Don’t Confuse It With Your EIN
A resale certificate number and an EIN are not the same thing, and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes on exemption forms. Your EIN is a federal number the IRS issues to identify your business for income tax, payroll, and other federal purposes.1Internal Revenue Service. Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN) Your resale certificate number is state-issued and ties to your authority to collect sales tax and buy inventory tax-free.
The two don’t even look alike. An EIN follows an XX-XXXXXXX format; state permit numbers vary widely in length and structure. When a supplier asks for your “resale number” or “exemption certificate,” they want the state number. Handing over the EIN won’t satisfy the requirement and will hold up the order.
One related number is worth knowing about if you sell across state lines. Businesses that register through the Streamlined Sales Tax Registration System receive a nine-character Streamlined Sales Tax ID (SSTID) that starts with “S.” You can use the SSTID when communicating with any Streamlined member state, though most states will also assign you a separate state-specific permit number for filing returns.2Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. FAQs – About Registrations
What If You Never Had One
If you’ve searched everywhere and come up empty, it’s possible you never registered. Buying inventory without a resale certificate means you’ve been paying sales tax on purchases where you shouldn’t have, assuming the goods were resold to customers. The fix is to register with your state tax agency. Most states let you apply online in a few minutes, though the formal permit can take a couple of weeks to arrive.
Businesses that sell in multiple states can register in any or all of the 24 Streamlined member states through a single free application.3Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. Sales Tax Registration SSTRS And if you only operate in Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, or Oregon, you don’t need a resale certificate at all, because those states have no state-level sales tax.