Nevada excise taxes apply to specific products and activities — alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, live entertainment, motor fuel, and new tires — at rates set per unit, per gallon, or as a percentage of wholesale or admission price. Most are administered by the Nevada Department of Taxation and filed through the state’s online portal at mynvtax.nv.gov. The Commerce Tax, a separate annual tax on business gross revenue, often gets grouped in with excise taxes and is covered below.
Liquor
Alcoholic beverages are taxed under NRS 369 at rates that scale with alcohol content. The licensed importer or manufacturer pays when the product enters the state’s supply chain, so the tax is built into the shelf price rather than itemized at the register.
- Malt beverages (beer): $0.16 per gallon
- Liquor 0.5% to 14% ABV: $0.70 per gallon
- Liquor 14.1% to 22% ABV: $1.30 per gallon
- Liquor 22.1% to 80% ABV: $3.60 per gallon
Rates are set by statute and apply statewide.1Nevada Department of Taxation. Intoxicating Liquor: Licenses and Taxes A liquor excise tax return must be filed every month, even in months when no liquor is imported or manufactured.2Nevada Department of Taxation. Liquor Excise Tax Return
Tobacco
Cigarettes are taxed at 90 mills each under NRS 370.165. That comes to $1.80 on a 20-pack and $2.25 on a 25-pack. The tax is prepaid through revenue stamps affixed to every pack before it reaches the shelf, and unstamped cigarettes found at retail are subject to immediate seizure and forfeiture.3Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 370 – Tobacco: Licenses and Taxes
Other tobacco products — loose-leaf, snuff, machine-made cigars — are taxed at 30% of wholesale. Premium cigars (hand-rolled, whole-leaf wrapper, no filter) are also 30% of wholesale but with a floor of 30 cents and a cap of 50 cents per cigar, which matters for expensive hand-rolled stock.4Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 370.450 – Imposition, Rate and Collection of Tax
Nevada does not currently impose an excise tax specifically on vapor products or e-cigarettes.
Cannabis
Two separate excise taxes apply under NRS 372A.290. A 15% wholesale excise tax is paid by cultivation facilities on the fair market value of cannabis sold, and a 10% retail excise tax is collected from the buyer at adult-use retail stores on the sales price.5Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 372A – Tax on Controlled Substances
For wholesale calculations, cultivators use fair market values published periodically by the Department of Taxation when selling to affiliated businesses, and the actual sales price when selling to non-affiliated buyers.6Nevada Department of Taxation. Revised Fair Market Value at Wholesale of Cannabis State and local sales taxes still apply at the counter on top of the retail excise tax.
Live Entertainment
Nevada charges a 9% excise tax on admission to facilities that host live entertainment, under NRS 368A. This is the line item you see on concert tickets, show admissions, and nightclub cover charges.7Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 368A.200 – Imposition and Rate of Tax
Smaller venues can fall outside the tax. It does not apply where maximum occupancy is under 200 persons, provided the venue is not a licensed gaming establishment, or is a small one with fewer than 51 slot machines or fewer than 6 table games.7Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 368A.200 – Imposition and Rate of Tax If you run a venue that hosts performers, your fire-marshal-rated occupancy is the first number to check.
Motor Fuel
Fuel taxes are administered by the Nevada DMV rather than the Department of Taxation. Gasoline is taxed at $0.23 per gallon, and clear diesel and kerosene at $0.27 per gallon. Dealers and suppliers who file and pay on time receive a 2% collection allowance.8Nevada DMV. Fuel Dealers and Suppliers
New Tires
Anyone who sells a new tire for a vehicle must collect a $1 fee from the buyer under NRS 444A.090. The seller holds the money in trust and transmits 95% to the Department of Taxation for deposit into the Solid Waste Management Account. The fee must appear as a separate line labeled “State Recycling Fee” on the sales receipt.9Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 444A.090 – Imposition and Rate of Fee
Commerce Tax
The Commerce Tax under NRS 363C is an annual tax on the privilege of doing business in Nevada. It only applies to businesses whose Nevada gross revenue exceeds $4 million in a taxable year, and only those businesses are required to file.10Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 363C.200 – Imposition, Payment of Tax, Filing of Return Returns and payments are due August 14 each year.11Nevada Department of Taxation. 30-Day Extension of Time to File and Pay Commerce Tax
Rates vary by industry, assigned through federal NAICS codes. The tax is calculated by subtracting $4 million from total Nevada gross revenue and multiplying the remainder by the applicable rate. Retail trade (NAICS 44–45) is 0.111%; mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (NAICS 21) is 0.051%. Rates for more than two dozen categories are set in NRS 363C.310 through 363C.560.12Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 363C – Commerce Tax
Picking the right NAICS code matters. A business designates its primary category on its initial return and cannot change it unless the Department of Taxation approves after determining the business is no longer primarily engaged in the original category.10Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 363C.200 – Imposition, Payment of Tax, Filing of Return The U.S. Census Bureau maintains a free search tool at census.gov/naics.13U.S. Census Bureau. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
How to File and Pay
Most Nevada excise taxes are filed through mynvtax.nv.gov, which accepts electronic returns and payments by ACH transfer or credit card. Paper returns are available for some tax types and can be mailed to the Department of Taxation in Carson City with a check or money order, postmarked by the deadline.
Deadlines vary. Liquor and tobacco returns are monthly. The Commerce Tax is annual, due August 14.11Nevada Department of Taxation. 30-Day Extension of Time to File and Pay Commerce Tax Cannabis excise tax returns follow a schedule set by the Cannabis Compliance Board. Fuel returns go to the DMV rather than the Department of Taxation.
Penalties and Interest for Late Payment
Nevada uses a sliding penalty scale based on how many days a payment is overdue, capped at 10% of the tax owed:
- 1 to 10 days late: 2%
- 11 to 15 days late: 4%
- 16 to 20 days late: 6%
- 21 to 30 days late: 8%
- More than 30 days late: 10%
The maximum is 10%, not the 25% figure sometimes cited in older guidance.14Cornell Law Institute. Nevada Administrative Code 360.395 – Amount of Penalty for Late Payment On top of the penalty, unpaid balances accrue interest at 1% per month (or any fraction of a month) until paid in full.15Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 360A – Administration of Certain Taxes A $50,000 bill paid 45 days late would owe $5,000 in penalty plus $1,000 in interest for the two partial months, and the interest keeps running.
Records to Keep
Excise compliance depends on documentation that lets you reconstruct any reported figure. Liquor importers and manufacturers should track total gross gallons imported or produced each month, supported by supplier reports or TTB filings.2Nevada Department of Taxation. Liquor Excise Tax Return Tobacco distributors need purchase and sales records for every pack and every unit of other tobacco products, together with stamp purchase receipts. Cannabis businesses should retain documentation of the fair market values used and the sales prices charged.
Nevada does not set a specific retention period for excise tax records, but invoices, shipping manifests, monthly returns, and supporting worksheets should be organized so that any line on any return can be traced back to source documents. That reconstruction is the usual sticking point in an audit — the number on the return may be right, but without backup, there is no way to prove it.