Taxes / Seller's permits by state / Indiana
Do I need a seller's permit to sell on eBay or Poshmark in Indiana?
No: the Indiana Department of Revenue says a seller that only makes sales through a marketplace facilitator is not required to register and file Indiana sales tax returns, because the facilitator is the retail merchant for those sales. Direct sales (your own site, Facebook, a flea market, a garage sale of goods you bought to resell) need a Registered Retail Merchant Certificate through INBiz: a nonrefundable $25 fee for each location, renewed every two years at no charge if your filings are current.
Indiana calls it a Registered Retail Merchant Certificate (RRMC), issued by the Indiana Department of Revenue.
General information, not tax or legal advice. Check with a tax professional about your own situation.
Checked against the official pages listed below on .
Indiana in short
- Sell only on marketplaces that collect the tax:
- No: the state says registration is not required
- Also sell direct (own site, Facebook, flea market):
- Yes: the state says to register; $25 fee
- Resale certificate:
- General Sales Tax Exemption Certificate (ST-105)
- Garage and occasional sales:
- Exempt: infrequent sales at the owner's residence, of property not bought for resale and already taxed
- Where to register:
- INBiz (Business Tax Application, Form BT-1)
If you sell only on eBay, Poshmark and other marketplaces
The Department says sales by third-party sellers on a marketplace are not legally sales by the seller for Indiana sales tax purposes, and a seller that only makes sales through a marketplace facilitator is not required to register and file returns. A seller already registered may keep or close its account (Form BC-100); one registered because of physical presence or the remote seller threshold reports marketplace sales as exempt sales on Form ST-103.
The rule: IC 6-2.5-2-1(d).
"A seller that only makes sales through a marketplace facilitator is not required to register and file Indiana sales tax returns."
"If a marketplace seller is otherwise required to register for Indiana sales tax due to physical nexus or meeting the remote seller threshold, then the seller should report marketplace sales as if they are exempt sales on the ST-103."
Indiana's sales and use tax rate is 7%. Since July 1, 2019 (IC 6-2.5-2-1(d)), a marketplace facilitator is the retail merchant for third-party sales on its marketplace once its gross revenue from sales into Indiana exceeds $100,000 in the previous or current calendar year.
Sources: Marketplace Facilitators; Marketplace Seller State Guidance; Sales Tax Information Bulletin #89, Registration, Collection, and Remittance Requirements for Remote Sellers and Marketplace Facilitators (April 2024); Business Tax FAQs.
If you also sell direct: your own site, Facebook, flea markets, consignment
To operate a retail business in Indiana, wholesale or retail, you apply for a Registered Retail Merchant Certificate by filing Form BT-1 through INBiz, listing each place of business; one certificate is displayed at each. A seller who keeps its registration still collects tax on any direct sales. A consignment shop selling your goods is itself the retail merchant for those sales.
- Fee:
- $25, nonrefundable, for each location, paid when you register.
- Renewal:
- Valid for two years and renewed automatically at no charge if returns and payments are current; it expires if they aren't.
"A nonrefundable $25 fee must be submitted when you register. An application and separate $25 fee are required for each location."
"The sale of consigned tangible personal property is a retail sale, and the consignee must register as a retail merchant and collect and remit sales tax based on the gross retail income of the consignment sale."
Sources: New & Small Business Owners Handbook; Business Tax FAQs; Marketplace Facilitators; Sales Tax Information Bulletin #20, Auctions, Casual Sales, and Consignment Sales (August 2024).
Resale certificate: buying inventory without paying sales tax
- Do you need your own permit to give one?
- Yes: the state ties the certificate to the buyer's own permit or account number
Indiana registered retail merchants (and businesses outside Indiana) give Form ST-105 to a supplier, checking the box for sales to a retailer, wholesaler or manufacturer for resale only, as a single-purchase or blanket certificate. The buyer must give its Registered Retail Merchant Certificate TID and location number, or a tax ID from its home state; if any section is left blank, the supplier must charge tax.
Thrift stores, estate sales and yard sales
The Department says items sold at garage sales are generally exempt casual sales when the seller isn't in the business of selling and already paid sales or use tax on the item, and that an auction held at the owner's home is a casual sale; sales at auction houses are taxable. Its example of someone buying at garage sales to resell at monthly garage sales says that person must register and collect tax.
Misusing a certificate
Form ST-105 is signed under penalties of perjury, and the buyer confirms that misuse, negligent or intentional, or fraudulent use may subject the buyer personally and its business to tax, interest, and civil or criminal penalties.
"Sales tax must be charged unless all information in each section is fully completed by the purchaser."
Sources: Form ST-105, General Sales Tax Exemption Certificate (R7 / 6-23); Business Tax FAQs; Sales Tax Information Bulletin #20, Auctions, Casual Sales, and Consignment Sales (August 2024).
Garage sales, yard sales and other occasional sales
Exempt: infrequent sales at the owner's residence, of property not bought for resale and already taxed. A garage, rummage or similar sale is an exempt casual sale only if all five conditions are met: at the owner's residence, run by the owner or immediate family, of property not acquired for resale, on which sales or use tax was paid, and held infrequently. If some items fail the conditions, the seller is a retail merchant and collects tax on those items.
The rule: Sales Tax Information Bulletin #20 (August 2024); IC 6-2.5-2-3; 45 IAC 2.2-4-33 to 2.2-4-35.
"This person has violated conditions of the “casual sale” exemption rules 3, 4, and 5 shown above and thus must register as a retail merchant and collect sales tax"
Sources: Sales Tax Information Bulletin #20, Auctions, Casual Sales, and Consignment Sales (August 2024); Business Tax FAQs.
Worked examples
Marketplace-only seller in Indianapolis
Every sale goes through marketplace facilitators, which Indiana treats as the retail merchant for those sales. The Department says a seller that only sells through a marketplace facilitator doesn't register or file Indiana sales tax returns; a seller registered earlier can keep the account and file $0 returns, or close it with Form BC-100.
A $40 sale at a flea market
Direct sales need the $25 certificate for that location. At Indiana's 7% rate, a $40 sale carries $2.80 of sales tax ($40 x 7%).
Monthly yard sales of thrift finds
Buying at other people's garage sales to resell at your own monthly sales breaks three of the five casual-sale conditions (bought for resale, no tax paid on acquiring it, not infrequent). The Department's own example says that person must register and collect tax.
Putting items in a consignment shop
The bulletin says the consignee (the shop) registers and collects tax on the consignment sale. Selling the same goods yourself at a booth would make you the retail merchant instead.
Edge cases and details
- Indiana's 2020 entry in the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board's marketplace seller chart answers: No, unless the marketplace seller has physical presence in Indiana. The Department's own current marketplace page states the rule without that exception and lets a registered seller that only sells on marketplaces close its account; if you keep inventory or a business location in Indiana, confirm with the Department.
- For a seller outside Indiana, the only remote seller threshold since January 1, 2024 is more than $100,000 of gross revenue from sales into Indiana in the current or previous calendar year (Senate Enrolled Act 228 (2024) removed the 200-transaction test), and sales made on a marketplace don't count toward the seller's own threshold (Bulletin #89).
- An auction at the owner's home, of property not bought for resale or consigned, is a casual sale even with online or phone bidding; an online-only auction not held at the owner's premises is taxable, and the Department says it is developing more guidance on marketplace facilitators and auctions.
- A buyer's premium added to the winning bid is taxable; a seller's premium is not.
- The certificate is not a vendor's license: the Department says to contact your county clerk's office for that.
- Registered accounts file returns even for periods with no sales; the Department lists a late-filing penalty of up to 20%, minimum $5.
- A seller that is registered but now sells only on marketplaces can keep the account and file $0 returns, change its filing frequency, or close it with Form BC-100.
What to do
- Marketplace-only: keep each marketplace's records that it collects Indiana tax; if you registered earlier, decide (with a tax professional if needed) whether to keep or close the account, and confirm with the Department if you have inventory or a location in Indiana.
- Selling direct, at events, or by consignment through your own booth: register each location in INBiz with the $25 fee before you start.
- Buying inventory tax-free: give suppliers a fully completed Form ST-105 with your TID and location number.
- Ask your county clerk about any vendor's license, which is separate from the state certificate.
Common questions
How much is an Indiana Registered Retail Merchant Certificate?
$25 per location, nonrefundable. It is valid for two years and renews automatically at no charge if your returns and payments are current.
Do I need an Indiana sales tax certificate to sell on Etsy or Mercari?
Not if every sale goes through a marketplace facilitator: the Department says a seller that only sells through a marketplace facilitator is not required to register and file Indiana sales tax returns. Sales you make yourself need the certificate.
Who collects sales tax on consignment sales in Indiana?
The consignee. The Department says a sale of consigned property is a retail sale and the consignee must register as a retail merchant and collect and remit the tax.
Is a yard sale taxable in Indiana?
Not if it is a casual sale: at your home, run by you or your family, of things you didn't buy for resale and paid tax on, held infrequently.
Related
- Seller's permits by state: marketplace-only sellers, resale certificates and garage sales on one table
- Indiana: marketplace sales tax and 1099-K rules
- Illinois: do you need a seller's permit?
- Iowa: do you need a seller's permit?
- Form 1099-K for resellers: the federal test
- Do eBay's fees apply to the sales tax a buyer pays?
- Where each selling app keeps its sales report
General information, not tax or legal advice
This page summarizes Indiana's own published pages, rules and statutes as read on . It doesn't say whether you must register, what you should file or whether you owe tax: that turns on your own sales, where you sell and what you buy. Rules change. Check with a tax professional, or ask the Indiana Department of Revenue directly.
Sources
Official pages this page is built from, with the day each was read.
- Indiana Department of Revenue: Marketplace Facilitators; read . Marketplace-only sellers don't register; 7% rate; $100,000 threshold; IC 6-2.5-2-1(d).
- Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board: Marketplace Seller State Guidance, dated ; read . Indiana entry: no, unless the seller has physical presence.
- Indiana Department of Revenue: New & Small Business Owners Handbook; read . RRMC, BT-1 through INBiz, $25 per location, two-year renewal.
- Indiana Department of Revenue: Business Tax FAQs; read . RRMC renewal, vendor's license, garage sales and auctions, 7% rate, late-filing penalty.
- Indiana Department of Revenue: Sales Tax Information Bulletin #20, Auctions, Casual Sales, and Consignment Sales (August 2024); read . Casual sale conditions, auctions, consignment, Example #2.
- Indiana Department of Revenue: Form ST-105, General Sales Tax Exemption Certificate (R7 / 6-23); read . Form text: resale box, TID and LOC, all sections required, misuse.
- Indiana Department of Revenue: Sales Tax Information Bulletin #89, Registration, Collection, and Remittance Requirements for Remote Sellers and Marketplace Facilitators (April 2024); read . Marketplace sales not counted toward a seller’s threshold; $100,000-only threshold since January 1, 2024.
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