Businesses that sell taxable goods or services in Maine register with Maine Revenue Services and receive a Retailer Certificate. Registration is free and usually done online in the Maine Tax Portal, where you register your business and then add a Sales and Use Tax account. Remote sellers must register once their Maine sales exceed $100,000 in the previous or current calendar year.
You need to register with Maine Revenue Services (MRS) and get a Retailer Certificate, which allows you to collect and remit sales tax, if you're located in Maine and regularly sell tangible personal property or taxable services. Out-of-state sellers need one once they meet one of the tests below.
Maine taxes a digital product delivered electronically if the same product would be taxable in physical form. Digital audio and audiovisual services, including subscriptions, are also taxable services.
However, Maine doesn’t tax SaaS. Because customers access software remotely, it isn’t transferred to them and isn’t treated as tangible personal property. If SaaS is all you sell, you don’t need a Retailer Certificate for sales tax.
If you have no physical presence in Maine, you need to register and begin collecting sales tax once you cross the Maine economic nexus threshold: more than $100,000 in gross sales into Maine in the previous or current calendar year. Maine has no transaction-count threshold.
Maine counts all of your sales delivered into the state, including:
Sales a marketplace makes for you don't count, as long as the marketplace has given you a written statement that it collects and remits the sales tax on them.
You must register and start collecting by the first day of the month, roughly 30 days after you cross $100,000. For example, if you pass $100,000 on May 15, you need to be registered and collecting by July 1.
MRS words this deadline differently in different guidance, so register sooner if you can.
If you crossed the threshold in the past and never registered, a voluntary disclosure agreement may help. Through Maine's Voluntary Disclosure Program, MRS waives penalties for approved applicants who pay the tax and interest. The lookback period is generally three years, but for sales tax you collected and didn't remit, it goes back as far as needed to recover that tax.
You aren't eligible once MRS has contacted you about your tax status, a liability, or an audit for that tax.
Sellers that aren't required to register can still register. A voluntary registrant has the same duties as any other retailer, but its liability may be limited to the sales tax it actually collects.
To get that treatment, make clear in your application that you're registering voluntarily.
Any of these gives you physical nexus in Maine, so you must register and collect sales tax regardless of your sales volume:
Some activities don't count as physical presence on their own. These include attending trade shows or seminars, holding a board meeting, keeping a Maine bank account, using a Maine printer, and soliciting sales online or by catalog when orders ship by U.S. mail or an interstate common carrier.
Making retail sales in Maine without a required registration is a Class E crime, so register before your first sale.
Maine's marketplace facilitator law requires marketplaces with a physical presence in Maine, or more than $100,000 in Maine sales, to register and collect sales tax on the sales they facilitate for you. Each marketplace must give its sellers a written statement that it will collect and remit the tax.
Whether you still need your own registration depends on whether you have a physical presence in Maine and how you sell:
Inventory in Maine gives you physical presence, including inventory a marketplace stores for you. If you’re an Amazon FBA seller with stock in a Maine fulfillment center, you must register, even if every Maine sale goes through the marketplace.
The marketplace still collects the sales tax on the sales it facilitates. On your own returns, you report those sales as exempt, as long as the marketplace has given you its written statement, and you collect tax on any direct sales.
Everyone who rents out living quarters in Maine must register as a retailer, including hotels, campgrounds, transient rental platforms, and room remarketers. Individuals renting a cottage, camp, or condo follow these rules:
If those casual rentals are your only Maine sales tax obligation and you expect less than $2,000 in tax for the year, you may report that tax on your Maine income tax return instead of filing sales tax returns.
Maine repealed its Service Provider Tax on Jan. 1, 2026. Services that used to be taxed under it, such as telecommunications, cable and satellite TV or radio, and fabrication services, are now subject to the 5.5% sales tax instead.
If you sell those services and meet Maine's registration rules, you need a Sales and Use Tax account. If you already have one under the same FEIN, you can report the services on it.
You need a Maine Tax Portal username before you start because registering a business for sales tax collection requires you to be logged in. Step 2 below covers creating one.
Businesses other than sole proprietorships must also attach one of these:
The sales tax section of the Application for Tax Registration asks:
Your estimated sales matter. MRS only issues a Resale Certificate to new retailers that expect $3,000 or more in annual gross sales.
The application also asks whether you own other businesses and whether you bought the business from a previous owner.
Registering online has two parts: register your business in the Maine Tax Portal (MTP), then add a Sales and Use Tax account. MRS's MTP instructional guides walk through both parts.
Most businesses register online through the Maine Tax Portal. On the portal home page, under Businesses, select Register a New Business - Start Here.
To apply on paper, complete Sections 1 and 3 of the Application for Tax Registration. Email it to taxpayerassist@maine.gov, fax it to (207) 287-6975, or mail it to Taxpayer Assistance, P.O. Box 1060, Augusta, ME 04332-1060.
If you're new to the portal, Register a New Business - Start Here opens the sign-up page. Enter your name, a username, and your email, then select Verify Email and enter the code MRS sends you.
Next, set a password of at least 12 characters that includes an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a number, and a special character. Add a phone number, a security question, and a two-step verification method: an authentication app, text message, or email.
If you already have a username, log in instead.
On your logged-in Summary page, under I Want To..., select Register as a New Business or Third Party. The first screen lists what you'll need.
Tip: The registration has several steps and can take more than half an hour. Don't use your browser's back and forward buttons. Select Save Draft to get a confirmation code that lets you come back later.
Work through each screen and select Next:
On Corporate Officers and Documentation, select Add Corporate Officer and enter at least one officer. Then use Add Attachment to upload your supporting document. Sole proprietorships don't need to attach one.
Enter your NAICS code, or search for it by keyword. On Preferences, choose whether to go paperless for MRS mail.
On Confirm Submission, check the certification box, type your name in Signature, and select Submit. Save the confirmation number.
Once the business is registered, you add tax accounts to it separately. From your logged-in home page, select Register New Accounts, which is also under the More... tab.
Check Sales and Use Tax under Business Tax Types, enter the begin date and the other details the screen asks for, and add any attachments. Then choose whether you want ACH credit payment instructions, sign, and select Submit.
Warning: Check Sales and Use Tax, not Use Tax. A use tax-only account is for businesses that don't have to register to collect sales tax.
You get a confirmation number when you submit. The new account can take 1 to 2 business days to appear on your portal home page.
Your 8-digit registration number appears on your Retailer Certificate and in the welcome letter MRS sends. The certificate also notes your filing frequency.
Keep a copy of the certificate at each Maine place of business. MRS and municipal officials can inspect it.
A Maine Retailer Certificate is free. There's no registration fee, and the certificate doesn't expire, so there's no renewal fee.
MRS may require a bond before it issues your certificate or at any time afterward. The State Tax Assessor sets the amount and conditions.
The bond must come from a surety company qualified to do business in Maine. MRS may accept a deposit of money or securities instead.
If you don't file the required bond within 15 days of receiving notice, MRS can revoke your certificate.
When you register online, you get a confirmation number as soon as you submit, and the new Sales and Use Tax account can take 1 to 2 business days to show up in the portal. MRS doesn't publish a processing time for paper applications.
Owing Maine taxes can slow things down. If you owe any Maine taxes, or the previous owner of a business you bought owes trust fund taxes, MRS may delay or deny your registration.
You need a separate registration and Retailer Certificate for each place of business in Maine. If you sell from vehicles and have no fixed place of business, each vehicle counts as a place of business.
Locations with the same owner and FEIN or SSN can file one consolidated return. Request it on your application, or add locations to your account later in the portal with MRS's branch locations guide.
Charge Maine sales tax at the 5.5% general rate on most taxable sales. Other rates apply to prepared food (8%), lodging (9%), short-term auto rentals (10%), and adult use cannabis (14%).
Remote sellers must start collecting by the same deadline as their registration.
MRS sets your filing frequency based on your average tax liability and reviews it every year:
Returns are due by the 15th of the month after each period, or the next business day if the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday. You must file Maine sales tax online through the MTP unless MRS grants you a waiver.
File a return for every period, even when no tax is due. If you registered as a seasonal filer, you don't file for the months your business is closed.
Your Retailer Certificate doesn't expire. It stays valid until you cancel it or MRS revokes it, and you can't transfer it. If you stop doing business in Maine, return the certificate to MRS.
To close the account, file a final return marked as out of business, or select Report Business Closure under the More... tab.
MRS can revoke it if you don't file a return within 15 days after the due date.
Registration rules in other states differ, and several require regular renewal.
No. Every registered retailer gets a Retailer Certificate, which shows that you're registered to collect Maine sales tax and displays your registration number.
A Resale Certificate is a separate document that lets you buy items for resale without paying sales tax. MRS only issues it to retailers with $3,000 or more in annual gross sales, and unlike the Retailer Certificate, it expires.
Retailers without one pay tax on items bought for resale, then claim a credit on their next sales tax return.
Only if you're a sole proprietor registering only for sales and use tax. Sole proprietors can use a Social Security number, but every other type of business needs an FEIN to register for a tax number.
The paper application also requires an FEIN from sole proprietors who register for other taxes, such as income tax withholding.
No. MRS doesn't accept registrations through the Streamlined Sales Tax Registration System. Register through the Maine Tax Portal or with the paper Application for Tax Registration.
Yes, but not right away. Remote sellers can cancel once their Maine sales haven't exceeded $100,000 for two consecutive calendar years after they registered.
For example, if you registered after exceeding $100,000 in one year, you must stay registered through the next year. If you stay under $100,000 that year and the year after, you can cancel effective Dec. 31 of that second year.
Yes. A Retailer Certificate can't be transferred, so the new owner registers on its own. The paper application asks how you got the business and for the previous owner's sales tax registration number.
Warning: Maine requires a buyer to withhold enough of the purchase price to cover the seller's unpaid trust fund taxes, such as sales tax. If you don't, you can be held liable for those taxes, plus interest and penalties. Ask the seller to request a tax clearance letter from MRS before you close.
Yes, if you make sales at the event. Maine requires sellers who make retail sales in Maine to register, even if they have no place of business in the state. That includes out-of-state vendors selling at a fair or show.
You don’t need to register if:
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