How to Fill Out the Georgia ST-5 Certificate of Exemption

To fill out Georgia’s ST-5 Certificate of Exemption, enter your business’s legal name, address, and nine-digit Georgia sales tax registration number at the top, add the seller’s name and address, check the box for the exemption you’re claiming and describe the property involved, then sign and date the form and hand it to the seller. You do not send the ST-5 to the Georgia Department of Revenue. The certificate is what the seller relies on to sell to you without collecting the state’s 4% sales tax plus local rates.¹ Under O.C.G.A. § 48-8-38, every sale in Georgia is presumed taxable unless the seller has a valid exemption certificate on file, so a certificate that’s incomplete or wrong exposes both sides during an audit.²

Before You Start

Have these four things in front of you:

Your Georgia sales tax registration number. It’s nine digits and was issued when you registered as a dealer. If you’ve lost it, you can look it up through the Georgia Tax Center. Anyone meeting Georgia’s definition of a “dealer” under O.C.G.A. § 48-8-2 must be registered, even if all sales are online, out of state, wholesale, or exempt.³⁴
Your legal business name and address exactly as they appear on your state registration. A mismatch gives the Department of Revenue a reason to reject the certificate later.
The seller’s full legal name and business address.
The exemption category you’re claiming. Know which one applies before you start checking boxes.

Filling In Each Part of the Form

Purchaser and Seller Information

At the top, enter your legal business name, address, and Georgia sales tax registration number. Use the exact spellings and address on file with the state. Below that, fill in the seller’s business name and address. This section identifies both parties in a tax-exempt transaction so the state can trace it if it ever needs to.⁵

Choosing the Exemption Reason

The middle of the form is a list of checkboxes. Pick the one that matches why you’re not paying tax on this purchase. The categories most buyers use:

Resale. You’re buying goods you plan to sell to your own customers in the ordinary course of business. This is the most common use of the ST-5. You must enter your nine-digit Georgia sales tax number and describe the type of property you normally sell.⁵
Manufacturing or industrial use. You’re buying machinery, equipment, or materials directly used in manufacturing, processing, or producing goods for sale. Georgia’s exemption for machinery necessary and integral to manufacturing is at O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3.2.
Agricultural use. You’re buying supplies or equipment qualifying under Georgia’s agricultural exemptions. Note that the Georgia Agricultural Tax Exemption (GATE) certificate is a separate document from the ST-5 and expires annually.⁵
Nonprofit or government purchases. Qualifying government agencies and nonprofits may claim exemption under their own registration.

When you claim resale, be specific in your description. A clothing retailer buying wholesale shirts should describe the merchandise as “apparel” or “clothing,” not “general merchandise.” Vague descriptions raise flags in audits because they make it harder to confirm the goods you bought actually fit your business.

Signature and Date

An authorized representative of the purchasing business signs and dates the form. The signature is not a formality. It certifies under penalty of law that the exemption is truthful, and Georgia’s administrative rules treat use of a fraudulent exemption certificate as unlawful. Date the form as of the day it’s executed. For a one-off purchase, that’s the date of the transaction; for a blanket certificate, use the date the business relationship begins.

Single Purchase or Blanket Certificate

Decide with the seller whether the ST-5 covers only this transaction or all future qualifying purchases between you. A blanket certificate stays in effect as long as your registration information is current and the business relationship continues. Georgia does not put an expiration date on most exemption certificates.⁵

“No expiration” is not “set it and forget it.” If your business name, address, or registration number changes, the old certificate no longer matches your state records, and you’ll need to give the seller a new one.

Giving the Certificate to the Seller

The completed ST-5 goes to the seller, not to the Georgia Department of Revenue. Sellers generally accept paper originals, scanned copies emailed over, or faxed versions. What matters is that every field is filled in. An emailed PDF with everything complete is better than a hand-delivered original missing a signature.

Keep a copy for yourself. The seller will file theirs with the transaction records for your account; you’ll want your own copy in case the state ever questions the purchase on your end.

How Long to Keep It

Georgia requires dealers to keep exemption and resale certificates for at least three years after each taxable transaction. The requirement comes from the state’s administrative regulations, which specifically name exemption certificates among the records that must be preserved and available for inspection. Three years is the floor. If the Department of Revenue issues an assessment and it’s appealed, the records covering that period must be kept until the appeal is fully resolved, which can run well past three years.⁶ Digital backups alongside physical copies protect you if paperwork goes missing.

When the ST-5 Is Not the Right Form

If your business is located outside Georgia and you’re buying from a Georgia vendor, don’t use the ST-5. Georgia has a separate Form ST-4 for out-of-state purchasers, and it also accepts the multi-state Streamlined Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption. Have your home state’s sales tax registration number ready on either of those.

If you’re a Georgia business buying from a seller in another state, your ST-5 covers Georgia purchases only. Check whether the other state accepts Georgia’s certificate or requires its own form.

What Goes Wrong When the Form Is Wrong

Two failures cause most of the problems. The first is a certificate the seller can’t produce during an audit. When the Department of Revenue reviews tax-free invoices and there’s no matching ST-5 on file, the seller becomes liable for the uncollected sales tax plus interest and late-payment penalties, because O.C.G.A. § 48-8-38 puts the burden on the seller to prove the exemption.² From your side as the buyer, the way to prevent this is simple: give the seller a complete, correctly filled certificate at or before the time of purchase.

The second is misuse of the exemption by the buyer. Georgia’s rules make it unlawful to evade sales and use taxes through a certificate obtained by fraud or through misuse of a legitimate certificate. If you claim resale but then use the goods yourself or for a non-exempt purpose, you owe the tax you avoided plus interest, and additional penalties can apply. The liability falls on the buyer, not the seller, when the seller accepted the certificate in good faith.

Sometimes the misuse isn’t deliberate. A retailer might buy inventory tax-free for resale and later pull items off the shelf for personal use or to furnish the office. When goods bought under a resale exemption are withdrawn from inventory and consumed rather than sold, Georgia’s use tax applies. You’re responsible for self-assessing and paying it. The rate is the same 4% plus local, so there’s no advantage to ignoring the obligation, and the penalties for not reporting it make it worse.

1
Department of Revenue. Georgia Sales and Use Tax Rate Chart Effective January 1, 2026
2
Justia. Georgia Code 48-8-38 – Burden of Proof on Seller as to Taxability
3
Department of Revenue. Sales Tax ID Verification Tool
4
Department of Revenue. Sales and Use Tax Registration – FAQ
5
Department of Revenue. Nontaxable Sales
6
Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. Georgia Comp. R. and Regs. R. 560-12-1-.23 – Preservation of Records