Indiana Retail Merchant Certificate: Registration and Renewal

Any business making retail sales in Indiana needs an Indiana Retail Merchant Certificate, officially the Registered Retail Merchant Certificate (RRMC), before its first transaction. It costs $25 per business location, stays valid for two years with automatic renewal if your tax account is in good standing, and authorizes you to collect Indiana’s 7% sales tax from customers.¹ You register through INBiz, the state’s online business portal.²

Who Needs the Certificate

Indiana law prohibits any retail merchant from making a retail transaction in the state without first obtaining an RRMC.¹ That covers anyone selling tangible goods, digital products, or taxable services to consumers. Wholesalers need one too, since they handle taxable transactions even when most of their sales end up tax-exempt through resale certificates.

Remote Sellers

If your business has no physical presence in Indiana but ships or delivers into the state, you have to register once your gross revenue from Indiana sales exceeds $100,000 in the current or preceding calendar year. That threshold includes any combination of tangible goods, digital products, and services delivered into Indiana.³ Indiana used to have a secondary 200-transaction trigger, but that was eliminated in 2024. Only the $100,000 revenue test applies now.

Marketplace Sellers

If you sell exclusively through a marketplace like Amazon, Etsy, or Walmart Marketplace, the platform is responsible for collecting and remitting Indiana sales tax on those sales, even if you don’t have your own certificate.⁴ If you also sell directly to customers off the platform, though, you still need your own RRMC for those direct sales.

Fairs, Festivals, and Pop-Ups

Selling at a craft show, flea market, or weekend festival doesn’t create an exception. You need a standard RRMC before you set up a booth at any Indiana event. Some counties also require a separate Transient Merchant License from the county auditor, so check with the county where you’ll be selling. Operating without the certificate is a Class A misdemeanor.

How to Register

You apply through INBiz.² The application asks for your business’s legal name, physical address and township, federal employer identification number, entity type, and the location of every place of business where you’ll make retail sales.¹ If you don’t have a storefront, list your home address as your place of business.

The fee is $25 per location and is nonrefundable.⁵ A business with three locations pays $75 upfront. The Indiana Department of Revenue (DOR) issues a separate certificate for each location, and each has to be displayed where customers can see it.² Open a new location later? File a supplemental application and pay another $25.¹

Online applications through INBiz are typically processed within two business days.⁶ The DOR can deny an application if the business is owned, operated, or managed by someone who has failed to file returns or pay taxes on other accounts, and the prior business is substantially similar to the new one.¹ You can’t close one business with tax debt and reopen a near-identical one under a new name.

Renewal and Updates

Your certificate is valid for two years from the date it’s issued or last renewed.¹ If you’ve filed all required returns and paid what you owe, the DOR renews it automatically within 30 days after expiration at no cost. No renewal application, no new fee. If you’re behind on filings or have unpaid taxes, the renewal stalls until you resolve the issue.

When your business undergoes a significant change, notify the DOR. A new address, a name change, or a switch in entity type all require updated registration. Converting from a sole proprietorship to an LLC creates a new legal entity, so you’ll need a new certificate and pay $25 for each location again. Most updates can be handled through INBiz or INTIME, Indiana’s online tax management portal.

Buying Inventory Tax-Free

Once you hold an RRMC, you can buy inventory for resale without paying sales tax at the register. You give the vendor a completed General Sales Tax Exemption Certificate (Form ST-105) instead, and you collect the tax from your customer when you sell the item.⁷

The form requires your 10-digit Tax Identification Number (TID) and 3-digit location code from your certificate. All five sections must be completed or the exemption is invalid and the seller has to charge you tax. You can set up a blanket exemption certificate with a regular supplier to avoid filling out a new form for every order. The exemption can’t be used for utilities, vehicles, watercraft, aircraft, or gasoline.⁷ If you buy something tax-free for resale but end up using it in your own business, you owe use tax on that item.

Filing Sales Tax Returns

Once you have the certificate, you’re required to file sales tax returns and remit what you collect. How often you file depends on your average monthly tax liability:

Annual filers: $83.33 or less in average monthly tax. Returns are due 30 days after the end of the filing period.
Monthly filers: $1,000 or less in average monthly tax. Returns are due on the 30th of the following month.
Early filers: More than $1,000 in average monthly tax. Returns are due on the 20th of the following month.

If your average monthly tax exceeds $5,000, you have to make payments by electronic funds transfer.⁶ Returns and payments go through INTIME, which is separate from INBiz. Even in months where you owe zero tax, you still need to file a return. Skipping a zero-balance return triggers its own penalty.

What Happens If You Fall Behind

Indiana’s penalties for sales tax violations climb quickly, and some of them reach past the business into the owner’s personal finances.

Penalties and Interest

File a return late or fail to pay in full and the DOR imposes a penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax.⁸ That 10% applies whether you filed late, underpaid, or were found to owe more after an audit. For zero-balance returns you simply didn’t file on time, the penalty is $10 per day up to a maximum of $250. Interest accrues on any unpaid balance from the due date until you pay.

Certificate Revocation

The DOR can revoke your certificate, effectively shutting down your ability to make retail sales in Indiana. Grounds include:

Failing to file required returns or remit tax you collected on behalf of the state.
Going six months without filing a sales tax return or reporting any tax collected.
Being charged with certain criminal offenses, including illegal gambling and controlled substance violations.
Defaulting on a tax payment agreement entered into before your most recent certificate renewal.

The DOR must give you at least five days’ notice before revoking.⁹ If revocation is due to criminal violations, you must wait at least one year before you can reapply.

Personal and Criminal Liability

This is where owners underestimate their exposure. Sales tax you collect is held in trust for the state. If you’re an owner, officer, or employee responsible for remitting that tax, you are personally liable for the full amount plus penalties and interest, regardless of business structure.¹⁰ Your LLC or corporation doesn’t shield you here.

Knowingly failing to collect or remit those trust taxes is a Level 6 felony, punishable by six months to two and a half years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.¹¹ Making retail sales without any certificate at all is a separate offense, a Class A misdemeanor. The felony charge for trust fund violations catches small-business owners who dip into collected sales tax during cash-flow crunches. The state treats that money as belonging to Indiana from the moment the customer pays it.

Buying an Existing Business

If you’re purchasing an existing Indiana retail business rather than starting from scratch, the seller’s unpaid tax liabilities can follow the business to you. Under Indiana’s successor liability rules, a buyer who takes over business assets in a bulk transfer can inherit the seller’s outstanding sales tax debt. To protect yourself, you or the seller must notify the DOR at least 45 days before you take possession of the assets or pay the purchase price.¹²

If the DOR confirms the seller has no outstanding liabilities, it mails you a tax clearance letter within 20 days. Once you have that letter, you’re shielded from assessments for the seller’s past-due taxes. Skip this step and you could end up personally responsible for someone else’s tax debt on top of the purchase price you already paid.¹²

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-2.5-8-1 – Registered Retail Merchants Certificate; Application; Filing Fee
2
Indiana Department of Revenue. Sales Tax
3
Indiana Department of Revenue. Remote Seller
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 6 Taxation 6-2.5-4-18
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Indiana Department of Revenue. Business Tax Application Form BT-1 Checklist
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Indiana Department of Revenue. Business FAQ
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Indiana Department of Revenue. General Sales Tax Exemption Certificate Form ST-105
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Justia Law. Indiana Code 6-8.1-10-2.1 – Liability for Penalty
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-2.5-8-7 – Revocation of Certificate; Payment
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-2.5-9-3 – Personal Liability of Holder of Taxes in Trust; Failure to Collect and Remit; Offense
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-2-7 – Class D Felony; Level 6 Felony
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 6-8.1-10-9.5 – Successor Liability for Certain Unpaid Taxes; Notice; Procedure