Hawaii’s General Excise Tax, commonly called the GE tax or GET, is a tax on businesses for the privilege of doing business in the state, calculated on their gross receipts rather than on what customers buy. The base state rate is 4%, and every county now adds a 0.5% surcharge, bringing the effective rate on most transactions to 4.5%.1Department of Taxation. County Surcharge on General Excise and Use Tax Businesses are allowed to pass the cost on to customers, and most do, which is why the GE tax Hawaii shoppers see on receipts behaves a lot like a sales tax even though it legally isn’t one.
Why Your Receipt Shows 4.712%
The GET is imposed on the business, not the buyer. Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 237 taxes the business’s total gross income from almost every type of commercial activity, including retail sales, services, rentals, commissions, and contracting.2Cornell Law School. Hawaii Code of Rules 18-237-1 – Definitions A mainland sales tax usually hits only retail goods and some services; the GET catches almost everything, and it applies to every dollar coming in, not profit.
Businesses may pass the GET to customers as a visible line item, but the state caps the pass-on rate. For transactions taxed at the combined 4.5% rate, the maximum visible pass-on is 4.712%.1Department of Taxation. County Surcharge on General Excise and Use Tax The extra fraction exists because the business owes GET on everything it collects, including the GET itself. On a $100 sale, the business can add up to $4.71, making your total $104.71.
GE Tax Rates by Activity
Hawaii taxes different kinds of business activity at different rates:3State of Hawaii, Department of Taxation. Tax Facts 37-1 – General Excise Tax (GET)
- 0.15% on insurance commissions.
- 0.5% on wholesaling, manufacturing, producing, and wholesale services. The lower rate keeps the tax from stacking heavily on goods that will be resold.
- 4.0% on retail sales, services, rentals, contracting, and most other business activities.
All four counties (Honolulu, Kauai, Hawaii, and Maui) have added a 0.5% surcharge on top of the 4.0% state rate, so the combined rate for most retail-level transactions is 4.5%. The surcharge does not apply to activities taxed at 0.5% wholesale or 0.15% insurance commission rates.4Department of Taxation. County Surcharge on County Surcharge on General Excise and Use Tax Each county’s surcharge is currently authorized through December 31, 2030, and revenue funds county transportation and housing projects. Businesses operating in more than one county need to track where each transaction happens and apply the correct surcharge.
If You Run a Business: Registering
Everyone doing business in Hawaii must get a GE tax license before starting operations. There is no small-business carve-out, no exception for nonprofits that expect to qualify for exemption later, and no exception for businesses that don’t expect to turn a profit.5Department of Taxation. General Excise Tax (GET) Information – Frequently Asked Questions
Registration is done on Form BB-1, the Basic Business Application, filed either online through Hawaii Tax Online or on paper at a Department of Taxation district office. The one-time fee is $20. Once the application is approved, the department issues a tax identification number that stays with the business unless it closes or restructures as a different legal entity.
Filing Schedules and Due Dates
How often you file depends on how much GET you expect to owe for the year:6Hawaii.gov (Department of Taxation). General Instructions for Filing the General Excise/Use Tax Returns
- Monthly if your annual GET liability exceeds $4,000.
- Quarterly if your annual liability is $4,000 or less.
- Semiannual if your annual liability is $2,000 or less.
If total annual liability is $100 or less, you can skip the periodic returns, but you still must file an annual return.
Each periodic return (Form G-45) is due on the 20th of the month after the period closes. January’s monthly return is due February 20; a first-quarter return covering January through March is due April 20.5Department of Taxation. General Excise Tax (GET) Information – Frequently Asked Questions On top of the periodic returns, every active license holder must file Form G-49, the annual reconciliation. For calendar-year filers it’s due April 20 of the following year, and it reconciles the full year against what was reported period by period.
Businesses with annual tax liability over $4,000 are required to file electronically through Hawaii Tax Online.7Department of Taxation. Mandatory Electronic Filing Smaller filers can use the portal too, which pulls payments directly from a bank account and processes faster than paper.8State of Hawaii Department of Taxation. Hawaii Tax Online Home
Exemptions Worth Knowing
The GET’s reach is wide, but a few exemptions come up often.
Nonprofits. Federal 501(c) status does not automatically exempt an organization from Hawaii GET. The nonprofit has to apply separately through Hawaii Tax Online and pay the $20 registration fee if it doesn’t already have a license. Applying within three months of starting operations covers income from day one; applying later covers only income received after the application date. Social clubs organized for recreation or pleasure don’t qualify even with a 501(c)(7) determination.9State of Hawaii, Department of Taxation. Tax Information for Nonprofit Organizations
Services exported out of state. Income from services performed in Hawaii but consumed entirely outside the state can be exempt if the business collects a certificate from the out-of-state customer confirming the service will be used elsewhere. If the customer ends up using the service in Hawaii, they owe the seller the tax instead. This exemption covers services and contracting at the 4% rate, not wholesale activity already taxed at 0.5%.10Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 237-29.53 – Exemption for Contracting or Services Exported Out of State
Use Tax When You Import
Buying from an unlicensed out-of-state seller doesn’t let you skip the GET. Hawaii’s use tax fills that gap so importing isn’t a competitive edge over local businesses. Goods or services imported for resale are taxed at 0.5%, matching the wholesale GET rate. Imports for your own use or consumption are taxed at 4%, plus any county surcharge.6Hawaii.gov (Department of Taxation). General Instructions for Filing the General Excise/Use Tax Returns Licensed businesses importing services or contracting may owe either nothing or 0.5% depending on the facts; unlicensed importers pay the full 4%.11Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 238-2.3 – Imposition of Tax on Imported Services or Contracting; Exemptions Use tax goes on the same Form G-45, and if you already paid sales or use tax to another state, you can offset that against what you owe Hawaii.
What Happens If You File Late
Missing the 20th gets expensive fast. The late-filing penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month overdue, capped at 25%.12Hawaii.gov. Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 231 – Administration of Taxes Interest also runs at two-thirds of 1% per month on any unpaid balance starting the day after the deadline. A business that files three months late on a $1,000 tax bill would owe $150 in penalties plus roughly $20 in interest before touching the underlying tax. The department can waive the penalty for reasonable cause, but forgetting or not knowing rarely clears that bar.