North Carolina Resale Certificate (E-595E): How to Get One

North Carolina uses form E-595E, the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exemption. You register for a sales and use tax account with NCDOR first, which is free, and then you send a completed E-595E to each distributor you buy from. The state doesn't send you a certificate. You fill the form in yourself, once per supplier.

One thing makes E-595E worth learning well. North Carolina didn't write it. It's the Streamlined form, and more than 20 other states accept the same one. So once you can fill it in for a distributor in Charlotte, you can fill it in for a distributor in Ohio or Georgia too. This post goes through the NC version, and shows where else you can use it.

Step 1: Get the NC Sales and Use Tax Registration

The form asks for your sales tax ID number, so the registration comes first.

NCDOR's registration page is clear about the cost. "There is NO fee to apply for a certificate of registration in North Carolina." It also warns about third-party sites that charge for the same thing. They are "often inaccurate, deceptive, or misleading and should not be used." So if a website wants money to get you an NC resale certificate, close it.

You register through NCDOR's online business registration. You'll need your SSN or EIN, your business name and address, the responsible person's details and a start date. The page says that "for most applicants, the account ID number will be issued instantly," and a printed Certificate of Registration follows in the mail. The account ID is the number you'll put on every E-595E.

One detail that matters if you only sell wholesale. NCDOR's who should register page says a wholesale merchant still has to register, but can choose "wholesale only" and then doesn't have to file sales tax returns. If you sell to the public on a marketplace, you're a retailer and you file returns normally.

The registration and the certificate are two different things, and it's easy to mix them up. The registration is your account with the state. The certificate is the form you hand a supplier. Our post on a resale certificate versus a sales tax permit goes through why the account always comes first.

Step 2: Fill In E-595E

Download the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exemption, the April 2022 web-fill version. It's two pages, and the second page is instructions. Six parts matter for a reseller.

Single purchase or blanket

The instructions say to "check the box for a single purchase and enter the invoice/purchase order number." Leave it unchecked and "this certificate is considered a blanket certificate." For a distributor you'll reorder from, leave it unchecked.

Your name, address and ID number

Your business name and address, then your NC account ID in the identification number box, with "NC" in the state column. The form asks you to "identify the state or if a foreign ID, the country the ID number is from," That's because the same form is used in other states too.

Type of business

A list of business types with a number for each. Pick the one that fits what you sell.

Reason for exemption

The reasons are lettered. Resale is "G," and there's a space for the number. Check G and nothing else.

Seller's details

The distributor's name and address, as they appear on the account you're opening.

Sign and date

A signature, printed name, title and date. You're declaring the information "is correct and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief."

Then it goes to the distributor, not to the state. The form says so in capitals: "Do not send this form to the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board or the NC Department of Revenue."

How Much Does an NC Reseller Permit Cost?

There's no fee. NCDOR's sales and use tax FAQ answers the question directly: "No. There is no fee charged for a Certificate of Registration." The E-595E form is a free download. So a North Carolina resale certificate costs you some time and no money.

Some people call the registration an NC reseller permit. The state calls it a Certificate of Registration and says it's "often called a sales and use or resale tax number." If you use any of those names, the state will know what you mean.

Does an NC Resale Certificate Expire?

The form carries no expiry date. A blanket E-595E "remains effective until cancelled by the purchaser if purchases are no more than 12 months apart." The form says the same thing: "a recurring business relationship exists when a period of no more than 12 months elapses" between purchases.

So the certificate lapses on its own if you go more than a year without buying from that distributor. Reorder every few months and it stays in force. If you don't order for more than a year, you'll need a fresh form.

The registration behind it can lapse as well. The same FAQ says a Certificate of Registration "becomes void if, for a period of 18 months," you file no returns or file returns showing no sales. NCDOR reviews that yearly and mails a notice. So file your returns, even ones showing zero sales, if you want the number to stay live.

How to Verify an NC Resale Certificate

A distributor can't look up the certificate because it's never filed with the state. What they can look up is the account ID on it.

NCDOR runs a public Registry of Sales and Use Tax Numbers. It "contains the names and account ID and SST IDs, as applicable, of all active sales and use tax accounts." Enter the full nine-digit account ID, an SST ID, or a business name. It shows whether the account is active. One catch the registry itself notes: it "may not contain taxpayers who registered with the Department" but aren't required to file returns, which includes "wholesale only" registrants.

Check your own number there before you send the form. If two digits are swapped, the registry won't find you, and the distributor can't tell that from a fake number.

The Same Form Works in Other States

Learning E-595E also saves you work in other states.

North Carolina joined Streamlined Sales Tax in October 2005, and Streamlined's own site says its exemption certificate "and instructions are accepted by all 24 Streamlined member states." E-595E is that certificate with NC's name on it. So when a distributor in Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, New Jersey or any other member state asks for a resale certificate, you can send the same form.

The form is built for it. Its instructions cover a buyer who is "not registered in the state you are claiming the tax exemption." That buyer should "provide your sales tax ID number issued by any state." So your NC account ID goes in the box, "NC" goes in the state column, and the form still works for a supplier in Ohio.

A few states aren't members. New York wants its own ST-120, covered in our New York resale certificate post. For those, and for states that use the MTC form (the other multistate certificate), our guide to the multistate resale certificate sorts out which form goes where. North Carolina is also on the MTC form, with a note that it's "not valid as an exemption certificate if signed by a person such as a contractor who intends to use the property," which doesn't affect a reseller.

Getting the Certificate Accepted

The certificate is only one part of a distributor application, and it isn't the only thing that decides whether you're approved. What else they ask for is covered in our guide to what distributors look for before approving a seller.

If you've never filled one in before, how to fill out a resale certificate covers the fields that get forms returned in any state. Those same checks apply when you fill out E-595E.

It's also worth knowing what a supplier charges before you spend time on their paperwork. You can search a product free and see real cost and real stock from the verified distributors in our network carrying it.

Sometimes the form is fine, but nobody you can reach carries the product. That needs a different kind of help. You can ask our team to find an authorized wholesale distributor for it, free on every plan, with an answer within 30 days either way.

North Carolina Resale Certificate: The Takeaways

• North Carolina's resale certificate is the Streamlined form, E-595E.
• Register with NCDOR first. It's free, and most applicants get the account ID instantly.
• Leave the single-purchase box unchecked for a blanket certificate. Check reason G for resale.
• A blanket E-595E lasts as long as you buy at least once every 12 months.
• Your registration goes void after 18 months of no returns. File them, even ones showing zero sales.
• Distributors check your account ID in NCDOR's public registry. Check it yourself first.
• The same form works with distributors in all 24 Streamlined member states.

This is general information about published North Carolina and Streamlined guidance, not tax or legal advice. Rules change, and for your own situation you should talk to an accountant.

Learn It Once, Use It in 24 States

A form built for one state only works in that state. E-595E is different. Fill it in once for a North Carolina distributor and you've learned the form for Michigan, Ohio and Georgia too. It's the same form with a different state in the box.

So register with NCDOR, get the account ID, and keep a filled-in E-595E on file. You can open a free account and see real cost and real stock from the verified distributors in our network carrying your products while the registration goes through.