How to Get a Connecticut Sales and Use Tax Permit

To get a Connecticut sales and use tax permit, register your business electronically through the Department of Revenue Services’ myconneCT portal, complete Form REG-1, and pay a $100 fee for each location where you sell. You need the permit in hand before your first taxable sale, and Connecticut law requires one whether you run a storefront year-round or sell for a single afternoon at a craft fair.

Who Needs to Register

Connecticut General Statutes Section 12-409 prohibits operating as a seller in the state without a permit. That covers selling, renting, or leasing goods, providing taxable services, and running a hotel, motel, or bed-and-breakfast. The rule applies to one-day sellers at flea markets, craft shows, and trade fairs just as it applies to permanent businesses.¹

Out-of-state sellers with no physical presence in Connecticut still have to register if they meet the state’s economic nexus threshold: at least $100,000 in gross receipts from Connecticut sales and 200 or more separate transactions during a twelve-month period. Connecticut lowered the dollar threshold from $250,000 in 2019 but kept the transaction count.

Each business location needs its own permit, and each permit carries its own $100 fee.¹ If you buy an existing business, you cannot inherit the seller’s permit. You must register in your own name.²

How to Register Through myconneCT

Registration happens online through myconneCT, the DRS portal that also handles returns and payments.³ DRS no longer accepts paper registration applications.⁴

You complete Form REG-1 (Business Taxes Registration Application) inside the portal. Have these details ready before you start:

Your Federal Employer Identification Number, or your Social Security Number if you are a sole proprietor.
The legal name of the business and the physical address of every location.
The NAICS code that best describes your business activity, which drives which tax obligations attach to your account.
Names, titles, and residential addresses of all owners, partners, or corporate officers.

Payment of the registration fee has to be made electronically. DRS prefers direct debit from a checking or savings account, and credit cards are accepted with a convenience fee added.³

Once you submit the application, a temporary permit is typically available in myconneCT right away. You can use it to open for business while your permanent permit is processed, which usually takes about 15 days.

Fee, Term, and Renewal

The registration fee is $100 per permit.¹ Each permit is valid for two years and expires on the last day of the month in which it was originally issued.

Renewal is automatic and free if your account is in good standing. Good standing means every required return has been filed and every tax owed has been paid. Miss a return, including a zero-dollar return for a period with no sales, and you can knock yourself out of good standing without realizing it, which puts the automatic renewal at risk.

Displaying the Permit

Connecticut law requires the permit to be displayed conspicuously at the location where it was issued.¹ If you are selling at a temporary event like a craft show or a flea market, the permit has to be prominently displayed at your booth or table. Inspectors do check.

Penalties for Selling Without a Permit

Connecticut stacks civil and criminal consequences on unpermitted sales. Civil penalties start at $250 for the first day you operate without a permit and add $100 for each additional day. DRS may waive these if you can show the failure was due to reasonable cause and not the result of willful neglect.¹

On the criminal side, each offense can bring a fine of up to $500, up to three months in jail, or both. The state treats each day of unpermitted activity as a separate offense.¹ Letting an expired permit lapse while you keep selling is treated the same as never having registered.

Filing Returns Once You Have the Permit

After registration, DRS assigns you a filing frequency, monthly, quarterly, or annually, and you file Form OS-114 (Sales and Use Tax Return) on that schedule. You have to file even for periods with no sales and no tax due.¹

Connecticut’s general sales tax rate is 6.35%, and it applies to most retail sales of goods, including digital goods, and to taxable services.¹ Some categories carry different rates or are exempt.

Resale and Exemption Certificates

Holding an active permit is what lets you issue resale certificates to your suppliers. When you buy inventory that you plan to resell, a properly completed resale certificate lets you purchase it without paying sales tax. A certificate can cover a single transaction or serve as a blanket certificate for ongoing purchases of the same type from the same vendor.

Resale certificates cover only goods genuinely intended for resale, meaning inventory and raw materials that become part of a product you sell. They do not cover office supplies, equipment, furniture, or anything your business consumes internally. If you buy something tax-free under a resale certificate and end up using it yourself, you owe use tax on that purchase.⁵

Connecticut also publishes separate exemption certificates for qualifying entities like nonprofit hospitals, nursing homes, and tribal governments. DRS keeps the current list on its website.⁶

Updating or Closing the Account

Update your registration through myconneCT whenever your business changes in a way that affects the account. That includes:

Business name, mailing address, physical location, or contact changes.
Adding or removing owners, partners, or corporate officers.
Structural changes like incorporating a sole proprietorship or forming a partnership.
Opening new locations or closing existing ones.
Adding or dropping tax types on the account.²

When you close the business, shut down the sales tax account through myconneCT under the “Close Accounts” option in the taxpayer update section. File every outstanding return through your final day of business first, then destroy the permit. You can also close by mail: complete Form OS-114 as a final return, write “FINAL” across the top, note the last day of business on the permit, and mail both to the address on the form.⁷ An open account with missing returns will keep generating penalties until you close it out properly.

1
Connecticut State Department of Revenue Services. Sales and Use Tax Information
2
Connecticut State Department of Revenue Services. Registering Your Business with DRS
3
Connecticut State Department of Revenue Services. Register Your Business
4
Connecticut State Department of Revenue Services. Applications/Registration Applications
5
Connecticut State Department of Revenue Services. Q and A on the Connecticut Use Tax for Businesses and Professions
6
Connecticut State Department of Revenue Services. Exemption Certificates
7
Business.CT.gov. Business Dissolution – Close Your Sales and Use Tax