Businesses that need to collect Maryland sales tax apply for a Sales and Use Tax License from the Comptroller of Maryland. The license is free, and you apply online through the Combined Registration Application in Maryland Tax Connect. Remote sellers need one once their Maryland sales top $100,000 or reach 200 transactions in the current or previous calendar year.
You need a Maryland Sales and Use Tax License if you sell or deliver taxable goods, digital products, or taxable services in Maryland, or if you're an out-of-state seller with nexus in the state. Maryland law requires the license before you start selling.
That includes SaaS in Maryland, which the state taxes as a digital product or, since July 1, 2025, as a software publishing service, depending on how the buyer uses it.
If you have no physical presence in Maryland, you need a license once you cross the Maryland economic nexus threshold. That's more than $100,000 in gross revenue from sales delivered into Maryland, or 200 or more separate transactions, in the current or previous calendar year.
Either test alone is enough. Maryland measures both by calendar year, not a rolling 12 months.
Count all your Maryland sales:
Register by the first day of the month after you meet either test, then collect tax on your sales from then on.
For example, if you make your 200th sale into Maryland in March, you need to register by April 1.
If you're under the threshold but want to collect anyway, the Comptroller may issue a special license to an out-of-state seller that isn't required to be licensed.
If you crossed the threshold in an earlier year and never registered, a voluntary disclosure agreement lets you report past-due tax. The Comptroller's VDA program is only open if it hasn't already contacted you about the liability.
Under Tax-General § 11-701, any of these conditions creates physical nexus in Maryland, so you need a license regardless of sales volume:
Regularly using your own vehicles to sell or deliver goods in Maryland also counts.
Businesses located in Maryland that sell taxable goods or services there need a license before making their first sale. If you sell only through marketplaces, see the next section.
Maryland's marketplace facilitator law took effect Oct. 1, 2019. Out-of-state marketplaces that meet the threshold, and all Maryland-based marketplaces, have to register and collect tax on the sales they facilitate. Whether you still need your own license depends on how you sell:
Maryland's out-of-state vendor rule covers using a warehouse or storage place in the state, directly or through an agent. The Comptroller hasn't said how that applies to inventory a marketplace stores for you, as with many Amazon FBA sellers.
It matters only if you also make direct sales. If you do, ask the Comptroller how it treats your inventory before you rely on the threshold to decide whether you have sales tax nexus in Maryland.
You need a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) before you apply, unless you're a sole proprietor applying only for a Sales and Use Tax License. You don't need a Maryland Tax Connect profile to apply.
The business owner or an authorized preparer has to complete the application's signature section. If you're using a power of attorney, you upload it with the application.
The CRA asks for at least two owners, partners, corporate officers, trustees, or members. Sole proprietors list one. For each person, you'll need:
The same application registers other Maryland tax accounts, so it also asks:
The steps below follow the Comptroller's CRA guide, which shows each screen of the online application. The screenshots come from that guide.
Go to Maryland Tax Connect. In the Quick Links box, select Register for a Maryland Business Tax Account-Combined Registration Application.
New businesses can also start the CRA from Maryland Business Express.
Out-of-state sellers that only need a Sales and Use Tax License can file Form SUT097, License Application for Out-of-State Vendors, on paper instead.
Fax it to Central Registration at 410-260-7908, or mail it to the Comptroller of Maryland, SUT, Revenue Administration Division, PO Box 17405, Baltimore, MD 21297-1405.
Check I agree to the above Terms & Conditions and select Next. The help icon on that page lists the FEIN requirement.
On Contact Information, enter your first name, last name, daytime phone, and email address, then select Next. Title, extension, and mobile phone are optional.
On Demographic Information, choose your ID Type and enter the ID Value. Then enter the Social Security number of the owner, officer, or agent responsible for taxes, which the screen marks as required by law.
Add your SDAT entity ID number if you have one, plus your entity type, ownership type, legal name, and any trade name. The screen also asks whether you're a Maryland resident.
Next, enter your mailing address and your physical location, including the county. If they're different, answer No to Is your Mailing Address and Physical Location the same? and add the physical location.
On Reason for Applying, check New Business (Open new tax account) if this is your first Maryland registration. You can select only one option.
The other options cover cases like Additional Location(s), Purchased Going Out of Business, and Re-Activate/Re-open. The screen also asks whether you want to add a previous owner.
Under Account Registration, check Sales and Use Tax. You can check other account types, such as employer withholding, on the same screen.
Enter the Date first sales made in Maryland. Then check the one box that describes you:
Say whether the business has only one physical location in Maryland, and if not, how many. Then enter the NAICS code that best describes the activity that generates your revenue. The NAICS field is mandatory.
A Cannabis Section follows. It applies only if you're applying for a cannabis license.
On Related Parties, select Add for each owner, partner, corporate officer, trustee, or member. Enter at least two, or one for a sole proprietorship.
For each person, enter their name, SSN, title, and home address, then select Continue. When everyone is listed, select Save and Continue.
On Request Coupons, you can ask for paper return coupons. The Comptroller strongly encourages electronic coupons instead.
Under Signatory and Power of Attorney Information, the owner or authorized preparer enters a name, title, and typed signature, checks the signature box, and enters the date. If you're using a power of attorney, check the box for it and upload the form on the Attachments screen.
Review the summary pages. Select Back to fix anything, or Continue to move on.
On the final Register a New Taxpayer Signature screen, select Yes to confirm you're authorized to submit the application for the business. You'll then see a confirmation number starting with "FR", and you'll get it by email too.
Tip: Keep the FR confirmation number. The Comptroller uses it to track your application and answer questions. You can also print a PDF copy of the application from the confirmation page.
A Maryland Sales and Use Tax License is free. There's no renewal fee either, since the license doesn't renew.
If you sell from a Maryland store or other place of business, budget for the trader's license covered below, which does have a fee.
The Comptroller hasn't published a processing time for applications filed through Maryland Tax Connect.
Its retired online registration page told applicants to allow two weeks for processing and said the license would arrive by U.S. mail.
Maryland has two short-term options for sellers who don't sell from a permanent location.
If you don't have a permanent license and you'll sell at an event such as a craft show or fair, you need a temporary license. It's valid for 30 days.
Email the Comptroller at Templicense@marylandtaxes.gov, or call 410-767-1543 or 410-767-5462, with:
If you sell at three or more events a year, register for a permanent license instead.
If you sell taxable items other than produce or seafood at a roadside or temporary location, you also need a transient vendor license. It's free, valid for 90 days, and requires that you already hold a Sales and Use Tax License.
It doesn't apply to exhibitors at fairs, trade shows, and flea markets. You can request it on the same CRA by checking Transient Vendor License.
The Comptroller mails a renewed license about two weeks before the old one expires, as long as your account is open, you're current on state taxes, and you have any required local license.
Your Sales and Use Tax License comes from the Comptroller, but Maryland also requires a separate state business license for most sellers.
Retailers and wholesalers that sell goods in Maryland need a Trader's License from the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county (or Baltimore City) where the business is located.
Under Business Regulation § 17-1803, you need a separate trader's license for each store or place of business you operate in Maryland.
Exhibitors selling at shows need one too, unless an exception applies, such as providing the promoter with an exhibitor's affidavit or selling at a show run by a church, government unit, or volunteer fire company.
These sellers are exempt:
The fee depends on the value of your stock-in-trade, based on the inventory you reported to SDAT. Under Business Regulation § 17-1807, the fee is:
A county or city can instead choose a flat fee of $15, or $20 in Baltimore City or Baltimore County.
Contact the Clerk of the Circuit Court for the application. First-time applicants must register with SDAT and give the clerk their SDAT identification number.
The clerk can’t issue the license if the business:
The license year runs from May 1 to April 30, and you renew by May 1 each year.
After you submit the CRA, the Comptroller mails you a welcome letter with a PIN. Use it to create a profile and link your new account, following the Comptroller's profile guide.
Until then, you can file and pay sales and use tax returns in Maryland Tax Connect as a guest.
Charge Maryland sales tax from your first sale. Most sales are taxed at the 6% general rate, and qualifying data, IT, and software publishing services are taxed at 3%.
A few items have their own rates, such as alcohol at 9% and cannabis at 12%. Maryland has no local sales taxes.
Display your license at each place of business in Maryland. When you buy inventory for resale, your resale certificate needs your Maryland sales and use tax registration number.
The Comptroller assigns your filing schedule. New licensees generally start on quarterly returns, but out-of-state vendors file monthly unless told otherwise.
Based on your payments, the Comptroller can later move you to monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual filing. The Comptroller notifies you before changing your schedule.
You file Maryland sales tax returns by the 20th of the month after each period. If the 20th falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the return is due the next business day.
You must file a return for every period, even if you had no sales. If you make payments of $10,000 or more, you must file and pay electronically.
Filing and paying on time lets you keep a timely discount: 1.2% of the first $6,000 of tax and 0.9% of the rest, up to $500 per return.
The license doesn't expire. Under Tax-General § 11-706, it stays in effect until you surrender it or the Comptroller revokes it for cause.
If you no longer have nexus and don't need the account to claim a resale exemption, you can close the account. File your final return and send Form 202FR with it, or mail the form separately if you file online.
Registration rules in other states differ, and several require regular renewal.
It's the 8-digit number the Comptroller assigns to your Maryland business tax accounts. Put it, along with your FEIN, on returns and correspondence.
The CRA asks for it if you're already registered for a tax type, in the Maryland/CR Number if registered field.
No. An FEIN, or EIN, is a federal tax ID from the IRS. The Sales and Use Tax License is the Comptroller's authorization to make taxable sales in Maryland, and it comes with its own Maryland registration number.
It depends. Sole proprietors applying only for a Sales and Use Tax License can apply without one. Everyone else needs a Federal Employer Identification Number before applying.
Form SUT097 lets out-of-state vendors leave the FEIN blank if they haven't received it yet, then send it to Central Registration once the IRS issues it.
Yes. Maryland issues a license for each place of business named in your application. To add a location later, file a new CRA and select Additional Location(s).
No. You don’t need a license if all your Maryland sales go through Amazon and Amazon collects the tax. Marketplace-only sellers don't have to register.
Sales through your own website are different. If your Amazon and direct sales into Maryland together top $100,000 or reach 200 transactions in the current or previous calendar year, an out-of-state seller must register and collect tax on the direct sales.
Yes. A Maryland Sales and Use Tax License can't be transferred, so apply under the new ownership. The CRA's Reason for Applying screen has a Purchased Going Out of Business option and asks whether to add a previous owner.
You also owe Maryland's 6% bulk sales tax on the furniture, fixtures, software, and other property you buy with the business, unless an exemption applies.
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