Search Category: Exemptions

Business Exemptions

General Business

General

Buying Exempt for Resale

Exempt for Resale

Production

Production

Logging

Logging

Medical Products

Medical

Direct Pay Authority

Direct Pay

General Business Exemptions

All retail sales in Idaho are taxable unless Idaho or federal law specifically exempts them. See the Basics page for sales and use tax exemptions for more information.

Below are Idaho exemptions that might apply to businesses.

General

Vehicles and vessels

More information

Basics of Sales and Use Tax Exemptions

All retail sales in Idaho are taxable unless Idaho or federal law specifically exempts them. In all cases of exempt sales, the buyer and seller must each keep clear and complete records to explain why the seller didn’t charge the buyer sales tax.

Restrictions can apply to any tax-exempt sale or use. If the sale is taxable and the buyer doesn’t pay tax to the seller, the buyer owes use tax, which is the same rate as sales tax.

See exemptions that might apply to these main groups of taxpayers:  

More information

Individual Exemptions

All retail sales in Idaho are taxable unless Idaho or federal law specifically exempts them. See the page for sales and use tax exemptions for more information.

Below are Idaho exemptions that might apply to individuals.                 

For specific individuals

For all individuals

More information

Occasional Sellers

Almost every seller in Idaho needs a seller’s permit, to collect sales tax, and to send in the tax. However, you don’t need to do that if you qualify for the occasional sales exemption. You can take advantage of this exemption if both of these are true:

  • You don’t make it publicly known that you sell taxable products and services. (You aren’t in the business of selling.)
  • You make only two or fewer sales during any 12-month period (or calendar year for yard sales).

You don’t need to fill out a form or submit any paperwork to the Tax Commission if you qualify for the occasional sales exemption. 

See below for some common sales, like yard sales, and if the exemption applies.

Who can’t use the occasional sales exemption

Almost every other seller is a retailer and needs an Idaho seller’s permit. This includes selling at Idaho events, even if it’s only once in a while.

Here are some common situations where you can’t use the occasional sale exemption:

Yard sales and estate sales

Yard sales (or garage sales) are typically a one-weekend event (three days) where you sell your own items, at your own residence. Holding a yard sale with someone else – whether a family member, neighbor, or friend – counts as a sale for each of you. You can’t have more than two in any calendar year.

You can sell the contents of the house or storage facility for a deceased relative or friend (estate sale) and count it as one of your sales under the occasional sales exemption.

You can’t use the occasional sales exemption if you’re in the business of selling (a retailer), which means you do any of these:

  • Run the sale for more than a few days
  • Sell somewhere other than your own residence
  • Buy items to resell
  • Sell items for someone else (consignment)
  • Sell items at the sale that you also sell at a business you own

Organized sales that charge admission or have two or more sellers who pay to sell at the event are promoter-sponsored events and don’t qualify for the exemption.

Selling and rehoming pets

“Pets” include animals such as dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, snakes, rats, mice, hamsters, and lizards, among others.

Selling or rehoming a pet would qualify as one sale under the occasional sales exemption if you aren’t in the business of breeding, raising, or selling pets. Selling an unplanned litter or rehoming a litter of strays for a small fee – such as to cover the cost of spaying or neutering – could qualify as an occasional sale. However, selling or rehoming for a substantial fee probably wouldn’t count as an occasional sale.

You can’t use the occasional sales exemption if you’re in the business of selling pets. Instead, you’ll need a seller’s permit, to collect sales tax for each pet you sell, and to send in that tax. However, you don’t need a seller’s permit if you only sell through a registered marketplace facilitator that reports, collects, and sends in Idaho sales tax for you.

Note that you don’t have to collect tax on the sale of animals through 4-H or Future Farmers of America (FFA) at a fair or the spring lamb sale. You also don’t have to collect sales tax on the sale of livestock at a public livestock market. Livestock include cattle, calves, mules, horses, swine, sheep, and goats.

Selling online

The same two-sale limit for the occasional sales exemption applies when you sell online. You could sell a group of your own items at one time and count it as one sale, which would be like an online yard sale. 

You can’t use the occasional sales exemption if you make more than two sales in any 12-month period. You also can’t use this exemption when you’re in the business of selling. That includes if you ever resell items or sell other people’s items for them (consignment).

If you don’t qualify for the occasional sales exemption, you need an Idaho seller’s permit. Or, sell only through registered marketplace facilitators that report, collect, and send in Idaho sales tax for you. You’ll just need to verify that they’re reporting your sales.

Note that the occasional sales exemption never applies to renting out lodging for 30 days or less (short-term rentals). See Hotels, Motels, and Short-Term Lodging and common charges for property and services.

Laws and rules

Organizations and Entities That Can Buy Exempt from Sales Tax

Some buyers are exempt from sales tax on everything they buy. The sale must be directly to the exempt buyer, and the buyer must pay the seller directly. If employees, volunteers, or representatives of the exempt buyer use their own money to purchase something for the buyer, the purchase sale is taxable even if the exempt buyer reimburses the person who bought the item.

  • Access for Idaho (Pocatello) ⊛
  • Advocates for Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Inc.
  • American Cancer Society
  • American Diabetes Association
  • American Heart Association
  • American Indian Tribes
  • American Lung Association of Idaho
  • American Red Cross
  • AMTRAK
  • Arc Inc., The
  • Arthritis Foundation
  • Blind Services Foundation Inc.
  • Camp Rainbow Gold
  • Canal companies – If they’re nonprofit, incorporated for that purpose, and operate and maintain only dams, reservoirs, canals, lateral and draining ditches, pumps or pumping plants
  • Children’s free dental services clinics – If they’re nonprofit
  • Children’s Home Society of Idaho
  • Credit unions (federal or state) – (Not: banks or savings and loan companies)
  • Disability Action Center Northwest (Moscow & Coeur d’Alene) ⊛
  • Easter Seals
  • Eastern Idaho Center for Independence (Blackfoot & Idaho Falls) ⊛
  • Emergency Medical Service (EMS) agencies – If they’re a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) entity that provides emergency medical services to Idaho residents. They must be licensed by the EMS bureau of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
  • Family Services Alliance of Southeast Idaho
  • Forest Protective Associations – If they furnish, operate, and maintain a protective system for detecting, preventing, and suppressing forest or range fires. Only includes associations that have a contract with Idaho or that have Idaho as one of its members.
  • Government – Idaho state, county, and city. If Idaho government agencies buy with cash, they must give the seller a pdf Form ST-104G, Sales Tax Exemption Claim for Cash Purchases by Government Agencies.
  • Government – United States. If U.S. government agencies buy with cash, they should must give the seller a pdf Form ST-104G, Sales Tax Exemption Claim for Cash Purchases by Government Agencies. While federal law states Idaho can’t require the federal government to provide the ST-104G, many federal agencies will provide them. If used, the form must be provided at the time of sale.
  • Hospitals – If they’re a nonprofit hospital licensed by the state for the care of sick persons. (Not: nursing homes, most clinics, or similar institutions)
  • Housing Authority (Created by a city, but not an agency of the city)
  • Idaho Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. This includes its member clinics.
  • Idaho Community Action agencies
    • Community Action Partnership (CAP)
    • El-Ada Community Action Partnership (EL ADA)
    • Metro Community Services (MCS)
    • South Central Community Action Partnership (SCCAP)
    • Community Council of Idaho (CCI)
    • Southeastern Idaho Community Action Agency (SEICAA)
    • Eastern Idaho Community Action Partnership (EICAP)
    • Western Idaho Community Action Partnership (WICAP)
  • Idaho Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
  • Idaho Diabetes Youth
  • Idaho Epilepsy League
  • Idaho Foodbank Warehouse, Inc.
  • Idaho Primary Care Association – and its community health centers
  • Idaho Ronald McDonald House
  • Idaho Women’s and Children’s Alliance
  • Living Independence Network Corp. (Boise & Twin Falls) ⊛
  • March of Dimes
  • Mental Health Association
  • Muscular Dystrophy Foundation
  • Museums – If they’re a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) entity; a museum that collects, preserves, and displays objects and information to help the public interpret the past and present and to explore the future; on a permanent basis; in a building or outdoor location; and provides museum services on a regular basis. Examples include institutions that exhibit science, history, art, and culture as well as zoos and aquariums.
  • National Multiple Sclerosis Society
  • Rocky Mountain Kidney Association
  • Schools – If they’re nonprofit, with their income devoted solely to education, and offer a full curriculum of the usual branches of learning. Nonprofit schools can include: colleges and universities; primary, secondary, and charter schools; and the Idaho Digital Learning Academy.
    Note: Certain schools, and school-related organizations don’t qualify for the exemption:
    • Schools that primarily teach subjects like business, dancing, drama, music, cosmetology, writing, and gymnastics
    • Supporting organizations such as parent-teacher associations and alumni groups
  • Senior Citizen Centers – If they’re a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) entity. The center must provide a wide variety of services, activities, and facilities for older individuals, including health, social opportunities, nutrition, education, and recreation. Long-term care facilities don’t qualify.
  • Special Olympics Idaho
  • United Cerebral Palsy
  • Volunteer Fire Departments – If they’re a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) entity providing fire protection and prevention to surrounding residents.

Types of Exemptions

A

Aircraft

Read our Aircraft guide for more information.

B

Broadcast Equipment

Bullion, coins, and other currency

C

Clean rooms

Containers

Contractors

Read our Contractors guide for more information.

Computer software

Custom meat processing and packing services

D

Data Centers

Donating goods from inventory; Food and beverage tastings; Free prepared food and beverages to employees

F

Farming and Ranching

Read our Farming and Ranching guide for more information.

Federal Food Programs: Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Free distribution newspapers

Funeral Services

H

Heating Materials

  • A sale of propane in cylinders of 15 gallons or less is exempt without a certificate, but the seller must list the sale as “cylinder sales” in the records.
  • A buyer that picks up heating fuel must give the seller a completed Form ST-101.
  • Idaho Code section 63-3622G
  • Sales Tax Rule 088

Home Yard Sales

Hunting or Shooting Sports

Hunting and fishing activities – raising or maintaining wildlife

I

Irrigation Equipment & Supplies

L

Literature published and sold by a nonprofit entity

Livestock sold at a public livestock market

Logging

Lottery

Lumber manufacturing

Read our Lumber Manufacturing guide for more information.

M

Media measurement services

  • No exemption certificate is needed.
  • Idaho Code section 63-3622LL

Medical items

Read our Medical Products and Prescriptions guide for more information.

Mining

Read our Mining guide for more information.

Money-operated vending machines

Read our Vending Machines guide for more information.

Money-operated amusement devices

Read our Amusement Devices guide for more information.

Motor fuel: Gasoline and diesel fuel; Dyed diesel fuel

  • Gasoline and diesel fuel: No exemption certificate is needed.
  • Dyed diesel fuel: The buyer must give the seller a completed pdf Form ST-101.
  • Idaho Code section 63-3622C
  • Sales Tax Rule 078

 

O

Official documents

  • No exemption certificate is required.
  • Idaho Code section 63-3622AA

Out-of-state shipments

P

Pollution control equipment

Guidance coming soon.

Production Equipment

Read our Production Exemption guide for more information.

More guidance coming soon.

R

Railroad Rolling Stock

Resale – Goods bought to be resold

Read our Retailers guide for more information.

Research and development (R&D)

Research and Development at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL)

S

Semiconductors

Ski lifts, snowmaking and snow grooming equipment

Small Sales

U

Utilities

V

Vehicles

Guidance coming soon.

Direct Pay Authority for Sales Tax

Direct pay authority allows businesses to buy all items exempt from tax. The businesses pay any tax due directly to the Tax Commission instead of to a vendor.

You might be approved for direct pay authority if all of these are true:

  • You qualify for sales tax exemptions.
  • You buy many items from different vendors.
  • You’ve demonstrated proper accounting and technical internal controls to comply with the Idaho Sales Tax Act.
  • The vendors you buy from have trouble tracking which items you buy are exempt and which aren’t (even though you supply them with an exemption certificate).

To apply

Your request must be in writing.

  • Send it to:
    • Mail address: Sales Tax Audit Bureau, Idaho State Tax Commission, PO Box 36, Boise ID 83722-0410.
    • Email: Submit a question. You should receive a response within 5 to 7 business days.
    • Write “Direct Pay Authority Request” at the top of your letter or email
  • Describe your reasons for needing direct pay authority and how it would benefit both you and the Tax Commission.
  • Include this information in your letter:
    • The name of your business
    • What goods or services you produce (what your business does)
    • What goods or services you typically need to buy exempt from sales tax
    • What percentage of your purchases in Idaho are exempt from sales tax
    • The sales price for these purchases in the past 12 months
    • Your anticipated sales price for these purchases in the next 12 months
    • Which exemption certificate you use (e.g., pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate) to buy exempt from your vendors
    • How you buy exempt from vendors without an exemption certificate (e.g., Optional short version of Form ST-101)

After you apply

Our Sales Tax Audit Bureau will review your request. If we need additional information, we’ll contact you. Please allow four to six weeks to hear from us.

Using your Direct Pay Authorization

Your direct pay authorization is valid for a defined period. Check the document for its expiration date.

  • Provide your vendors with a copy of your direct pay authority certificate to keep on file.
  • Contact us 45 to 60 days before your authorization’s expiration date to request a renewal.
  • Please contact us to cancel your authorization if it’s no longer is needed. Use a mail or email address in the “To apply” section above.
  • Let your vendors know if you cancel your authorization.

Introduction to Medical Products Exemption

This guide explains Idaho sales and use tax laws for buying and selling medical supplies and prescriptions. It describes who can buy which kinds of medical supplies and prescriptions without tax.

Buyers that qualify for the exemption

Medical equipment and supplies listed in Idaho Code section  63-3622N are exempt from sales tax when bought by:

  • A practitioner who’ll administer or distribute the items to patients. Learn who’s a “practitioner.”
  • A patient (or someone for a patient) with a practitioner’s prescription or work order.
  • An entity that can buy everything exempt.
  • A for-profit hospital or other health-care provider that will administer to patients under a practitioner’s prescription or work order.

Items that can qualify for the exemption

  • Drugs
  • Hypodermic syringes, insulin, insulin syringes
  • Artificial eyes, eyeglasses, eyeglass component parts, contact lenses
  • Hearing aids, hearing aid parts and accessories
  • Drugs and supplies used in hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis
  • Braces and other orthopedic appliances
  • Dental prostheses and other orthodontic appliances, including fillings
  • Catheters, urinary accessories, colostomy supplies
  • Prosthetic devices
  • Equipment, devices, or chemical reagents used to test or monitor blood or urine of a diabetic
  • Durable medical equipment (see description in Definitions)

This list isn’t all-inclusive. See Idaho Code section  63-3622N for a full list of items that can qualify for the exemption.

Exempt Buyers for Medical Products Exemption

Practitioner

A practitioner who’ll administer or distribute medical supplies and drugs under a work order or prescription can buy them exempt.

Seller’s responsibility

Keep on file a completed pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate, showing the reason for the exemption. Don’t charge tax on future exempt purchases.

Patients

Patients of hospitals and of qualifying practitioners can buy medical supplies and drugs exempt with a prescription or work order.

Seller’s responsibility

Keep on file the prescription or work order from a practitioner.

Exempt entities

Certain entities, including nonprofit hospitals, can buy all goods exempt from sales tax. This exemption includes all medical products, no matter who administers or distributes them or how they are used. In addition to nonprofit hospitals, the exempt health care entities are:

  • Nonprofit hospitals
  • Health facilities operated by an Idaho state agency or by a political subdivision of the state
  • American Red Cross
  • U.S. federal government
  • Nonprofit children’s free dental-service clinics
  • Emergency medical service agencies
  • Centers for independent living
  • Qualifying senior citizen centers
  • Volunteer fire departments
  • Health-related entities
    • American Cancer Society
    • American Diabetes Association
    • American Heart Association
    • Arc, Inc., The
    • Arthritis Foundation
    • Camp Rainbow Gold
    • Children’s Home Society of Idaho
    • Easter Seals
    • Family Services Alliance of Southeast Idaho
    • Idaho Association of Free and Charitable Clinics and its member clinics
    • Idaho Community Action Agency
    • Idaho Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
    • Idaho Diabetes Youth Programs
    • Idaho Epilepsy League
    • Idaho Lung Association
    • Idaho Primary Care Association and its community health centers
    • Idaho Ronald McDonald House
    • Idaho Women’s and Children’s Alliance
    • March of Dimes
    • Mental Health Association
    • Muscular Dystrophy Foundation
    • National Multiple Sclerosis Society
    • Rocky Mountain Kidney Association
    • Special Olympics Idaho
    • United Cerebral Palsy

Seller’s responsibility

Keep on file a completed pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate, showing the reason for the exemption. Don’t charge tax on future exempt purchases.

Certain other health care providers

Health care providers other than nonprofit hospitals and other exempt entities can buy qualifying medical supplies and prescriptions if one of the following applies:

  • They are for a patient with a prescription or work order from a practitioner licensed to prescribe such items.
  • They will administer or distribute the items under the work order or a prescription of a practitioner.

These providers include:

  • For-profit hospitals
  • Clinics
  • Nursing homes
  • Drug and alcohol rehabilitation hospitals
  • Dentists

Seller’s responsibility

Keep on file a completed pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate, showing the reason for the exemption. Don’t charge tax on future exempt purchases.