To fill out Hawaii Form G-17, enter the seller’s name and address at the top, the date, your Hawaii GE Tax ID number, a specific description of your business, and check whether your purchases are for resale at retail or lease, at wholesale, or both. Then add your business’s legal name and address, sign as an owner, partner, member, officer, or authorized agent, and give the completed original to the seller before or at the time of your first purchase. Neither of you files it with the state.
What Form G-17 Does and When to Use It
Form G-17 is Hawaii’s resale certificate for goods. It tells a seller that you are a licensed business buying tangible personal property to resell or lease, or to physically incorporate into a product you sell, which lets the seller charge you the 0.5 percent wholesale General Excise Tax rate instead of the 4 percent retail rate.1Justia. Hawaii Code 237-13 – Imposition of Tax
Typical situations where G-17 is the right form:
- A clothing store buying wholesale apparel to sell on its racks.
- A bakery purchasing flour, sugar, and packaging that become part of the finished product it sells.
- A licensed contractor buying materials that will be physically incorporated into a finished construction project.
G-17 covers only tangible personal property. If you are purchasing services or intangible property for resale, use Form G-19, the “Resale Certificate Special Form,” instead.2Hawaii Department of Taxation. General Excise and Use Tax Forms And if the goods are for your own use rather than resale, no resale certificate applies at all.
What You Need Before Filling It Out
You cannot issue a valid G-17 without an active Hawaii General Excise Tax license. The license registers you to collect and remit GET and gives you the Hawaii Tax ID number the form asks for. To get one, file Form BB-1 (Basic Business Application) and pay a one-time $20 registration fee. Filing online at Hawaii Tax Online produces your Tax ID in roughly five to seven days, filing by mail takes four to six weeks, and applying in person at a district tax office gets you the number immediately.3Department of Taxation. General Excise Tax (GET) Information
Your Hawaii Tax ID for General Excise Tax uses the “GE” prefix followed by groups of digits separated by dashes, formatted like GE-987-654-3210-01.4Hawaii Department of Taxation. Hawaii Tax ID Number Changes Have that number in front of you before you start.
Download the current version of the form free from the Hawaii Department of Taxation website.5Hawaii Department of Taxation. Form G-17 – Resale Certificate for Goods General Form 1 It is one page.
Filling Out the Form Field by Field
Working from the top of the page down, here is what belongs in each section:5Hawaii Department of Taxation. Form G-17 – Resale Certificate for Goods General Form 1
- Seller information. Enter the seller’s full legal name and mailing address, including street, city, state, and ZIP. This is the vendor who will rely on the certificate to charge you the wholesale rate.
- Date of this Certificate. The date you are completing and issuing the form.
- Hawaii Tax Identification No. The form pre-prints the “GE” prefix. Fill in the remaining digits of your GE Tax ID in the spaces provided.
- Nature and character of business. Keep this specific: “Furniture Retailer,” “Commercial Bakery,” “Auto Parts Distributor.” Vague entries like “sales” invite questions during an audit.
- Resale checkboxes. One box is for goods you will resell at retail or lease. The other is for goods you will resell at wholesale. Check whichever applies. If some purchases from this seller go to retail customers and others to wholesale buyers, check both.
- Purchaser information. Your business’s legal name and mailing address.
- Signature block. An owner, partner, member, officer, or authorized agent must sign. Print the signer’s name, select the appropriate title, and date the signature. An unsigned certificate is invalid.
Signing Under Penalty
The certification language on the form states that you are signing under the penalties of HRS Section 231-36, the statute covering false statements on tax documents. Every entry needs to be accurate: the seller’s identity, your Tax ID, the description of your business, and above all the resale boxes you check. A signed G-17 is a sworn representation that the goods you are buying are for resale.
What to Do with the Completed Form
Hand the completed original to the seller at or before your first purchase. The seller keeps it; you keep a copy. The bottom of the form instructs sellers to retain the certificate in their own files and explicitly says “Do NOT send to the Department of Taxation.”5Hawaii Department of Taxation. Form G-17 – Resale Certificate for Goods General Form 1 Neither party files it with a return or mails it anywhere.
Once signed, a G-17 automatically covers every future purchase of tangible personal property from that same seller. The form applies to all purchases from the seller named on it until the purchaser revokes it in writing. There is no printed expiration date and no need to issue a new certificate for each order.
Hold on to your copy for the long run. Hawaii’s standard statute of limitations for tax assessment is three years after a return is filed, but the window can extend when fraud is suspected or no return was filed. Most tax professionals recommend keeping GET records, including resale certificates, for at least seven years. A seller who cannot produce your G-17 during an audit can be reassessed at the full retail rate on every wholesale sale to you, and they will look to you to make it right.
When the Certificate Should Not Apply
If a specific order from that seller is for your own use rather than resale, notify the seller in writing that the certificate does not cover that order. The seller will then charge you the retail rate on that purchase. This matters because claiming the wholesale rate on goods you actually consume is exactly the mismatch auditors look for.
Using a G-17 to buy something you never intended to resell is not a gray area. When an auditor catches the mismatch, the Department of Taxation can assess the difference between the 0.5 percent wholesale rate and the full retail rate, plus applicable county surcharges, on every improperly certified purchase. HRS Section 231-39 adds penalties on top of the tax owed:6Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 231-39 – Additions to Taxes
- Up to 25 percent of the underpayment for negligence or intentional disregard of rules, with no intent to defraud.
- Up to 50 percent of the underpayment for fraud.
- Interest of two-thirds of one percent per month on unpaid tax, running from the original due date until paid.
Deliberately issuing a false resale certificate can also expose the signer to criminal liability under HRS Section 231-36. If you are not reselling the goods, do not hand over a G-17.
If Resale Inventory Gets Used Internally
Sometimes goods bought under a valid G-17 never make it back out the door. A restaurant buys cases of olive oil for its retail shop, then starts using some in the kitchen. A computer retailer pulls a laptop off the shelf for an employee. Once the goods shift from resale inventory to internal consumption, the original wholesale treatment no longer applies, and you owe the difference between the rate you paid and the full retail rate.
Businesses with a GET license report and pay use tax on Form G-45 (the periodic return) and Form G-49 (the annual return).7Hawaii Department of Taxation. An Introduction to the Use Tax Track conversions from resale inventory to internal use as they happen so your periodic filings stay accurate and the penalties above never come into play.