Sales tax exemption certificate templates for Texas, Florida and New York resellers

What to take away

What a resale certificate does and who may sign it

A resale certificate tells a seller that the buyer intends to resell the goods, so the seller does not collect sales tax on that transaction. The document shifts the record-keeping duty onto the buyer. If the buyer resells without collecting tax, the state comes after the buyer, not the wholesaler who accepted the certificate.

The buyer signs. That is the rule in most states, including the three covered here. A seller who signs on the buyer's behalf creates a gap that auditors look for first, because the signature is the buyer's assertion that the purchase is for resale.

What the buyer must supply varies by state: a tax registration number, a business address, a description of the goods, and sometimes a reason code. Retention varies too: four years in Texas, three in Florida and New York. Florida also makes the buyer renew the certificate each year.

A certificate is not a license. It is a statement made at the point of sale. That distinction matters when a buyer has a permit but buys items for office use: the certificate covers resale purchases only, and mixing personal or operational purchases into an exempt order is a common audit finding.

Good certificate practice starts with the same discipline as any other business record. If your filing system for invoices and receipts format is solid, resale certificates slot into it without extra work. If it is not, certificates will be the first documents you cannot find.

Who can and cannot sign

A sole proprietor without employees still signs as the buyer. An officer of a corporation signs in that capacity. A purchasing agent signs only if the company has given written authority, and that authority belongs in the same file as the certificate.

Texas resale certificate: form and wording

The Texas resale certificate is the document a buyer gives a Texas seller to buy goods for resale without paying state and local sales tax. Texas does not issue a numbered certificate the way some states do. The buyer produces the form, and the Comptroller publishes a model version that most businesses use.

The Comptroller's model is Form 01-339, Texas Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate.

To complete it, the buyer supplies a Texas taxpayer number, the name and address of the business, a description of the items, and a statement that the goods will be resold. The wording matters.

The certificate must state that the purchase is for resale and that the buyer will collect tax on the later sale if the item is taxable.

Texas accepts a certificate transmitted electronically without a signature, provided the buyer's name and taxpayer number appear. A paper certificate needs the buyer's signature. Sellers should treat the electronic version the same as paper.

Texas Form 01-339 field layout

A template built on the state model carries these fields, in this order:

Texas keeps resale certificates inside a four-year sales tax record window. The four years run from the later of the date the tax is due or the date it is paid, and the Comptroller can extend the period by written agreement.

Texas also has a separate form for out-of-state buyers who are not required to hold a Texas permit. Those buyers use the Texas form for out-of-state purchasers and give their home-state registration number instead. Using the in-state form with a foreign number is a frequent error.

One practical point: Texas resale certificates do not expire on their own, but the information on them can go stale. A buyer that changes entity type, address or taxpayer number should issue a new certificate. Sellers who keep a certificate from five years ago are relying on facts that may no longer be true.

Wording that Texas expects

Rule 3.285 of the Comptroller's rules governs resale certificates. Federal rule changes that touch state tax administration are published in the Federal Register :: Money.

Florida annual resale certificate and DR-13 style documentation

The Florida annual resale certificate is different in kind from the Texas document. Florida issues it. A registered dealer logs into the state's tax portal and prints or downloads an annual certificate showing the dealer's name, address and sales tax registration number. The certificate covers the calendar year and must be renewed.

Because Florida issues the certificate, a seller can verify it. The state provides a way to look up a registration number. Sellers who accept a photocopy without checking the number are taking on risk they do not need to take.

The older DR-13 form still circulates. Florida now treats it as a suggested format rather than a form the state supplies, so a buyer without a current annual certificate may provide a DR-13 style statement. That statement has to carry the buyer's name, address, registration number and signature.

What the two Florida documents carry

The annual certificate comes from the Department of Revenue portal with fixed fields:

A DR-13 style statement fills the gap when the buyer has no current annual certificate. It needs:

Out-of-state buyers present a wrinkle. A buyer with no Florida registration number can still buy for resale if the goods will be resold outside Florida, but the paperwork has to say so.

The statement must show the buyer's home-state registration number, or explain why the home state does not require one. It must also acknowledge that the buyer owes Florida tax if the goods are used in the state. A buyer that brings goods into Florida and resells them there generally needs to register.

Annual renewal is the failure point. A certificate that expired in January is not valid in March, even if the buyer is still in business. Sellers should calendar renewals the same way they calendar other recurring paperwork, and buyers should treat the renewal as part of their compliance routine rather than an afterthought.

Florida requires dealers to keep sales tax records, including the annual certificate or the DR-13 style statement, for three years.

Small businesses that need help setting up that routine can get free counseling through the SBA: Free small business counseling & local mentoring -Small Business Administration.

Worked example: a Florida wholesale sale

A Tampa distributor sells $4,000 of packaging supplies to a Jacksonville retailer. The retailer sends its current Florida annual resale certificate, showing registration number 78-XXXXXXXXX and an expiration of December 31.

If the retailer's certificate had lapsed, the distributor would owe tax on the sale unless it obtained a valid certificate or a written statement within a reasonable time. That is the whole reason for the January follow-up.

New York ST-120 and the rules for out-of-state buyers

New York Form ST-120 is the resale certificate used in New York. The buyer completes and signs it, then gives it to the seller. It covers purchases of tangible personal property and certain services bought for resale.

The form asks for the buyer's certificate of authority number, or a statement of why the buyer is not required to register. Out-of-state buyers not registered in New York use the second option and must provide their home-state registration number.

New York does not accept a foreign number in place of the registration requirement if the buyer is actually doing business in the state.

New York also publishes ST-120.1 for contractors and ST-121 for exempt organizations. Using the wrong form is a defect. A reseller should use ST-120, not a contractor certificate, even if the buyer also does construction work.

Delivery matters in New York. A properly completed ST-120 relieves the seller of liability for collecting tax, but only if the seller accepts it in good faith. A certificate with an obviously wrong number or a missing signature is not good faith. Sellers should reject it and ask for a corrected copy.

ST-120 field by field

The buyer completes ST-120 from top to bottom:

New York requires sales tax records, including Form ST-120, to be kept for three years. An audit can look further back when a return was filed late or not at all. The same care that keeps invoices and receipts mistakes from becoming audit findings applies to the certificate file.

Common ST-120 errors

Multi-state reseller checklist for wholesale buyers

A wholesale buyer exemption works state by state. There is no federal resale certificate, and no single document substitutes for the correct state form. A buyer registered in three states should expect to hold three different certificates, each with its own number and renewal cycle.

The Multi-state reseller checklist below is the working version. It assumes a buyer that purchases from suppliers in Texas, Florida and New York and resells in more than one state.

For a buyer that sells through marketplaces, the platform may collect tax on the retail sale. That does not remove the need for a resale certificate on the wholesale purchase. The two obligations sit at different points in the chain.

Marketplace collection rules are among the business and industry topics tracked in the Federal Register :: Business & Industry.

Suppliers should build the same list from the other side. A supplier that ships into all three states needs a folder per state, a field in its accounting system for the certificate number, and a report that flags expiring certificates. Suppliers that skip the flag end up chasing paperwork after an exemption is disallowed.

What to do when a certificate is missing

Option two is the usual path for established customers. Option one is safer for new customers with no history. Either way, the decision belongs in writing so the file shows why the sale was handled as it was.

What a resale certificate template must carry

An exemption certificate is one document in a larger company form set that covers buying, selling and internal approvals. Keeping the set in one place means a new hire can find the right document without asking which folder it lives in.

Templates earn their place when they carry the state specific wording and the fields the state actually checks. A generic resale certificate with blank lines for "state" and "number" invites errors. A template keyed to Texas, Florida or New York reduces them.

That is also true of the documents around the certificate. A clean invoices and receipts template makes it obvious where the exemption reference goes on the invoice face. Real invoices and receipts examples show how that reference reads in practice. And internal rules about who may sign belong with your policy templates, not in a drawer.

The FTC publishes guidance on advertising and warranty claims that a sales template may touch: Business Guidance Resources | Federal Trade Commission.

State registration is handled by each state, and USAGov gathers the federal paperwork links in one place: Small business | USAGov.

Common questions