Businesses that sell taxable goods or services in Kentucky apply for a Sales and Use Tax Permit from the Kentucky Department of Revenue. The permit is free, and you can apply online. Remote sellers need one once they have more than $100,000 in Kentucky gross receipts in the current or previous calendar year.
You need a Kentucky Sales and Use Tax Permit if you're engaged in business in Kentucky as a retailer, or plan to be. Every retailer or seller doing business in the state must apply for a permit for each place of business.
Prewritten computer software access services have been subject to sales tax since Jan. 1, 2023. That includes SaaS in Kentucky.
If you have no physical presence in Kentucky, you need to register once you cross the Kentucky economic nexus threshold: more than $100,000 in gross receipts from Kentucky sales in the previous or current calendar year. Kentucky no longer has a transaction-count threshold.
Under KRS 139.340, the threshold counts your gross receipts from:
Before Aug. 1, 2026, 200 or more separate Kentucky transactions also triggered registration. Remote sellers whose only reason to register with the Department of Revenue (DOR) was the transaction volume threshold no longer need a permit.
You must register and start collecting no later than the first day of the calendar month that's at most 60 days after you reach the threshold.
For example, if you pass $100,000 on May 15, you need to be registered and collecting by July 1.
If you crossed the threshold in the past and never registered, a voluntary disclosure agreement may help. If you qualify, Kentucky's Voluntary Disclosure Program waives penalties and generally limits back returns to 48 months.
You can't qualify once DOR or the Multistate Tax Commission has contacted you about the tax, or while you're under audit.
Any physical nexus in Kentucky means you must register, regardless of your sales volume. Under KRS 139.340, any of these conditions creates physical nexus:
File the registration application at least 30 days before you start an activity that requires a sales and use tax account.
Kentucky's marketplace facilitator law requires marketplace providers with more than $100,000 in Kentucky sales, such as Amazon and Etsy, to collect and remit tax on the sales they facilitate for you. You're relieved of collecting and remitting tax on those sales.
Whether you still need your own permit depends on where you're based and how you sell:
Kentucky’s statute treats a warehouse or storage place you use in the state, directly or indirectly, as physical presence, with no exception for a marketplace’s fulfillment center.
DOR hasn’t addressed Amazon FBA sellers directly, but its exemption for marketplace-only sellers covers only remote retailers with no physical presence. If a marketplace stores your inventory in Kentucky, plan to register.
The marketplace still collects tax on your marketplace sales. On your return, you include those sales and deduct them, listing the marketplace that collected the tax.
Corporations, LLCs, and other entities should register with the Kentucky Secretary of State first. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships should contact the county clerk where the business is located instead.
You'll also need a Social Security number for every individual who is a responsible party. DOR treats an application without them as incomplete.
Who counts as a responsible party depends on your business structure, such as the owner, partners, corporate officers, or LLC members or managers. You'll also name a contact person for questions about the application.
The Kentucky Tax Registration Application covers several tax accounts at once, so it asks questions most sales tax applications don't:
If your business structure isn't available as a selection online, you must submit the paper application by mail, fax, or email.
These steps follow DOR's new business registration guide for the MyTaxes portal.
Most businesses apply online through MyTaxes.ky.gov, DOR's business tax portal. DOR's Register or Reinstate a Business page links to both the online application and the paper form.
To apply on paper, use Form 10A100, Kentucky Tax Registration Application. Email it to DOR.Registration@ky.gov, fax it to 502-227-0772, or mail it to the Division of Registration, 501 High Street, Station 20, Frankfort, KY 40602-0299.
Go to MyTaxes.ky.gov. If you already file Kentucky business taxes there, select Log In Now. Otherwise, select Register a new account.
Complete the registration form, choose Taxpayer as your MyTaxes Portal User Role, and select Sign Up. Then verify your email with the link or six-digit code DOR sends you.
Next, set a password of at least 14 characters through the Forgot Password / Not Provided link, or choose email verification instead. Once you're signed in, select the MyTaxes tile on the My Apps dashboard.
From the MyTaxes home page, select Transactions, then Submit Application. Select the Register New Business tile.
The Submit Application page lists the accounts you can register for online and the information to have ready.
On the Reason for Application screen, select why you're applying and your business structure. Say whether the Division of Registration sent you correspondence asking you to register, and if it did, enter the document number.
Enter your legal business information, Secretary of State details, and primary business location, then select Save and Continue.
Answer the Withholding Tax Qualification questions about employees and voluntary withholding.
The next page asks questions that decide whether you need a Sales and Use Tax account. It also covers transient room tax, the motor vehicle tire fee, and other taxes DOR administers through the same application.
On the Sales and Use Tax Account Registration page, enter your mailing address and contact information.
Then, on the Sales and Use Tax Location page, select Add for each location and enter its details. Select Save and Continue once every location is listed.
Answer the qualification questions for corporation income tax and limited liability entity tax. If they apply to you, complete that registration page too.
Three more pages ask about tobacco tax, rental rideshare, and electric vehicle power.
On the Responsible Party: Member screen, select Add and enter the person's details. The next page lets you add more responsible parties the same way.
Upload any supporting documents on the Attachments page, or select Save and Continue to skip it. Check the Summary Information page and fix anything wrong.
On the Submit Application – Signature page, read the acknowledgment and select Yes to sign. A confirmation number appears once the application is submitted. Print the page or save the number.
DOR assigns new accounts a 9-digit account ID. It issues a separate permit for each place of business in Kentucky, and you must display each permit conspicuously at that location.
A Kentucky Sales and Use Tax Permit is free. There's no fee for additional locations and no renewal fee.
DOR may require security when it considers it necessary to ensure you comply. It sets the amount, up to a cap under KRS 139.660.
The cap is twice your estimated average liability if you file quarterly, or three times if you file monthly. For businesses that are habitually delinquent, the cap rises to three times quarterly or five times monthly liability.
Paper applications that are mailed, faxed, or emailed can take up to three weeks to process, and applying online through MyTaxes is faster. DOR doesn't publish a processing time for online applications.
Applications with missing or unclear information take longer. DOR returns by mail any paper application with extensive missing information.
Kentucky takes part in the Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) agreement, so remote sellers can register through the Streamlined Sales Tax Registration System instead of MyTaxes.
The return you file depends on how you registered. In MyTaxes, SST filers file the Streamlined Simplified Electronic Return (SER), while sellers registered directly with DOR file the Sales and Use Worksheet.
Voluntary sellers registered through SST file an SER for any month with Kentucky sales. If they registered as having no Kentucky sales, they don't file until they make one.
Kentucky has no local sales taxes, so your state permit is the only sales tax registration you need.
Many Kentucky cities and counties do require a local business license or charge an occupational tax. Contact the city or county government where your main Kentucky location is, and each one where you'll do business.
Charge Kentucky sales tax at the 6% state rate on taxable sales.
Remote sellers must begin collecting by the first day of the calendar month that's at most 60 days after they reach $100,000.
DOR assigns your filing frequency from the information on your application. It reviews accounts every year and usually makes changes in June.
Monthly and quarterly returns are due on the 20th of the month after the period, or the next working day if the 20th falls on a weekend or holiday.
You must file Kentucky sales tax online through MyTaxes, because DOR's electronic filing and payment mandate covers monthly, quarterly, and annual filers. DOR only considers waivers for businesses without internet access or with documented technical problems.
Kentucky requires every retailer to file a return for each period, so file even if you had no sales. The exception is SST volunteer filers registered as having no Kentucky sales, covered above.
If you file and pay on time, you can keep a collection allowance of 1.75% of the first $1,000 of tax and 1.5% of the rest, up to $50 per reporting period.
Kentucky doesn't require you to renew your permit. Sales and use tax accounts have no expiration date and stay active until you cancel them. You can't transfer the permit, and it's valid only for the business it was issued to.
Keep your account details current in MyTaxes or with Form 10A104.
Registration rules in other states differ, and several require regular renewal.
No. An EIN is a federal tax ID from the IRS. A Kentucky Sales and Use Tax Permit authorizes you to collect Kentucky sales tax, and DOR assigns it its own account number.
Yes. Kentucky calls it a Sales and Use Tax Permit, and DOR's application refers to a Sales and Use Tax Account/Permit. In Kentucky, a "sales tax license" or "sales tax account" refers to the same registration.
Yes. DOR issues a separate permit for each place of business in Kentucky, and each one has to be displayed at its location.
You list your locations on the Sales and Use Tax Location page when you apply. To add one later, use MyTaxes or Form 10A104.
It depends. Sellers who aren't regularly engaged in retail and have no permanent place of business, such as concessionaires at fairs, report and remit tax on a non-permit basis.
In MyTaxes, choose Register / File as Temporary Vendor for Sales and Use Tax to register for an upcoming event and report your sales afterward. DOR's Temporary Vendor Guide walks through it.
Businesses that sell regularly at flea markets or antique malls need a full sales and use tax account.
Usually. A Kentucky permit can't be assigned to a new owner. If you buy a sole proprietorship or a partnership, or if the business structure, FEIN, Secretary of State organization number, or CBI changes, apply for new accounts with "Purchased an existing business" as your reason.
If you buy a corporation or LLC and none of those change, don't use the registration application. Update the existing account with Form 10A104 or in MyTaxes instead.
Warning: If the seller owes Kentucky sales tax, you must withhold enough of the purchase price to cover it until the seller shows a DOR receipt or a certificate that nothing is due. If you don't, you can become personally liable up to the purchase price.
Yes. DOR requires a new Kentucky Tax Registration Application if your business structure, FEIN, Secretary of State organization number, or CBI changes. For example, converting a sole proprietorship to an LLC requires you to register again.
Changing only your federal tax election with the IRS doesn't. You keep the same Kentucky accounts and report the change on Form 10A104.
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