Multistate Tax Commission Multijurisdiction Resale Certificates

Multistate Tax Commission Multijurisdiction Resale Certificates

The Multistate Tax Commission (MTC) issued the multijurisdiction resale certificate (MTC certificate) in July 2000 to provide a standard document for businesses to utilize that will be uniformly accepted by sellers. Along with many other states, California adopted the MTC certificate. The certificate contains all of the required elements stated in Regulation 1668, Resale Certificates, and can be furnished as either a “blanket” or a “qualified” certificate. Under a blanket MTC certificate, all tangible personal property described on the certificate is deemed to be sold for resale unless the resale certificate is superseded by a purchase order. To be accepted as a blanket resale certificate, the purchaser must complete the form in its entirety and add a general description of tangible personal property or taxable services to be purchased from the seller. All sales of property stated to be for resale on the certificate can then be sold to the purchaser without tax. If the purchaser subsequently issues a purchase order indicating that the purchase is taxable, the resale certificate does not apply to that purchase. However, the burden is on the purchaser to establish that the purchase order was sent to and received by the seller in a timely manner or that the tax was paid to the seller.

When a purchaser issues a qualified MTC certificate, the burden is upon the seller to examine each purchase order issued by its customer to determine if the purchase is subject to tax or is for resale. To be accepted as a qualified resale certificate, the certificate must be completed in its entirety and the “general description” line should contain the statement “see purchase order” or be left blank. Each purchase order must specify whether the property covered by the order is for resale or taxable. An example of the multijurisdiction MTC Uniform Sales & Use Tax Certificate can be found on the Multistate Taxation Commission website.