Minnesota Business Tax ID Number
You need a Minnesota tax ID number if you:
- make taxable sales or leases,
- perform taxable services in Minnesota,
- withhold Minnesota income taxes from employees’ wages,
- make estimated business tax payments,
- file a Minnesota corporation franchise, S corporation or partnership tax return,
- file fiduciary income tax returns as an estate, trust or personal representative,
- file or pay MinnesotaCare taxes or special taxes, such as alcohol, tobacco or insurance premium taxes,
- are a vendor of goods or services to a state government agency or to a business receiving payments from a state agency,
- have use tax to report (see Sales Tax Fact Sheet 146, Use Tax for Businesses, or Sales Tax Fact Sheet 156, Use Tax for Individuals), or
- have solid-waste management (SWM) taxes to report (first, register for sales and use tax online, then call 651-282-5770 to register for SWM taxes).
If you already have a Minnesota tax ID number, you may need to apply for a new one if:
- your business changes its legal organization, or if
- you are required to apply for a new federal employer ID number.
You do not need a Minnesota tax ID number to:
- apply as a nonprofit for an exemption from Minnesota sales tax. Instead, complete Form ST16, Application for Nonprofit Exempt Status, Sales Tax.
- apply for federal exempt status as a nonprofit organization under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). Go to the Internal Revenue Service website at www.irs.gov.
- open a bank account for your business. If you need a federal employer ID number, go to the IRS website at www.irs.gov.
Apply for a Minnesota Tax ID – Business Tax Registration
You can apply for a Minnesota Tax ID number for your business on this page of the Minnesota Department of Revenue’s website.
Report Business Changes
If you
- change the name, address or ownership of your business;
- change officers;
- close your business;
- no longer have employees;
- or make any other change (even if it does not affect the status of your tax ID number);
Notify the Minnesota Department of Revenue through its website (start from the Department’s Registering Your Business guide). Have your current Minnesota ID number ready, and include it on all correspondence.
Employers who cancel their Minnesota ID number for withholding are required to file a year-end return (if you’re a quarterly filer) or an annual return (if you’re an annual filer) within 30 days after the end of the period in which you cancel the number.
Use of Business Information
Under state law, most information on your application is nonpublic. The information that is nonpublic may not be given to others without your consent except to the IRS, other state agencies or other states that guarantee the same privacy. Information on this application may be used in connection with an audit of any tax return that you may be required to file with the Minnesota Department of Revenue. The information referring to business owners or corporate officers, including Social Security numbers, may be used to collect any sales, withholding and/or MinnesotaCare taxes that become delinquent. The Social Security numbers may be required according to Minnesota Statutes (M.S.) 270C.306.
Business Successor Liability
If you are buying or acquiring a business or its assets, it is your responsibility to check for sales or withholding tax liens filed against it by the Minnesota Department of Revenue. If you don’t, you may be liable for the delinquent taxes of the business. This is true even if the acquisition is a gift.
If a sales or withholding tax lien has been filed against the business and you are acquiring its assets in bulk, notify the Minnesota Department of Revenue of the transfer at least 20 days before you take possession of the assets or pay the purchase price, and include the Minnesota tax ID number of the transferring business. If you do not give that notice, you may be liable for the business’s unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties up to the purchase price (Minn. Stat. § 270C.57, subd. 2).
Power of Attorney
If you want to appoint an individual: such as an attorney, accountant, agent, tax return preparer, tax provider or any other person, to represent you as an attorney-in-fact or to perform certain acts on your behalf, you must complete, sign and return Form REV–184, Power of Attorney. You can download the form from the Department of Revenue’s Registering Your Business guide.
Without a Form REV-184 (or a similar notice that grants power of attorney) on file, the department may not discuss your state taxes with anyone else, unless permitted by law.
This post is part of a series of posts on the Minnesota business registration process.
CREDIT: The content of this post has been copied or adopted from the Minnesota Department of Revenue’s Minnesota Application for Business Registration Instruction Booklet.
