Hawaii has no sales tax, so businesses get a General Excise Tax (GET) License from the Hawaii Department of Taxation for a one-time $20 fee. You can apply online through Hawaii Tax Online. Remote sellers need one once they have $100,000 in Hawaii gross income or 200 Hawaii transactions in the current or previous year.
You need a Hawaii General Excise Tax (GET) License if you receive income from business activities in Hawaii. That covers wholesaling, retailing, farming, services, construction contracting, renting property, business interest, and royalties, not only retail sales.
Hawaii doesn't have a sales tax. GET takes its place, and it's a business tax rather than a customer tax.
Doing business without a license may result in a civil citation and fine of up to $500, or up to $2,000 for cash-based businesses.
SaaS in Hawaii is subject to the GET. Because the GET applies to nearly all business income, including services and intangible property, SaaS income is taxed at the 4% rate, plus the county surcharge.
If you have no physical presence in Hawaii, you need a GET License once you reach the Hawaii economic nexus threshold in the current or previous calendar year:
Meeting either one is enough. You don't need to meet both.
Hawaii counts gross income and transactions from any combination of:
Because all three categories count, SaaS in Hawaii counts toward the thresholds.
Sales through marketplaces count too, as explained under Marketplace sellers below.
Hawaii law requires a license before you engage in business, so apply as soon as you meet either threshold.
If you didn't meet a threshold the year before, the Department of Taxation gives you one extra filing period for your first return. For example, if you file monthly and cross the threshold in May, your first return is the one for June, due July 20.
That first return also reports your earlier income from the same year, called catch-up income. You can pay it all on that return or spread it equally over the remaining periods of the tax year, without penalty or interest.
If you cross the threshold in the last period of your tax year, you don't need to file a periodic return. Report all the catch-up income on the annual return instead.
If you met a threshold in the past and never registered, a voluntary disclosure agreement may reduce the penalties on back taxes.
If you're below both thresholds and have no physical presence, you don't need a GET License.
You can still choose to register so you can collect Hawaii use tax from your customers and send it to the state. Otherwise, your Hawaii customers must report the use tax themselves. DOTAX calls this seller's collection, and there’s no fee.
If you have physical nexus in Hawaii, you need a GET License before you start doing business, at any income level. These create physical presence:
Hawaii's marketplace facilitator law treats marketplaces as the retail sellers of goods and services sold through them, so the marketplace pays GET at the retail rate.
That doesn't take marketplace sellers out of the GET. Your sales to the marketplace are treated as wholesale sales, and goods and services sold that way are taxed at the 0.5% wholesale rate. Intangible property doesn't get the wholesale rate. So you may still need your own license:
These rules assume the marketplace is itself doing business in Hawaii. If it isn't, count all your Hawaii sales under the standard Hawaii GET nexus rules.
Each marketplace can give you Form G-20, Certification for Marketplace Transactions, confirming that your sales to it are wholesale. Keep it in your files.
Inventory in Hawaii counts as physical presence. If you store goods at a marketplace's Hawaii facility, as some Amazon FBA sellers do, you need a GET License regardless of your sales volume.
Goods you deliver to a marketplace in Hawaii before the retail sale are taxed at the wholesale rate.
If you're starting a business in Hawaii, register your entity with the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) first. Sole proprietorships don't need to.
You also need a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), unless you're a sole proprietorship with no employees. In that case, you can use your Social Security number.
The online application and the paper Form BB-1 ask for:
A disregarded LLC still gets its own license and files its own GET returns. An owner, partner, member, officer, or authorized agent with a power of attorney signs the application.
Form BB-1 registers you for several Hawaii taxes at once, so it also asks:
Registering for the GET automatically registers you for use tax.
You can apply online through Hawaii Tax Online (HTO), the Department of Taxation's portal. Online applications are processed faster than paper ones.
You can also mail the paper Form BB-1, Basic Business Application. Attach a $20 check or money order payable to "Hawaii State Tax Collector" and the Form VP-1 payment voucher from the same packet, with the License Fee box checked, to the front of the form.
Send it to Hawaii Department of Taxation, P.O. Box 1425, Honolulu, HI 96806-1425.
To get your Hawaii Tax ID the same day, bring two copies of the completed application and the $20 fee to any district tax office.
On the Hawaii Tax Online homepage, go to the Registration tile and select Register New Business License.
On the Register New Business page, select BB-1 Basic Business Application. If you already have an HTO logon, sign in and select Apply for New Tax Account instead.
The application opens with a security check (a CAPTCHA).
Follow the prompts. The online BB-1 asks for the business, owner, and Hawaii-specific details listed above.
Under General Excise/Use, select GET/Use Tax for a regular license. Then choose your filing period and list your Hawaii business locations. The GET License fee is $20.
Tip: Pick your filing period from your estimated annual GET: semiannual for $2,000 or less, quarterly for $2,001 to $4,000, and monthly above $4,000. You can choose a more frequent period than your estimate calls for, but not a less frequent one. If you file more often than required, the department changes your schedule to monthly.
Once your application is processed, you get a Hawaii Tax ID, and the Department of Taxation mails your license. You can also sign in to HTO and print a letter that includes it.
Display the license at your place of business. The QR code lets anyone verify the license is valid. Use the Hawaii Tax ID on the license to file and pay your GET.
A Hawaii GET License costs $20, and Hawaii law makes it a one-time payment.
If your license is canceled and you need one again later, you pay the $20 fee again for a new license.
How long it takes depends on how you apply:
The GET is a tax on the business for the privilege of doing business in Hawaii, charged on its gross income. A sales tax is a tax on the customer that the business collects.
Wholesalers, manufacturers, service providers, contractors, and landlords all need a GET License, not just retailers. The state GET rates are:
All four counties add a 0.5% county surcharge to the 4% rate, for a total of 4.5%. The surcharge doesn't apply to the 0.5% and 0.15% rates, and it's reported on the same GET returns.
You may visibly pass the GET on to your customers, but you don't have to. You owe the tax either way.
If you do pass it on, the maximum is 4.712% of the price. It's higher than 4.5% because the GET you charge customers is part of your taxable gross income.
If you don't pass it on, you can't tell customers there's "no tax” because the GET is still part of your price.
From your first day of business, you owe Hawaii general excise tax on your gross income, at the rate for each activity.
Your filing schedule depends on how much GET, including the county surcharge, you'll pay in a year:
If your total GET for the year is $100 or less, you don't have to file periodic returns, only the annual return.
Periodic returns (Form G-45) are due on the 20th day of the month after the period ends. The annual return (Form G-49) is due on the 20th day of the fourth month after your tax year ends, which is April 20 for calendar-year filers.
You have to file every periodic and annual return, even with no income. Enter zero for your main business activity. You can file Hawaii GET returns online through HTO.
A GET License doesn't need renewal. It stays in effect until canceled.
The Department of Taxation may suspend or revoke a license if you don't file returns on time, and it revokes abandoned licenses each July 1.
Sales tax registration in other states works differently, and several require periodic renewal.
No. The GET License is a tax license from the Hawaii Department of Taxation. Form BB-1 is called the Basic Business Application, but it registers you for Hawaii taxes and gives you a Hawaii Tax ID.
Business entities register separately with the DCCA. Some businesses also need professional or county licenses, such as real estate agents and contractors.
No. An FEIN is a federal number from the IRS. Your Hawaii Tax ID is the state number on your GET License, which you use to file and pay Hawaii taxes.
Most businesses need both. Sole proprietors with no employees can use a Social Security number instead of an FEIN on Form BB-1.
No, but you need a free branch license instead. Hawaii requires a branch license for each additional business location and for each additional business name, such as a DBA.
Add branch licenses in HTO or with Form G-50, General Excise Branch License Maintenance Form.
Yes. Selling in person in Hawaii gives you physical presence there. For a single event, such as a trade show, convention, or concert, you can register for a GE One-Time Event license on Form BB-1 for $20.
You report the event on a periodic return (Form G-45). An annual return isn't required for a one-time event license.
No. A GET License is issued to a specific person or entity and can't be transferred. Apply for your own license before you start operating.
It depends on whether the break is temporary. You can file Form L-9 to place your license on inactive status for up to two years, with one two-year extension. You skip periodic returns while inactive, but you still file annual returns.
If you don't request the extension, the license reactivates automatically after two years.
To close for good, cancel the license in HTO or with Form GEW-TA-RV-1, after filing and paying through the cancellation date. A canceled license can't be reactivated, so you'd need a new one and a new $20 fee.
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