How to Get a Seller’s Permit in Maryland: Application and Filing

To get a seller’s permit in Maryland, submit the Comptroller’s Combined Registration Application online, free of charge, and wait about two weeks for your sales and use tax license to arrive by mail.¹ The license makes you a trustee for the state, responsible for collecting Maryland’s 6% sales tax on each taxable sale and remitting it to the Comptroller.² Most of the work is on your end: gathering business details before you open the application.

Do You Actually Need One

Any person or business making retail sales of tangible personal property, taxable services, digital products, or digital codes in Maryland needs a sales and use tax license before collecting a dollar of tax.³ Storefronts, restaurants, online sellers, service businesses that charge sales tax, and market or pop-up vendors all fall under this.

You don’t need a Maryland address to trigger the requirement. Out-of-state sellers with more than $100,000 in Maryland sales or 200 separate transactions in the current or prior calendar year have economic nexus and must register. That rule reaches sellers on Amazon, Etsy, and Shopify as well as standalone websites.

If you’re only selling at one craft show or fair, the Comptroller issues a temporary sales and use tax license good for 30 days. Participate in three or more events in a year and you’re expected to register for a permanent license instead.⁴

One boundary worth knowing up front: the Combined Registration Application cannot issue a sales and use tax exemption certificate. If you’re a nonprofit or government buyer needing to make exempt purchases, that goes through a different channel.

What to Gather Before You Start

Pull these together before opening the application:

Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN). Sole proprietors applying only for a sales and use tax license can substitute a Social Security Number. If you haven’t formed your business entity yet, do that first, because the IRS requires the entity to exist before issuing an EIN.⁵
Business entity type: sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or LLC.
Legal business name and any trade names.
Physical and mailing addresses.
Names, addresses, and Social Security Numbers of all owners, partners, or corporate officers.
Planned start date of operations.
Description of the goods or services you’ll sell.

Only certain people may sign: a corporate officer for a corporation, either partner for a partnership, any member for an unincorporated association, or the owner for a sole proprietorship. Anyone else needs a power of attorney on file.¹

Submitting the Combined Registration Application

The Comptroller of Maryland handles sales tax registration through the Combined Registration Application (CRA). This is not the same as the Maryland Business Express portal, which is primarily for business formation filings with the Department of Assessments and Taxation. Business Express links out to the CRA, but the application itself lives on the Comptroller’s site.⁶

The CRA lets you register for several state tax accounts at once, including sales and use tax, income tax withholding, admissions and amusement tax, and unemployment insurance. There is no fee for the sales and use tax license.¹ Print each page as you go. The portal doesn’t always let you retrieve submitted pages later.

What Happens After You Apply

Allow about two weeks for processing. Your license and any filing coupons arrive by U.S. mail at the business address you provided.¹

Once it arrives, two obligations kick in immediately. You must display the license at your place of business, and you must separately state the sales tax as a line item on each taxable sale. Maryland’s general rate is 6%, with higher rates on alcoholic beverages, short-term vehicle rentals, and cannabis, and a 3% rate on data services, IT services, and software publishing.⁷⁸ Failing to display the license or to separately state the tax can trigger a stop-sale order from any law enforcement officer, along with misdemeanor charges carrying a fine of up to $2,500.

Buying Inventory Tax-Free

Holding the license lets you buy goods for resale without paying the 6% tax at purchase. You give the supplier a resale certificate, and the tax gets collected later when you sell to the final customer.

Maryland doesn’t require a specific government form. Any document works as long as it includes your name and address, your Maryland sales and use tax registration number, a signed statement that the purchase is for resale, and a description of what you’re buying. You can also generate a certificate through the Maryland Tax Connect portal, and a blanket certificate covers all future purchases from the same supplier.⁹

One restriction catches new owners. Purchases under $200 paid by cash, check, or credit card generally cannot use a resale certificate unless the seller delivers directly to your retail location. The restriction doesn’t apply if you’re buying on credit from the seller, if the items would be exempt anyway, or if you’re buying alcoholic beverages.⁹ Don’t issue a certificate for items you plan to use in the business yourself. The seller can be held liable for the uncollected tax on fraudulent certificates.

Filing Returns Once You’re Registered

New permit holders start on a quarterly filing schedule. Returns are due on the 20th of the month following each quarter: April 20, July 20, October 20, and January 20. If your business collects $15,000 or more in sales tax in a year, the Comptroller switches you to monthly filing and notifies you in advance.¹⁰

File on time and you earn a discount: 1.2% of tax owed when the amount due is $6,000 or less; 0.9% plus $18 when it’s over $6,000. The discount caps at $500 per return and applies automatically through the Comptroller’s system. One day late and you lose it entirely.¹¹

Late payment penalties can reach 10% of unpaid tax, and interest accrues on any outstanding balance. The Comptroller is generally willing to work with businesses that get behind, but ignoring the problem makes it worse. If you’ve collected tax without remitting it, reach out before the Comptroller reaches you.

If You Stop Selling

Don’t leave the account open. An active sales and use tax account generates filing obligations whether or not you’re making sales, and unfiled returns can trigger penalties. Close it by phone at 410-260-7980 or 1-800-638-2937, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with your account number, closing date, and reason. You can also submit Form 202FR, the Sales and Use Tax Final Return, by mail.¹² File your final return covering tax collected through your last day of business. The Comptroller won’t close the account until all returns are in and any balance is paid.

1
Comptroller of Maryland. Maryland Combined Registration Online Application
2
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-General 11-401 – Vendor
3
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-General 11-101 – Definitions
4
Comptroller of Maryland. Tax Guidance – Sales and Use Tax – Section: Temporary Sales and Use Licenses
5
Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
6
Maryland Business Express. Apply for Maryland Tax Accounts and Insurance
7
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-General 11-104 – Rate
8
Comptroller of Maryland. Tax Alert – Sales and Use Tax Updates 2025-2026
9
Comptroller of Maryland. Tax Guidance – Purchases for Resale
10
Comptroller of Maryland. Maryland Sales and Use Tax – Frequently Asked Questions
11
Comptroller of Maryland. Sales and Use Tax Application Help – Section: Line 8 Timely Discount
12
Maryland Business Express. Closing a Business Checklist