US Sales Tax for E-Commerce Sellers 2026 — Complete Guide

The United States has no federal sales tax. Instead, 45 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico each run their own independent sales tax systems — with their own rates, thresholds, product rules, and filing deadlines. That is 47 top-level jurisdictions, each requiring separate registration, separate returns, and separate remittance.

In practice, the number of distinct obligations can be far higher. Some states — most notably Colorado and Alaska — operate under “Home Rule,” meaning individual municipalities can impose their own local sales tax rules and require separate registration and filing directly with the city or county, not just the state. Colorado alone has over 70 Home Rule jurisdictions with independent filing requirements.

There is a partial remedy: 24 states participate in the Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) agreement, which allows a single registration application to cover all member states simultaneously. It meaningfully reduces the paperwork burden — but because the remaining 21 states and DC are not members, the system as a whole remains deeply fragmented. There is no equivalent of a VAT One Stop Shop for the full US market.

For an e-commerce seller, domestic or international, navigating US sales tax means working within this fragmented reality. This guide gives you the full landscape. For the detail on each topic, follow the links throughout.

There Is No Federal Sales Tax

Unlike the EU (VAT), Canada (GST/HST), or Australia (GST), the US has no national consumption tax. Congress has never passed one. Each state sets its own rules independently.

Five states have no sales tax at all: Alaska (no statewide tax, though local jurisdictions do levy it), Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. In these states, remote sellers have no state-level sales tax obligation — though in Alaska, local jurisdictions can require registration through the Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission (ARSSTC).

The remaining 45 states plus DC are where your obligations live.

Economic Nexus — How You Create Obligations Without Touching the US

Before June 2018, a seller had to have a physical presence in a state to owe that state’s sales tax. Remote sellers — especially international ones — could sell into any US state without touching it.

That changed with South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018). The Supreme Court ruled that states can require remote sellers to collect sales tax based purely on economic activity — sales volume into the state, with no physical connection required.

Every US state (except the five no-tax states) now has an economic nexus law. The general structure:

Revenue threshold: Once you exceed $100,000 in gross sales into a state in a calendar year (or rolling 12 months, depending on the state), you have nexus and must register, collect, and file.
Transaction threshold: Many states previously required 200 transactions as an alternative trigger. This is being eliminated — Illinois and Utah dropped it in 2025; Alaska followed in 2026. The trend is toward revenue-only thresholds.

Higher thresholds exist in three large states:

California: $500,000
Texas: $500,000
New York: $500,000

There is no minimum for international sellers in the same sense as EU VAT — a single sale into a state does not automatically trigger nexus, but once you cross the threshold, you owe tax on all sales from dollar zero in that period (the specifics vary by state).

See the State-by-State Sales Tax Index for thresholds, transaction limits, and digital goods rules for all 50 states + DC + Puerto Rico.

Physical Nexus — Presence Triggers Liability From Day One

Physical nexus predates Wayfair and still applies. If your business has any of the following in a state, you have nexus from dollar one — no threshold applies:

An office, warehouse, or other place of business
Employees or contractors based in the state
Inventory stored in the state — including in Amazon FBA warehouses or third-party logistics providers (3PLs)

This last point catches many sellers. When you enroll in Amazon FBA, Amazon distributes your inventory across its US fulfilment network. You do not choose which states your stock goes to. Once it lands in a state, you have physical nexus there, and you must collect sales tax on every sale to that state’s customers — regardless of whether you’ve crossed any revenue threshold.

See Amazon FBA and the Physical Nexus Trap for the full detail.

What Tax Platforms Do — and Don’t Do

This is the most common misconception among e-commerce sellers.

Shopify Tax, Stripe Tax, TaxJar, and similar tools are calculation engines. They look up the applicable rate for a transaction and apply it at checkout. That is all they do.

They do not:

Register you with state tax authorities
Monitor when you cross nexus thresholds across multiple channels
File returns on your behalf
Remit tax to state governments

Using Shopify Tax or Stripe Tax does not make you compliant. It means you are collecting the right amount. That collected tax still needs to be reported and remitted to each state through a return — either one you file manually or one filed by a dedicated compliance service (Avalara, TaxJar’s filing add-on, Taxually, Quaderno, etc.).

The second gap is data silos. If you sell on Shopify, through Stripe direct, and on Etsy, each platform sees only its own transactions. Stripe Tax tracks nexus based only on Stripe revenue. If your combined Shopify + Stripe + Etsy sales into Texas cross $500,000, no individual platform will alert you — because none of them see the full picture.

See Shopify Sales Tax Limitations and Stripe Tax for Digital Goods and SaaS for the specifics.

US Domestic Sellers vs. International Sellers

If you are US-based

Your obligations are determined by where you have nexus — economic (crossing thresholds in states you sell into) or physical (offices, warehouses, FBA inventory). You register with each state’s department of revenue or taxation using your EIN and US address.

If you are based outside the US

The Wayfair ruling applies to you just as it applies to a seller in Oregon selling into New York. Once you cross a state’s economic nexus threshold, you must collect and remit that state’s sales tax — regardless of whether your business is incorporated in the US.

Practical complications for foreign sellers:

Most states require a US address for registration, or a registered agent. Some accept foreign addresses.
Without a US SSN, you need an EIN (Employer Identification Number) to register in most states. EINs can be obtained by foreign entities by filing IRS Form SS-4.
If you have incorporated a US entity (typically a Delaware or Wyoming LLC) as a payment vehicle, you face additional IRS reporting requirements under Form 5472. The penalty for failing to file Form 5472 is $25,000 per year — on top of any sales tax obligations.

See the Foreign Sellers Guide to US Sales Tax Compliance, IRS Form 5472 for Foreign-Owned US LLCs, and the Foreign Sellers Compliance Checklist for the full picture.

Selling to US Consumers (B2C) vs. US Businesses (B2B)

B2C Sales

Sales to individual consumers are almost always taxable (at the applicable rate for the product in that state), provided you have nexus in the customer’s state. You charge the tax at checkout, collect it, and remit it in your periodic return.

B2B Sales — Resale and Exemption Certificates

Sales to registered US businesses that will resell the goods are generally exempt from sales tax. But the exemption is not automatic. The buyer must provide you with a valid resale certificate (or exemption certificate) for their state. You must collect and retain this document.

Common certificate types:

Resale certificate — buyer will resell the goods
Exemption certificate — buyer qualifies for a specific exemption (non-profit, manufacturer buying inputs, etc.)
Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) Certificate — accepted in the 24 SST member states

If a buyer gives you an exemption certificate and it turns out to be invalid, the liability for uncollected tax typically falls on you unless you can demonstrate you relied on the certificate in good faith.

Unlike EU VAT’s reverse charge mechanism, there is no formal equivalent in US sales tax. The buyer handles their own use tax if they purchase without a valid exemption.

Selling on Marketplaces vs. Your Own Store

Marketplace Facilitator Laws

49 states and DC have enacted marketplace facilitator laws. Under these laws, a marketplace (Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Walmart Marketplace, Facebook Marketplace, TikTok Shop) is legally responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax on behalf of third-party sellers. The platform handles everything; you do not collect or remit the tax yourself for sales through that channel.

Key implication: Your marketplace sales still count toward your economic nexus threshold. If Amazon collects tax on your behalf for $150,000 of Texas sales, you now have nexus in Texas and must collect and remit tax yourself on sales you make through other channels (your own Shopify store, for example).

Platform Breakdown

Platform	Marketplace Facilitator?	What You Must Do
Marketplaces
Amazon (FBA and FBM)	Yes	Nothing for tax collection on Amazon sales — but FBA inventory creates physical nexus in warehouse states, affecting your other channels
Etsy	Yes	Nothing for tax collection — but Etsy sales count toward your nexus thresholds
eBay	Yes	Nothing for tax collection
Walmart Marketplace	Yes	Nothing for tax collection
TikTok Shop	Yes	Nothing for tax collection via TikTok native checkout; off-platform payments are your responsibility
Facebook / Instagram Shop	Yes (native checkout)	Nothing for native checkout sales; traffic redirected to your own store = your responsibility
Pinterest (native checkout)	Yes	Nothing for tax collection on native Pinterest checkout
Depop	Yes	Nothing for tax collection
Mercari	Yes	Nothing for tax collection
Poshmark	Yes	Nothing for tax collection
Reverb	Yes	Nothing for tax collection
Whatnot	Yes	Nothing for tax collection
GOAT / StockX	Yes	Nothing for tax collection
Faire (wholesale)	Yes	Nothing for tax collection on Faire; direct wholesale invoices are your responsibility
Own Store Platforms
Shopify	No	You collect and remit; Shopify Tax calculates rates but does not register you or file returns
WooCommerce	No	You collect and remit; requires a tax plugin (TaxJar, Avalara) for rate calculation
BigCommerce	No	You collect and remit; native tax zones or connect Avalara/TaxJar
Squarespace	No	You collect and remit; basic built-in tax settings, no filing
Wix	No	You collect and remit; basic built-in tax settings, no filing
Magento / Adobe Commerce	No	You collect and remit; integrate Avalara or Vertex for production-grade calculation
Custom / Headless	No	You collect and remit; integrate Avalara AvaTax API, TaxJar API, or Vertex via API
Payment Processors / Billing
Stripe direct	No	You collect and remit; Stripe Tax calculates but tracks nexus only on Stripe revenue — not cross-channel
PayPal / Braintree	No	You collect and remit; no native tax calculation — requires external integration
Digital Goods / SaaS Platforms
Lemon Squeezy	Yes (MoR)	Nothing — Lemon Squeezy is the Merchant of Record and handles all US sales tax
Paddle	Yes (MoR)	Nothing — Paddle is the Merchant of Record and handles all US sales tax
Gumroad	Yes	Nothing for tax collection on Gumroad sales
Payhip	Yes (MoR)	Nothing — Payhip handles US sales tax as MoR
Teachable	No	You are the MoR; you collect and remit US sales tax where applicable
Kajabi	No	You are the MoR; you collect and remit US sales tax where applicable
Thinkific	No	You are the MoR; you collect and remit US sales tax where applicable
Substack	Partial	Substack collects tax in some states; verify your specific state coverage in their current policy
Patreon	Partial	Patreon collects tax in some states; verify your specific state coverage in their current policy

Custom Stores and Headless Commerce

If you sell through a custom-built storefront or an API-only backend, you are responsible for integrating a tax calculation layer yourself. Options include Avalara’s AvaTax API, TaxJar’s API, or Vertex. These calculate the rate; you still need a filing/remittance layer.

Digital Goods and SaaS — A Separate Problem

Physical goods have decades of case law establishing taxability. Digital goods — software, SaaS subscriptions, ebooks, courses, digital downloads — are a different matter. Each state has reached its own conclusion:

States that tax SaaS and digital downloads: Texas, New York, Washington, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Colorado, Minnesota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, and others.
States that generally do not: California, Florida, Illinois, Virginia, Arizona, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada.

The classification matters because selling $120,000 of SaaS into Texas (taxable at 6.25% + local) creates a very different obligation than selling the same amount into California (not taxable).

See Stripe Tax for Digital Goods and SaaS for the complexity of platform-level handling.

International Shipping — Customs and De Minimis

If you are shipping physical goods to US customers from outside the US, two separate frameworks apply:

US Customs duties — federal, collected at the border, administered by CBP (Customs and Border Protection). The current Section 321 de minimis threshold allows shipments valued under $800 to enter duty-free. This threshold has faced increasing political pressure, with proposed and actual restrictions on shipments from certain countries.
State sales tax — state-level, collected by you at checkout, remitted via state returns. Customs duties and sales tax are entirely separate obligations.

Customers who receive an unexpected customs bill on delivery — because you shipped DAP (Delivered at Place) without pre-paying duties — have a poor experience and elevated return rates. The $800 threshold has historically masked this for most DTC shipments, but this is changing.

See US Customs and the Section 321 De Minimis Threshold for the current state.

State-Level Complexity

Beyond economic nexus thresholds, states differ on:

Origin vs. destination sourcing — Most states use destination sourcing (tax where the buyer is). A few states use origin sourcing for intrastate sales. Interstate sales are always destination-sourced.
Product taxability — Groceries, clothing, prescription drugs, and agricultural equipment are exempt or reduced in many states but taxable in others.
Local taxes — Many states allow counties, cities, and special taxing districts to add their own rates on top. California alone has over 500 local tax jurisdictions. The total rate in some zip codes exceeds 10%.
Filing frequency — Typically monthly for high-volume sellers, quarterly or annual for lower volume. Thresholds vary by state.

Compliance Minimum — What You Actually Need to Do

For a seller with nexus in multiple states:

Identify your nexus states — economic (crossed thresholds) and physical (inventory, FBA, employees)
Register with each state’s tax authority — each state has its own portal and process; there is no single federal registration
Collect tax at checkout — configure your platform or integrate a tax API for accurate rate calculation
File returns and remit — on each state’s schedule; either manually or through a compliance service
Maintain exemption certificates — for any B2B buyers claiming exemption
Monitor ongoing nexus — as your sales grow, you may cross thresholds in new states

For a step-by-step sequential checklist of every action in this process, see:

More Guides Coming Soon

State-by-State Setup Guides — California, Texas, New York, Florida, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania (registration walkthroughs, filing portals, local tax quirks)
Voluntary Disclosure Agreements (VDAs) — how to fix back-periods of uncollected tax without triggering full penalties
Origin vs. Destination Sourcing — intrastate vs. interstate sourcing rules in AZ, MO, NM, OH, PA, TX, UT, VA
Taxability by Product Category — clothing, groceries, prescription drugs, and digital goods state by state
Sales Tax Holidays — back-to-school, hurricane prep, and other temporary exemption windows by state
Use Tax — when the buyer owes tax directly to their state, and why it matters for B2B sellers
SST Registration Walkthrough — how to use the Streamlined Sales Tax programme to register in 24 states at once
WooCommerce Sales Tax Setup — plugin comparison and configuration guide
BigCommerce Sales Tax Setup — native tax zones vs. Avalara and TaxJar integrations
Etsy Seller Nexus Interaction — how Etsy’s facilitator role interacts with your other-channel thresholds
Voluntary Disclosure Agreements (VDAs) — state-by-state look-back periods, penalty waivers, and how to approach each state