Exemption certificates need to be reviewed for validity
Exemption certificates
Do you know the validity period of your exemption certificates? Did you know that each state treats them differently and that you should review them periodically to make sure they are still good?
It is a good business practice to periodically review exemption certificates because quite a few states claim their exemption certificates are good until the business has a change, the business closes, or the certificate is revoked. You won’t know if these conditions are met unless you check with your customers and vendors regularly and request updated exemption certificates from them.
Some states have no stated expiration for their exemption certificates but they recommend regular or periodic updates. In these cases we listed the least amount of time between recommended updates. In cases where the state listed “good until the exemption no longer applies” we stated that there was no expiration date. Other states note that exemption certificates are good forever however “exempt status must be renewed”, or they “recommend” updates. In these cases we noted the recommended update or renewal timeframe.
| State | Abbrev. | Validity Period |
| Alabama | AL | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| Alaska | AK | NA – No Certificates |
| Arizona | AZ | Date On Certificate |
| Arkansas | AR | NA – No Certificates |
| California | CA | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| Colorado | CO | No Expiration |
| Connecticut | CT | 3 Years |
| Delaware | DE | NA – No Certificates |
| District Of Columbia | DC | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| >Florida | FL | 5 Years |
| Georgia | GA | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| Hawaii | HI | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| Idaho | ID | No Expiration |
| Illinois | IL | 5 Years |
| Indiana | IN | No Expiration |
| Iowa | IA | 5 Years |
| Kansas | KS | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| Kentucky | KY | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| Louisiana | LA | 3 Years |
| Maine | ME | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| Maryland | MD | 5 Years |
| Massachusetts | MA | No Expiration |
| Michigan | MI | 4 Years |
| Minnesota | MN | 3 Years |
| Mississippi | MS | NA – No Certificates |
| Missouri | MO | 5 Years |
| Montana | MT | NA – No Certificates |
| Nebraska | NE | No Expiration |
| Nevada | NV | 5 Years |
| New Hampshire | NH | NA – No Certificates |
| New Jersey | NJ | 5 Years |
| New Mexico | NM | No Expiration |
| New York | NY | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| North Carolina | NC | No Expiration |
| North Dakota | ND | No Expiration |
| Ohio | OH | No Expiration |
| Oklahoma | OK | 3 Years |
| Oregon | OR | NA – No Certificates |
| Pennsylvania | PA | 3 Years |
| Rhode Island | RI | No Expiration |
| South Carolina | SC | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| South Dakota | SD | 1 Year |
| Tennessee | TN | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| Texas | TX | No Expiration |
| Utah | UT | 1 Year |
| Vermont | VT | No Expiration |
| Virginia | VA | Till Changed Or Revoked |
| Washington | WA | 1 Year |
| West Virginia | WV | 1 Year |
| Wisconsin | WI | 5 Years |
| Wyoming | WY | No Expiration |
Lucinda Rowlands has been the general manager at Zip2Tax since 2010. She has extensively researched sales and use tax regulations in order to help small businesses navigate complicated tax rules.