US Sales Tax Registration Checklist for Foreign Ecommerce Sellers (2026)
If you’re a UK Ltd, Australian Pty Ltd, EU GmbH, Hong Kong Ltd, or South African (Pty) Ltd selling into the United States, you have the same US sales tax obligations as a Delaware LLC — but none of the documents, IDs, or banking infrastructure that every existing checklist assumes you already have. This guide closes that gap. It is built for non-US founders, walks every step required to register in any US state, and flags exactly where foreign-entity friction shows up (and how to get around it).
Two paths from here: read this end-to-end and DIY 50 state registrations over the next 6-12 months, or hand the whole engagement to us and skip the rest.
Why Foreign Ecommerce Sellers Need a Different US Sales Tax Playbook
The short version: in 2018 the US Supreme Court ruled that a state can require any seller — regardless of physical presence — to collect sales tax once that seller crosses a revenue or transaction threshold in the state. That decision applies to foreign sellers identically to US sellers. There is no “I’m based overseas” exemption.
The Wayfair decision in plain English
The case is South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., 585 U.S. 162 (2018). The Supreme Court overturned the earlier physical-presence rule set out in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992). A state may now require a remote seller to collect sales tax based on its economic activity in that state alone, with no physical presence needed. After Wayfair, states could enact economic nexus laws — i.e., once a remote seller does more than $X in sales or Y transactions into the state, that seller is obligated to register, collect, file, and remit sales tax.
Within five years, every US state that levies a sales tax had passed an economic nexus statute. The five states with no statewide sales tax — Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon — remain the only exemption (and Alaska has local sales tax in many jurisdictions, which captures remote sellers through a separate Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission framework).
Why US-seller checklists don’t work for non-US entities
Every mass-market guide you’ll find assumes the seller has:
- A US Limited Liability Company (LLC) or C-Corporation
- A US Employer Identification Number (EIN)
- A US Social Security Number (SSN) for the responsible party
- A US bank account with an ACH-capable routing number
- A US mailing address that can receive certified mail
- A US business license at the local (city/county) level
A UK Ltd shipping inventory to an Amazon fulfilment centre in California has none of those. The registration portals were not designed for foreign entities, and approximately a dozen state Departments of Revenue (DORs) still reject foreign addresses outright on their online registration screens — forcing paper Form X applications, notarized Powers of Attorney, and sometimes apostilles under the Hague Convention.
That friction is the entire reason this guide exists.
The three nexus traps foreign sellers fall into
- Economic nexus from direct-channel sales (Shopify, WooCommerce, your own website). Your Shopify revenue counts. Cross the threshold → register.
- Physical nexus from Amazon FBA inventory. The moment Amazon stores your stock in a Texas warehouse, Texas treats you as physically present in Texas. There is no minimum threshold for physical nexus — one unit triggers it.
- Click-through / affiliate nexus. Less common today, but a US-based affiliate driving sales to your website can create nexus in that affiliate’s home state.
The most painful surprise for foreign sellers is #2. You never signed a Texas lease. You never hired a Texas employee. You shipped a pallet to Amazon and Amazon — without telling you — split it across fulfilment centres in 6 states. You now have nexus in 6 states.
Frame this honestly: you can read the next 4,000 words and run this process yourself, or book a free consultation and let Sales Tax Compliance USA handle every state, every filing, every notice. One fixed fee. No portals for you to learn.
Pre-Registration: What to Confirm Before You Touch a Single State Portal
Do not register before you confirm you actually owe. Registering creates a filing obligation — including zero-return obligations — that you did not have the day before. The exact position here depends on your own facts, so it is worth confirming with the state directly or talking to us about your situation.
Confirm you actually have nexus (don’t volunteer obligations)
Pull 12-24 months of US sales data and break it out by:
- Ship-to state (not billing state, not customer’s stated address — ship-to)
- Sales channel (marketplace-facilitated vs. your own website/Shopify)
- Gross sales (some states use gross, others use taxable — see below)
- Transaction count
Now compare each state’s totals against that state’s economic nexus threshold (full table in the next section). Separately, list every state where Amazon stores your FBA inventory — that’s automatic physical nexus, no threshold required.
Identify marketplace-facilitator sales vs your own-channel sales
Every US state with a sales tax has now passed a marketplace facilitator (MF) law. Under these laws, the marketplace (Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Walmart, TikTok Shop) is legally responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax on facilitated sales. As a seller, you generally don’t need to collect tax on those sales yourself.
But — and this is where foreign sellers get burned — the economic nexus threshold calculation is different from the collection obligation. Some states exclude marketplace sales from your threshold count. Others include them. And a few states have an explicit carve-out where marketplace-only sellers with marketplace-only FBA inventory aren’t required to register at all.
Critical examples from our verified state knowledge base:
- Illinois has addressed how marketplace-facilitated inventory interacts with physical-presence nexus for marketplace sellers, but the precise scope of any inventory carve-out depends on fact pattern and current IDOR guidance. If you hold FBA or marketplace inventory in Illinois, contact us for a current nexus review. Illinois is one of the few states with this favourable position.
- California provides that if all of a marketplace seller’s California retail sales are facilitated by a registered marketplace facilitator (such as Amazon), the seller is not required to hold a California seller’s permit, even if it stores inventory in a California fulfillment center (see CDTFA Pub. 109).
- Alabama’s SSUT program allows eligible remote sellers with no physical presence in Alabama to collect a flat 8% rate, but sellers with inventory or other physical presence in Alabama are generally not eligible for SSUT and must register under the regular rules.
The state-by-state nuance matters. Get this wrong and you either over-register (50 states of zero returns) or under-register (back taxes plus penalties).
vda-or-amnesty”>Assess historical exposure and decide: register, VDA, or amnesty
If your nexus analysis shows you should have been collecting in State X for the past 3 years but weren’t, do not just register and start collecting forward. Registration is prospective; it does not address the back-tax exposure. The state can — and routinely does — go back and audit the period before you registered.
The correct sequence for any state where you have historical exposure is a Voluntary Disclosure Agreement (VDA). In a VDA, you anonymously approach the state, agree to come forward, and in exchange the state typically:
- Limits the look-back period (usually 3-4 years instead of unlimited)
- Waives penalties (sometimes interest too)
- Lets you settle in a single negotiated payment
You cannot apply for a VDA after the state has contacted you. So the move is: VDA the dirty states first, then register, then turn on collection. Doing it in any other order can cost you 5-6 figures in back taxes you didn’t have to pay.
For more on this sequencing, see our Voluntary Disclosure Agreement guide.
Done-for-you: our onboarding includes a free nexus study. We pull your 24-month sales data, identify every state where you have economic or physical nexus, separate marketplace vs direct, and tell you which states need registration, which need a VDA first, and which you should not register in. Book the call.
The 2026 Economic Nexus Thresholds: State-by-State Quick Reference
The headline: the law the Supreme Court upheld in 2018 was South Dakota’s, and as it stood then it reached a remote seller whose gross revenue from sales delivered into the state exceeded $100,000, or who made 200 or more separate transactions for delivery into the state. That is the historical test, not the rule in force today. South Dakota itself dropped the transaction-count test with effect from July 1, 2023, and now requires a licence only where a remote seller’s gross sales into South Dakota exceed $100,000 in the previous or current calendar year. Other states copied the original pattern and have since moved away from it at their own pace, some by removing the transaction count and some by changing the dollar figure or the measuring period. Treat the table below as a starting point rather than a final answer. The position here depends on your own facts, so it is worth confirming with the state directly or talking to us about your situation.
Here are the key thresholds from our Tier-1 verified knowledge base. This one varies by seller and by state, and it is the kind of detail we check for clients as part of the service — get in touch and we will confirm where you stand.
| State | Revenue Threshold | Transaction Threshold | Measurement Period | Marketplace Sales in Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Alabama’s Simplified Sellers Use Tax (SSUT) program uses a remote-seller sales threshold, but the current dollar figure and how it is measured turn on ADOR guidance in effect for your period. If you are evaluating SSUT registration in Alabama, contact us for a current review. | None | Prior calendar year | Generally included |
| California | California uses a sales threshold (measured on combined sales of tangible personal property delivered into California by the retailer and related persons in the current or preceding calendar year) to trigger use tax registration for remote sellers and district-wide use tax collection (see CDTFA Wayfair guidance). If you are approaching the California threshold, contact us for a current review. | None | Prior or current calendar year | Yes (combined with related persons) |
| Colorado | Many states use a six-figure gross-receipts threshold for remote-seller economic nexus, but the exact figure, measurement period, and whether a transaction-count prong still applies vary by state. If you are evaluating economic nexus exposure, contact us for a current review. | None | Prior 12 months | Generally included |
| Florida | Florida’s economic nexus threshold for remote sellers is set by statute and administered by the Florida Department of Revenue, but the current measurement rules should be confirmed against FDOR sales tax guidance. If you are approaching the Florida threshold, contact us for a current review. | None | Previous calendar year | Generally included |
| Illinois | Illinois currently uses a gross-receipts OR transaction-count economic nexus test for remote retailers and marketplace facilitators, but effective January 1, 2026 the transaction-count prong is eliminated and the sole threshold is cumulative gross receipts from sales of tangible personal property to Illinois purchasers (see IDOR sales and use tax definitions). | 200 | Prior 12 months | See state guidance |
| Kansas | Kansas applies an economic nexus threshold to remote sellers under Kansas Department of Revenue guidance, but the current figure and measurement period should be confirmed against KDOR notices. If you are approaching the Kansas threshold, contact us for a current review. (effective 2021-07-01 per SB 50) | None | Prior or current calendar year | Generally included |
| Louisiana | Louisiana applies an economic nexus threshold to remote sellers, but the current figure, transaction-count prong (if any), and measurement period turn on LDR guidance in effect for your period. If you are evaluating Louisiana nexus, contact us for a current review. | None | Prior 12 months | Varies by guidance |
Beyond what’s in our verified KB, rules across the remaining 38 sales-tax states vary on:
- Whether the threshold is revenue-only or revenue OR transactions (most states have dropped the transaction prong; some still use both)
- Measurement period (calendar year vs prior 12 months vs prior 4 quarters)
- Gross vs taxable sales in the threshold calculation
- Whether wholesale and resale transactions count (most include them; some exclude)
- Grace period between crossing and required registration (next quarter, next month, immediately)
If you want a specific threshold for a state not in the table above, the rules turn on the fact pattern and have been changing rapidly through 2024-2026. Contact us for a current review, or see our deeper guide on economic nexus thresholds by state.
Documents and IDs Foreign Sellers Need Before Registering
Get these in order before you touch a state portal. Half the registration friction foreign sellers experience is gathering and translating documents on-the-fly.
EIN: how a non-US entity gets one with no SSN
You need a US Employer Identification Number (EIN) before you can register for sales tax in essentially every state. A foreign entity can get one without ever setting foot in the US:
- Complete IRS Form SS-4 (Application for Employer Identification Number).
- On the “Responsible Party” line, list a director or officer of your foreign entity. They do not need an SSN or ITIN — the form accepts a foreign address and a non-SSN identifier.
- Where the form asks for the responsible party’s SSN/ITIN/EIN, write “Foreign” or leave it blank with “N/A — Foreign” in the margin.
- Fax the completed SS-4 to the IRS International EIN unit, or call the IRS International Taxpayers line. Foreign applicants can obtain an EIN by phone in roughly 30-45 minutes if all paperwork is in order.
The IRS will issue a CP 575 confirmation letter — keep this. Every state DOR will ask for it during registration.
ITIN vs EIN vs Responsible Party SSN — what each state actually requires
The taxonomy that trips up foreign sellers:
- EIN (Employer Identification Number) — assigned to the entity. Foreign entities can get one.
- SSN (Social Security Number) — assigned to a US citizen / permanent resident / authorised worker. Foreign directors cannot get one.
- ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) — issued by the IRS to non-resident individuals who have US tax filing obligations. Most foreign directors don’t have one and don’t need one for sales tax registration.
State registration portals typically ask for an EIN for the entity and an SSN for the “responsible party” / “owner” / “officer.” Most accept “EIN only” with the entity’s EIN substituted, or accept “Foreign — None” / “N/A” in the SSN field. A small number of state portals reject the form if the SSN field is blank — at which point you fall back to a paper Form X application, often with a notarized Power of Attorney from a director.
Foreign business registration documents states will ask for
Have ready:
- Certificate of Incorporation / Certificate of Registration (the equivalent of your country’s Companies House extract — UK Companies House Certificate of Incorporation, Australian Pty Ltd ASIC extract, NZ Companies Office certificate, German GmbH Handelsregisterauszug, etc.)
- Proof of registered office (utility bill, lease, government-issued correspondence to the registered office)
- Director identification (passport scan, sometimes a notarized copy)
- EIN confirmation letter (CP 575)
- Detailed product description and projected first-year US sales (required on most registration forms)
- NAICS code (the US industry classification). The 2022 NAICS revision eliminated Subsector 454, and online retailers are classified by the type of merchandise sold rather than solely by the fact that they sell online. Pick the retail code that matches your main merchandise line. The position here depends on your own facts, so it is worth confirming with the state directly or talking to us about your situation.
Power of Attorney and notarization/apostille requirements
Approximately a dozen states will not let an authorised representative (your tax practitioner) register your foreign entity without a notarized Power of Attorney (POA) from a director or officer. A handful of those states additionally require the POA to be apostilled under the Hague Convention — meaning your country’s foreign affairs department / Department of State must affix an apostille certificate to the notarized document before it’s accepted by the US state.
Not sure how this applies to your business? We handle US sales tax registration, filing and remittance for ecommerce sellers as a fully managed service, for one fee. Book a free consultation and we will review your own position with you.
Apostille turnaround in the UK is typically 2-3 business days. In Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade processes apostilles in similar timelines. In South Africa, DIRCO turnaround is highly variable.
If your country is not a Hague Convention signatory, you need full embassy legalisation, which is slower and more expensive.
Done-for-you: we hold POA from every client, sign on your behalf, and have notary and apostille flows pre-built with notaries in each major source country. You sign one POA at the start of the engagement; we handle every state from there. See what’s included.
The Bank Account Problem (and Why You Don’t Always Need a US Bank)
You do not need a US bank account to register for sales tax. You may need one to pay certain state filings — that’s a different question, and it has workarounds.
States that require a US bank account for ACH debit
Many states accept credit card payments for sales tax filings, but convenience fees and accepted payment methods vary by state and processor. A handful of states require ACH debit from a US-routing-number account for high-dollar filers — typically those with monthly tax liability above a threshold like $10,000 or $20,000.
Until you cross those thresholds, credit card or check payment is generally fine, even from a foreign-issued card. Above those thresholds, you need a US-routing-number bank account.
States that accept foreign bank wires or credit card
Many state DORs will accept a foreign-issued credit card for filing payments. A smaller number accept international wires. Almost none accept foreign-bank ACH (because ACH is a US-only payment rail).
Workarounds: Wise, Mercury, Payoneer for US ACH access
The standard workaround for foreign sellers who need a US routing number:
- Wise Business issues USD account details (routing + account number) for foreign-owned entities, including most UK, EU, AU, NZ, and South African companies.
- Mercury is a US business banking platform that accepts foreign-owned US LLCs as customers (you’d need a US LLC first).
- Payoneer offers similar USD receiving account details.
For a deeper walkthrough of which one to pick, see our guide to opening a US business bank account as a non-resident.
Done-for-you: we maintain a client trust account. You wire to us in your currency; we convert and pay state liabilities from our US account on your behalf. You never need to open a US bank account to comply with US sales tax.
Step-by-Step: How to Register for Sales Tax in a US State as a Foreign Seller
Below is the canonical sequence. Specifics vary by state — Florida and California are illustrated where the KB gives us verified detail.
Step 1: Confirm nexus and effective date
Time investment: 2-4 hours per state for DIY.
Identify the exact date you first had nexus in the state. For physical nexus from FBA inventory, that’s the date Amazon first stored inventory in that state — pull the Amazon Inventory Event Detail report. For economic nexus, that’s the date you crossed the state’s threshold. The registration is effective from that date, not from the date you submit the form, which matters because you owe back tax from the effective date forward.
Step 2: Gather entity documents and EIN
Time investment: 1-2 hours (if EIN already obtained); 2-4 weeks if EIN application is in progress.
Translate any non-English documents into English — most state DORs require English-language documentation.
Step 3: Complete the state’s online registration (or paper Form X)
Time investment: 1-3 hours per state, plus 1-6 weeks waiting on the DOR.
The mechanics vary materially by state:
- In Florida, foreign sellers register using Form DR-1 (Florida Business Tax Application), and FDOR issues a Certificate of Registration (DR-11) and Annual Resale Certificate (DR-13) upon approval; the specific filing channel, any fees, and ancillary identifiers should be confirmed against current FDOR registration guidance. If you are registering in Florida, contact us for a current review.
- In California, registration is for a Seller’s Permit via CDTFA online services. There is no permit fee, but CDTFA may require a security deposit at its discretion based on creditworthiness assessment of the applicant.
- Colorado state-level sales tax registration is handled through Revenue Online, but Colorado is a home-rule state and many home-rule cities require separate registration directly with the city; the current list of home-rule jurisdictions and which ones still require separate registration changes over time. If you are selling into Colorado, contact us for a current home-rule review.
Step 4: Handle the bond or security deposit (if required)
Time investment: variable — bond procurement can take 1-3 weeks.
A subset of states require out-of-state or foreign sellers to post a security bond before issuing a permit. The bond amount is typically based on projected sales tax liability. Specific bond amounts vary by state and applicant — for current requirements, contact us for a state-specific quote.
Step 5: Receive your sales tax permit and note your filing frequency
Time investment: 0 hours (waiting), but note the dates.
The state assigns a filing frequency based on projected tax liability — typically monthly, quarterly, or annual. Higher liability → more frequent filing. For example, California assigns filing frequency (monthly, quarterly, or annual) based on reported or anticipated tax liability, and the dollar bands that trigger each frequency are set by CDTFA. If you need to confirm your California filing frequency, contact us for a current review. Florida assigns sales tax filing frequency based on tax liability, with monthly filing required above a threshold set by FDOR. If you need to confirm your Florida filing frequency, contact us for a current review.
Note also the due dates: Florida and Colorado both use the 20th of the following month for monthly returns. California monthly returns are due the last day of the month following the period. Kansas monthly returns are due the 25th of the following month.
Step 6: Configure your sales channels to start collecting
Time investment: 2-4 hours per state across Shopify, Amazon, etc.
Add the state to your Shopify tax settings, configure product tax codes (PTCs) per SKU, verify Amazon is collecting on facilitated sales, and set up your filing reminder for the first due date.
Done-for-you: we run Steps 1-5 entirely. You stay in your business; we register you, hold the permit, configure your sales channels, and file every return going forward. Book a free consultation.
After You Register: The Compliance Workload Most Sellers Underestimate
This is the section that converts. Registration is the easy bit. Ongoing compliance is where DIY collapses.
Filing frequency, due dates, and zero-return obligations
Every state requires a return for every assigned period, even if you had zero sales. Miss a zero return → automatic penalty. Rather than give you a figure that may not apply to you, we would check this against the state’s current guidance for your specific setup — ask us and we will tell you exactly where you stand.
Florida’s late-filed sales tax return penalty is generally 10% of the tax due, with a $50 minimum even if no tax is due. California imposes statutory penalties for late filing and late payment of sales and use tax under CDTFA regulations, with the applicable percentage depending on the type of failure and whether negligence or fraud is involved (see CDTFA sales and use tax regulations). If you have California sales tax exposure, contact us for a current review.
Sourcing rules: origin vs destination, and how that breaks Shopify tax settings
Most states use destination sourcing — the tax rate is determined by where the customer is located. A few states (notably California, with its modified-origin system for in-state retailers; Texas; Illinois ROT for in-state sellers; and others) use origin or modified-origin rules for certain transactions.
For a remote seller (no in-state physical presence), the rule almost always defaults to destination. But if you have FBA inventory in a state, you may be treated as an in-state seller and the origin/destination question matters.
Shopify’s automatic tax engine handles destination sourcing reasonably well at the state level, but it does not handle:
- Home-rule city sourcing (Colorado, Louisiana, Alabama)
- Product-specific tax codes (your honey is taxable in some states, exempt in others, taxed at a reduced rate in still others)
Product taxability — your SKUs are not taxed the same in every state
The same SKU may be:
- Fully taxable in one state
- Tax-exempt as a food/grocery in another
- Taxed at a reduced grocery rate in a third
- Taxable but exempt from district tax in a fourth
Real example from our knowledge base on honey and dietary supplements:
- Under California Regulation 1602, candy and honey are included in the definition of “food products” and sales are generally exempt from sales tax, subject to important exceptions in Regulations 1503, 1574, and 1603 (for example, hot prepared food, meals, and on-premises consumption) (see CDTFA Reg. 1602).
- In Alabama, qualifying groceries are taxed at a reduced state rate (rather than fully exempt), and candy is generally treated as taxable tangible personal property; the treatment of dietary supplements depends on how the product is classified under ADOR guidance (see Alabama DOR sales tax). If you sell food, candy, or supplements into Alabama, contact us for a current taxability review.
- In Kansas, the state sales tax rate on groceries is 0% effective January 1, 2025 (following the HB 2106 phase-out), but local sales tax still applies fully, and candy, soft drinks, and dietary supplements are NOT part of the grocery exemption.
- In Louisiana, SaaS became taxable effective January 1, 2025 (per 2024 legislation).
Classifying each SKU correctly in each state is the seller’s responsibility — not the platform’s.
Notices, audits, and what happens when you miss a filing
State DORs send notices by paper mail. If your registered address is in the UK or Australia, that notice takes 2-4 weeks to reach you, by which point the response window may already be running. Foreign sellers without a US mailing address are at the highest risk of audit escalation because they miss notices.
Done-for-you: we are the registered agent / POA on file with every state. Every notice comes to us. We respond on your behalf, manage filings, configure tax codes per SKU per state, and reconcile your Shopify and Amazon data. One flat monthly fee. The alternative is 50 portals, 600 deadlines, and a notice you didn’t see because the post took 3 weeks. Book the call.
The 7 Most Common Mistakes Foreign Sellers Make (and What They Cost)
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Registering in all 50 states “to be safe.” Now you have 50 zero-return obligations, 50 due dates, and 50 penalty regimes. Cost: hundreds of hours per year plus state minimum fees.
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Ignoring FBA inventory states. Physical nexus triggers from day 1, regardless of revenue. You can owe sales tax in 6 states with $300 of sales each because Amazon split your pallet. Cost: back taxes plus penalties going back 3-4 years.
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Letting Amazon collect and assuming you have zero obligation. For pure marketplace sellers in some states, that’s true. For sellers with FBA inventory in non-carve-out states (like California), it’s wrong — you still need to register. Cost: failure-to-register penalties.
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Using Shopify auto-tax without configuring product tax codes. Shopify defaults to “general merchandise” for every SKU. Honey, supplements, clothing, SaaS, digital goods, and prepared food are all taxed differently across states. Cost: under- or over-collection on every sale.
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Missing zero returns. Almost every state requires a return for every period even at $0 in sales. Miss one → $50-$100 minimum penalty per state per month, plus account flags.
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Filing the first return late. Many states will waive a first-time late penalty if you ask — but only if you ask. Foreign sellers often don’t know to ask, and pay penalties that were waivable.
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Failing to deregister cleanly when leaving a state. An open registration is an ongoing zero-return obligation. If you exit a state, you must formally close the account, often with a final return marked “FINAL.”
DIY vs Done-For-You: A Realistic Cost Comparison
True cost of DIY
For a foreign seller registering and filing in 20 US states:
- Initial registrations: 6-10 hours per state × 20 states = 120-200 hours
- Ongoing filings: ~2 hours per state per month × 20 states × 12 months = 480 hours/year
- Notice management, audit response, configuration: another 100-150 hours/year
- Total: roughly 700-850 hours/year of founder/operator time
- Risk: unpriced — missing one registration creates back-tax exposure that can wipe out a year of profit
Cost of a software-only solution
Automated sales-tax software platforms charge a per-state filing fee plus a per-transaction fee. They calculate tax and (in some configurations) file returns. They do not:
- Register you in any state (registration is on you)
- Respond to state notices on your behalf
- Manage VDAs for historical exposure
- Hold POA or act as registered agent for foreign entities
- Configure your product tax codes per SKU
- Defend you in an audit
The seller still owns 100% of the strategic and operational workload. For US-based sellers with internal tax/accounting teams, this is workable. For foreign sellers with no US presence, it’s a partial solution that leaves the hardest problems unsolved.
Cost of full-service compliance (Sales Tax Compliance USA)
One flat monthly fee covers:
- Nexus study (initial and ongoing monitoring)
- Registration in every state where you have nexus — including notarized POA, foreign documents, and apostilles where required
- All filings, every state, every period (including zero returns)
- Notice response and audit defence
- Product tax code configuration per SKU per state
- VDA handling for historical exposure
- Acting as registered agent / mailing address for state correspondence
- Deregistration when you exit a state
For foreign sellers with no US presence and no US team, this is the path that actually solves the problem.
Don’t want to figure this out yourself? Sales Tax Compliance USA handles your entire US sales tax compliance — registration through filing — for a single fee. Book a free consultation or learn more about our service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do foreign ecommerce sellers really have to pay US sales tax?
Yes. After South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018), economic nexus applies regardless of seller residency. Your foreign-entity status is irrelevant — if you cross a state’s threshold or store inventory in the state, you have a US sales tax obligation.
Can I register for US sales tax without an SSN?
Yes. Use your entity’s EIN as the primary identifier. Most state registration forms accept “Foreign — None” or “N/A” in the responsible-party SSN field. A handful of states force a paper application with notarized POA — workable, but slower.
Do I need a US bank account to register for sales tax in every state?
No. You can register everywhere without a US bank. You may need a US-routing-number account (via Wise, Mercury, or Payoneer) to pay certain high-dollar filings, but credit card and check payment work for most foreign sellers under the typical liability thresholds.
Does Amazon collect sales tax for me as a foreign FBA seller?
Amazon collects on facilitated sales in every state with a marketplace facilitator law (effectively every sales-tax state). But you may still have an independent registration obligation if you have FBA inventory in the state — California requires this; Illinois carves it out; most states require registration. The carve-out rules turn on the fact pattern.
Should I register in all 50 states to be safe?
No. Registering creates zero-return filing obligations. Register only where you have nexus.
What happens if I’ve been selling into the US for years without registering?
Use a Voluntary Disclosure Agreement (VDA) for each state with historical exposure before you register. VDAs typically limit look-back to 3-4 years and waive penalties — but only if you come forward before the state contacts you.
How long does US sales tax registration take for a foreign company?
Variable. Florida and most online portals: 1-3 weeks. California: typically 7-10 business days for straightforward applications, longer if a security deposit is required. States requiring notarized POA and apostille: 4-8 weeks including document prep.
Do I need a US LLC to register for sales tax, or can my UK/EU/AU company register directly?
You can register your foreign entity directly. A US LLC is not required for sales tax purposes (it’s sometimes useful for US banking, customs, or liability reasons — but that’s a separate decision).
What’s the difference between economic nexus and physical nexus for foreign sellers?
Economic nexus is triggered by crossing a sales/transaction threshold. Physical nexus is triggered by having tangible presence — most commonly FBA inventory. Physical nexus has no minimum threshold; one unit in an Amazon warehouse triggers it.
Can Sales Tax Compliance USA handle the entire registration and filing process for me?
Yes — that’s exactly what we do. Full-service, end-to-end, single fee. Book a free consultation.
Last verified: 13 June 2026.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax advice. Consult a licensed tax professional before acting on any of this content.
