Businesses that make retail or wholesale sales in Indiana register with the Indiana Department of Revenue for a Registered Retail Merchant Certificate (RRMC), usually online through INBiz. It costs $25 per location and renews every two years at no cost if you're current on your returns. Remote sellers need one once their Indiana gross revenue tops $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year.
You need an Indiana Registered Retail Merchant Certificate (RRMC) if you sell goods or other tangible personal property in Indiana. That includes wholesale and retail sales.
Indiana law calls its sales tax the State Gross Retail Tax, but it works like any other sales tax. The Indiana Department of Revenue (DOR) issues the certificate.
Indiana doesn’t tax SaaS or other remotely accessed software. If SaaS is all you sell, you don’t need a certificate.
If you have no physical presence in Indiana, you need an RRMC once you pass the Indiana economic nexus threshold: more than $100,000 in gross revenue from sales into Indiana in the current or previous calendar year.
Indiana has no transaction-count threshold. It removed its 200-transaction test on Jan. 1, 2024.
If you sell prepared food, lodging, tires, or other products with their own Indiana taxes or fees, the same threshold applies to those taxes too.
Once you meet the threshold, you must register and start collecting sales tax.
Count your gross revenue from any of these:
Don't count sales made through a marketplace facilitator, unless that marketplace hasn't met the threshold itself. The marketplace counts those sales toward its own threshold.
Service providers that pass $100,000 but don't sell tangible personal property or taxable services don't need to register.
DOR doesn't publish a grace period. Once your Indiana gross revenue for the calendar year passes $100,000, you need an RRMC and must start collecting sales tax.
Because the test also looks at the previous calendar year, the requirement continues through the next year. For example, if you pass $100,000 in May, you still need to be registered for the entire following year, even if your sales drop.
You can also register voluntarily below the threshold. You then collect Indiana tax on all taxable sales until you cancel your registration.
If you crossed the threshold in the past and never registered, a voluntary disclosure agreement can help. Indiana's Voluntary Disclosure Program limits the sales tax look-back to three full calendar years plus the current period and reduces penalties.
If you have physical nexus in Indiana, you need an RRMC regardless of sales volume. Physical presence includes any of these, whether permanent or temporary:
You need the certificate before you make retail sales. Merchants can't operate without a valid one.
The exception is a seller that sells only through marketplaces, covered in the next section.
Indiana's marketplace facilitator law makes marketplaces that meet the $100,000 threshold register and collect Indiana tax on the sales they facilitate. The marketplace is treated as the seller for those sales.
Whether you still need your own RRMC depends on your other sales:
If you're registered for other reasons, report your marketplace sales as exempt sales on your return.
If you're registered and now sell only through marketplaces, you can keep the account and file $0 returns, or close it on Form BC-100.
Storing inventory in a marketplace’s Indiana warehouse gives you physical presence in Indiana. DOR counts any warehouse or storage place in Indiana that you use, directly or indirectly. That covers Amazon FBA sellers with stock in an Indiana fulfillment center.
Corporations, LLCs, and other entities must register with the Indiana Secretary of State before they register with DOR. Sole proprietors and general partnerships don't need to.
Remote sellers generally don't need to register with the Secretary of State.
The checklists below follow the online Business Tax Application checklist and Form BT-1, the paper version of the same application.
Indiana law requires the SSNs. Responsible officers can be held personally liable for sales tax the business collects but doesn't remit.
Any unpaid Indiana tax owed by the business or a listed owner, partner, or officer delays approval.
The sales tax section of the application asks:
Most businesses register online through INBiz, Indiana's business registration portal. DOR's Sales Tax page points to it, and DOR recommends INBiz as the simplest way to start.
You can also mail a paper Form BT-1, Business Tax Application, with the $25 fee to the Indiana Department of Revenue, Tax Administration Processing, P.O. Box 6197, Indianapolis, IN 46206-6197. Each location needs its own application.
Remote sellers registering in several states can use the Streamlined Sales Tax Registration System instead, since Indiana is a Streamlined Sales Tax member.
If you have physical presence in Indiana, you must complete both registrations: Streamlined and Indiana's own, with the $25 fee.
Go to INBiz. Select Log In at the top of the page, or Create Account further down the page if you're new.
INBiz uses an Access Indiana login. Enter your email address and select Continue, or select Sign up to create an Access Indiana account.
Start the Business Tax Application (BT-1) and follow the prompts. It asks for the details in the checklists above:
The application shows a Document Locator Number (DLN) at the bottom of the business contact screen. Write it down for future reference.
Pay the nonrefundable $25 fee for each location and submit.
Once DOR processes your registration, you'll receive your Indiana Taxpayer Identification Number (TID). You'll need it to set up an INTIME account, DOR's portal for filing and paying sales tax.
When you create an INTIME login, you validate your account with a Letter ID from a DOR letter, a recent payment amount, or a return line item. If you don't have any of these, you can request a welcome letter while you create the login.
DOR issues an RRMC for each place of business on your application. Display each certificate at its location.
An RRMC costs $25 per location. The fee is nonrefundable, and there's no charge to renew.
You pay another $25 when you add a location or change ownership, such as a sole proprietorship becoming a corporation.
DOR may require security to make sure the tax gets paid. The cap is twice DOR's estimate of your quarterly sales and use tax liability.
Online registrations through INBiz take a few days to process. Paper BT-1 applications take four to six weeks.
Either one takes longer if the business or a responsible officer owes Indiana tax.
An RRMC is valid for two years. DOR renews it automatically at no cost if all your returns and payments are current.
You don't file anything to renew. DOR delivers renewed certificates online through INTIME, under View Letters on the All Actions tab.
If you have missing returns or a balance due, DOR holds your certificate until the account is current. DOR must notify you at least 60 days before it expires.
If you then file and pay everything before it expires, you get a one-year renewal instead of two.
Warning: A skipped $0 return is an unfiled return. If you don't file it, DOR revokes your RRMC, and you can't make retail sales without a valid certificate.
To reinstate a revoked certificate, pay the balance or set up a payment plan and file any missing returns. DOR then renews and issues the certificate after seven days.
Charge Indiana sales tax at 7% on taxable sales. Indiana has one statewide rate and no local sales tax rates.
Some counties and cities add food and beverage or innkeeper's taxes. Those, along with sales such as motor vehicle rentals or tires, require extra registration.
DOR sets your filing frequency based on your tax liability and reviews it each November. Your first frequency comes from the estimated monthly sales on your application. If you leave it blank or enter zero, you'll file monthly.
Streamlined sellers that use a certified service provider or certified software file monthly, on one return for all locations, by the 20th of the next month.
You file Indiana sales tax online through INTIME or third-party software. Sales tax returns and payments must be electronic unless DOR approves a Business Exemption Application (Form BT-EX).
Monthly returns are due by the 20th of the next month if your average monthly liability is more than $1,000, and by the 30th if it's $1,000 or less. Annual returns are due Jan. 31.
File a return for every period, even if you have no sales. Late returns carry a penalty of up to 20%, with a $5 minimum.
If you file and pay on time, you keep a collection allowance of 0.26% to 0.73% of the tax, depending on your prior-year liability.
Your RRMC renews every two years at no cost while you're current, as covered above.
Registration rules in other states differ, and some charge renewal fees.
No. DOR issues the RRMC. For a vendor's license, contact your county clerk's office.
No. Your FEIN (often called an EIN) is a federal tax ID from the IRS. Your TID is the Indiana tax ID DOR assigns when you register, and it appears on your RRMC.
Your TID is the 13-digit number shown on your RRMC. The location number is the last three digits of your TID.
Yes. Indiana treats wholesalers as retail merchants, so you need a certificate even if none of your sales are taxable. Enter $1 as your estimated monthly taxable sales on the application.
No, as long as every Indiana sale goes through Amazon or another marketplace facilitator. The marketplace collects the tax, and those sales don't count toward your $100,000 threshold.
Sales through your own website aren't covered. If you're out of state and those sales pass $100,000, you need an RRMC. If you're based in Indiana, you need one for any direct sales.
Yes. A change of ownership needs a new application and a new $25 fee. That includes changing from a sole proprietorship to a partnership or corporation.
You also need a new registration if the change gives the business a new FEIN.
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