Pennsylvania’s Sales Tax Exemption Form REV-1220 lets a qualified buyer purchase otherwise taxable goods or services without paying the state’s six percent sales tax. You fill it in, sign it under penalty of law, and give it to your vendor to keep on file. You do not send it to the Department of Revenue.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Pennsylvania Exemption Certificate (REV-1220) Get the exemption category and ID number right, because a bad certificate exposes the vendor to the uncollected tax and exposes you to criminal penalties.
Check Whether You Even Need the Form
A lot of everyday purchases are already exempt in Pennsylvania with no certificate at all. Most clothing and footwear, unprepared grocery food, prescription drugs and medical supplies, residential utilities, schoolbooks, and qualifying newspapers are tax-free by default, and the vendor should not be collecting tax on them in the first place.2Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Retailer’s Information (REV-717) The REV-1220 only matters when a transaction would normally be taxable but qualifies for an exemption because of who the buyer is or how the item will be used.
First Decision: Unit or Blanket Certificate
At the top of the form you choose between a unit certificate and a blanket certificate. A unit certificate covers one transaction. A blanket certificate stays on file with the vendor and covers every qualifying purchase you make from them until you tell them to stop.3PA Business One-Stop Hub. Help Guides – Complete the PA Tax Exemption Certificate If you buy from the same supplier regularly, use the blanket version and save yourself the repeat paperwork.
Fill In the Seller and Purchaser Details
Enter the seller’s full legal name, street address, city, state, and ZIP code at the top, then your own in the purchaser block. Use legal names, not trade names or abbreviations. A mismatch between the name on the certificate and the name on the purchase order is one of the first things an auditor flags.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Pennsylvania Exemption Certificate (REV-1220)
Pick the Right Exemption Category
The form organizes exemptions into numbered checkbox categories. Choose the one that actually matches your claim; picking the wrong box is the fastest way to invalidate the certificate during an audit.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Pennsylvania Exemption Certificate (REV-1220)
Resale (Category 3)
This is the one most businesses use. It covers property and services bought for resale in the ordinary course of business. A retailer buying inventory from a wholesaler checks this box. You must enter your eight-digit Pennsylvania Sales Tax License ID on the form for the certificate to be valid.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Pennsylvania Exemption Certificate (REV-1220)
Manufacturing, Mining, Farming, and Similar Use (Category 1)
Category 1 covers equipment, parts, and supplies used directly and predominantly in manufacturing, mining, dairying, processing, farming, shipbuilding, or timbering. “Directly” is the operative word. A lathe on the production floor qualifies; the receptionist’s desk at the same factory does not.
Government and Institutional (Category 2)
Commonwealth agencies, political subdivisions, municipal authorities, credit unions, the U.S. government, charter schools, and community colleges all fall under Category 2. So do qualifying nonprofits (religious, charitable, volunteer fire, relief associations, nonprofit educational institutions), but a nonprofit cannot use the REV-1220 at all without first obtaining a Pennsylvania exemption number beginning with “75” from the Department of Revenue.4Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. How Do I Get a Sales Tax Exemption for a Non-Profit Organization? That ten-digit number goes on the certificate. The exemption only covers purchases made in the organization’s name, paid for with the organization’s own funds, and used for its charitable purpose.
Public Utility Service (Category 4)
Property used directly in rendering a public utility service goes here.
Specialized Categories (5 through 8)
The remaining boxes cover wrapping supplies and nonreturnable containers used to package goods for sale (Category 5), canned computer software bought by certain financial institutions (Category 6), software licenses billed to a Pennsylvania address but used outside the state (Category 7), and a catch-all “Other” box (Category 8) for direct-pay permit holders, diplomatic personnel, Keystone Opportunity Zone businesses, and other exemptions that don’t fit elsewhere. If you don’t have a PA Sales Tax License ID, use line 8 to explain why one isn’t required.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Pennsylvania Exemption Certificate (REV-1220)
Sign It and Hand It to the Vendor
The purchaser signs and dates the certificate at the bottom. That signature is a sworn declaration under penalty of law that the exemption claim is legitimate. Give the completed form to your vendor, who keeps it on file. The form itself prints the instruction in bold capitals: do not return it to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Pennsylvania Exemption Certificate (REV-1220) A valid certificate removes the full tax obligation, including the extra one percent local tax in Allegheny County and the extra two percent in Philadelphia.5Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. What Is the Sales Tax Rate and When Do Licensees Collect Local Sales Tax?
Keep a copy for yourself. Disputes can surface years after a transaction.
The Resale Trap: Use Tax When You Divert the Purchase
This is where businesses regularly get caught. If you buy something tax-free using a resale certificate and then use it in your own operations instead of reselling it, you owe use tax on that item at the same six percent rate. Pennsylvania regulations are explicit: when property purchased for resale is used or consumed in any manner other than resale, the purchaser becomes the end consumer and must pay use tax on the purchase price.6Pennsylvania Code. 61 Pa. Code 31.4 – Imposition of Tax
The Department of Revenue’s own example: a furniture manufacturer buys lumber tax-free under a resale exemption, then uses some of that lumber to repair its own office floor. The manufacturer owes use tax on the diverted lumber.7Pennsylvania Code. 61 Pa. Code 31.7 – Use Tax The same logic covers anything you pull off the shelf for internal use. Businesses report and remit use tax on their regular sales tax returns.
Penalties for a False or Fraudulent Certificate
Issuing a false or fraudulent exemption certificate is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment of up to one year, or both.8Pennsylvania Code. 61 Pa. Code 35.2 – Interest, Additions, Penalties, Crimes and Offenses Filing a fraudulent tax return with intent to defraud the Commonwealth carries a fine of up to $2,000, imprisonment of up to three years, or both.
Even without criminal charges, intentionally failing to pay the full tax owed can trigger a 50 percent penalty on the underpaid amount unless the taxpayer makes a full and accurate good-faith disclosure of the transaction.8Pennsylvania Code. 61 Pa. Code 35.2 – Interest, Additions, Penalties, Crimes and Offenses Assessments for underpaid tax also accumulate additions of three percent per month, capped at 18 percent total.9Pennsylvania Code. 61 Pa. Code Chapter 35 – Tax Examinations and Assessments
What Happens on the Vendor’s Side
Knowing how the vendor handles the certificate helps you give them something they can actually rely on. Pennsylvania regulations apply a “good faith” standard: a certificate accepted in the ordinary course of business, with an exemption basis consistent with the buyer’s activity and the type of property being sold, is presumed to be taken in good faith.10Pennsylvania Code. 61 Pa. Code 32.2 – Exemption Certificates If a buyer picking up consumer electronics hands over a certificate claiming a farming exemption, the vendor won’t be protected for accepting it without question.
The vendor must have the completed certificate in physical possession within 60 days of the sale. Without it, the vendor has to prove by other evidence that the sale was genuinely exempt or treat the transaction as taxable.10Pennsylvania Code. 61 Pa. Code 32.2 – Exemption Certificates Vendors are required to keep exemption certificates and related sales tax records for at least three years from the end of the calendar year to which the records relate.11Pennsylvania Code. 61 Pa. Code 34.2 – Keeping of Records For blanket certificates, each later purchase under the blanket counts as a separate exemption claim, so the vendor has to apply the good-faith test to every one, not just the first.
If You’re an Out-of-State Buyer
Pennsylvania does not accept the Multistate Tax Commission’s Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate as a general exemption certificate. The MTC form is valid in Pennsylvania only for resale claims, and even then the buyer must enter their eight-digit Pennsylvania Sales Tax License ID on it.12Multistate Tax Commission. Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate Pennsylvania is also not a member of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, so the Streamlined exemption certificate is not accepted here.13Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board, Inc. Exemptions For anything other than resale, you need the REV-1220 itself.