Wisconsin Form S-240, the Temporary Event Report, is filed by the event operator with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue within 10 days after the event ends, and it lists every vendor who participated along with their seller’s permit numbers and contact details.1Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Wisconsin Temporary Event Report S-240 The form has three parts: operator information, event information, and a vendor roster that usually takes the longest to compile.
Who Has to File
The filing obligation sits with the operator, not with individual vendors. An operator is whoever arranges, organizes, promotes, or sponsors the event, whether that’s an individual, a partnership, a corporation, or a nonprofit.2Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Publication 228 – Temporary Events You don’t have to own the property, and you can sell your own goods at the event too. If you ran a flea market, craft fair, festival, swap meet, carnival, or similar short-term sales event where vendors made taxable sales, you file the S-240.
Gather Vendor Information Before the Event
The simplest way to avoid a scramble after closing day is to require the information at booth sign-up. For each vendor, you need:
- Wisconsin seller’s permit number (15 digits, beginning with 456)
- Last four digits of the vendor’s Social Security number
- Last four digits of the FEIN, if they have one
- Legal business name (sole proprietors can leave this blank)
- DBA name, if different
- Mailing address, email, and phone number
- Exemption code, if the vendor claims their sales are exempt
If a vendor refuses to provide the information, that doesn’t release you from the filing duty. The DOR holds the operator responsible for a complete report regardless of whether vendors cooperate.2Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Publication 228 – Temporary Events Writing the data request into your booth application is the easiest fix.
Part A: Operator Information
Part A identifies you. Enter your legal business name, your DBA if you use one, and your 15-digit Wisconsin Tax Number. Add your FEIN if you have one; sole proprietors without an FEIN use their Social Security number instead.3Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Form S-240 Instructions Fill in a first and last name, mailing address, email, and phone. The DOR uses this contact information if they have questions, so make sure it reaches someone who can answer.
Part B: Event Information
Part B describes the event. Enter the advertised event name, the physical street address, and the start and end dates. Start and end dates are the first and last days of sales, not setup or teardown.
Report the total number of vendors, including vendors with nontaxable sales and those who only displayed information.4Wisconsin Department of Revenue. DOR Temporary Events Enter the minimum booth fee you charged and, if applicable, the non-discounted adult admission price.3Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Form S-240 Instructions
Part C: Vendor Information
Part C is the vendor roster. List every vendor at the event: food, drink, entertainment, retail, and anyone displaying goods, even when the sales are tax-exempt.4Wisconsin Department of Revenue. DOR Temporary Events
For each vendor, enter the Wisconsin seller’s permit number, the last four digits of the SSN, and the last four digits of the FEIN if there is one. Add legal business name, DBA, contact name, mailing address, email, and phone. The fillable PDF has space for four vendors per page; reproduce the vendor page as many times as you need.5Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Wisconsin Temporary Event Report S-240 (Alternate)
Exemption Codes
If a vendor doesn’t hold a Wisconsin seller’s permit and claims their sales are exempt, enter the code they give you in place of the permit number. The four codes are:6Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Form S-240 Vendor Information
- Code 1 — exempt sales only, or display only.
- Code 2 — a multi-level marketing company remits the sales tax on the vendor’s behalf. You must also enter the name of that company.
- Code 3 — nonprofit occasional sales exemption.
- Code 4 — exempt occasional sales for non-nonprofit vendors whose total taxable sales for the calendar year stay under $2,000.
The $2,000 threshold for Code 4 covers all of the vendor’s taxable sales for the year, not just sales at your event.7Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Administrative Code Tax 11.53(3) A vendor who crosses $2,000 once other events are counted is operating without a required permit, but the vendor represents their status to you; your job is to record what they report.
How and Where to File
The report is due within 10 days of the event’s closing date. You have three options:3Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Form S-240 Instructions
- Online: upload the completed form through the DOR’s Secure File Transfer page at revenue.wi.gov (search “wteptran”). This is the fastest route and gives you a confirmation record.
- Fax: (608) 224-5761.
- Mail: Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Temporary Events Project MS 3-80, PO Box 8902, Madison, WI 53708-8902.
If you run multiple events in the same calendar month with the same event name, location, and organizer, you can combine them on a single S-240 for that month. A vendor who appears at more than one of the combined events only needs to be listed once.4Wisconsin Department of Revenue. DOR Temporary Events
Penalties, and What a Complete Filing Earns You
Missing the deadline or sending in an incomplete report carries real cost. The DOR can assess $200 for a first failure and $500 for each subsequent failure.8Wisconsin Department of Revenue. DOR Event Operators A vendor’s refusal to hand over information is not a defense; the DOR expects the operator to have collected the data.2Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Publication 228 – Temporary Events
Filing a complete and accurate report also works in your favor. Once you submit a thorough S-240, the DOR relieves you of the responsibility of figuring out which of your vendors were required to hold a seller’s permit.4Wisconsin Department of Revenue. DOR Temporary Events The form is both a reporting duty and a liability shield.
One Thing the S-240 Does Not Do
The S-240 is a vendor-reporting document. It is not a sales tax return. If you charge taxable admission or sell taxable goods or services at your own event, you need your own seller’s permit and you report that tax on your regular Wisconsin sales and use tax return, separately from the S-240.4Wisconsin Department of Revenue. DOR Temporary Events