Arkansas Sales Tax Guide

SALES TAX RATE:

6.50%

MAXIMUM LOCAL & COUNTY RATES:

5.125%

Read this Guide

This guide simplifies compliance with Arkansas's sales tax code by breaking down the process into four easy steps:

• Taxable Goods and Services
• Register for Sales Tax
• Collecting Sales Tax
• File Your Sales Tax Return

Use a Professional Sales Tax Service:

One such reliable service:

TaxJar helps entrepreneurs with ecommerce sites calculate sales tax at checkout ($17/month)

Which Goods and Services Are Taxable?

Determining whether or not the products or services your company sells are taxable in Arkansas is the first step in sales tax compliance.

Traditional Goods or Services

Goods that are subject to sales tax in Arkansas include physical property, like furniture, home appliances, and motor vehicles.

Arkansas charges a 1.5% reduced rate on the purchase of groceries.

Some services in Arkansas are subject to sales tax. For a detailed list of taxable services view this PDF from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration has also published a comprehensive guide to sales tax exemptions and exclusions.

Digital Goods or Services

A digital good or service is anything electronically delivered, such as an album downloaded from iTunes or a film purchased from Amazon.

Arkansas does not require businesses to collect sales tax on the sale of digital goods or services.

However, Arkansas has one exception to this policy. Businesses must collect sales tax on pre-written computer software that is sold online.

How to Register for Arkansas Sales Tax

If you have determined that you need to charge sales tax on some or all of the goods and services your business sells, your next step is to register for a seller's permit. This allows your business to collect sales tax on behalf of your local and state governments.

In order to register, you will need the following information:

• SSN or ITIN number
• Business identification information
• Business entity type
• Nature of your business
• North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code required for all businesses. You can do a NAICS Code Lookup and find the NAICS Code for LLC that matches your industry.

Register for a Seller’s Permit

Register for a Seller's Permit online through the Arkansas Taxpayer Access Point

Fee: None

Expiration: None

Save Money with a Resale Certificate

With a resale certificate, also known as a reseller's permit, your business does not have to pay sales tax when purchasing goods for resale.

Download Resale Certificate

Download the Resale Certificate through the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration

Instruction: Present the certificate to the seller at the time of purchase.

Collecting Sales Tax

After getting your seller's permit and launching your business, you will need to determine how much sales tax you need to charge different customers. To avoid fines and the risk of costly audits, it's important for business owners to collect the correct rate of sales tax.

When calculating sales tax, you'll need to consider the following kinds of sales:

• Store Sales
• Shipping In-State
• Out-of-State Sales

Recommended: Use our Sales Tax Calculator to look up the sales tax rate for any Zip Code in the US.

Store Sales

For traditional business owners selling goods or services on-site, calculating sales tax is easy: all sales are taxed at the rate based on the location of the store.

Here’s an example of what this scenario looks like:

Mary owns and manages a bookstore in Rogers, Arkansas. Since books are taxable in the state of Arkansas, Mary charges her customers a flat-rate sales tax of 9.5% on all sales. This includes Arkansas’s sales tax rate of 6.5%, Benton county’s sales tax rate of 1%, and Mary’s local district tax rate of 2%.

In-State Sales

The state of Arkansas follows what is known as an Origin-based sales tax policy. This means that long-distance sales within Arkansas are taxed according to the address of the seller. This policy applies to state, county, and city sales taxes.

Consider the following example:

Steve runs his own business selling electronics on eBay out of his home in Fort Smith, Arkansas. A customer living in Springdale, Arkansas finds Steve’s eBay page and purchases a $350 pair of headphones. When calculating the sales tax for this purchase, Steve applies the 6.5% tax rate for Arkansas, plus 1.25% for Washington county and 2% for Springdale's local tax rate. At a total sales tax rate of 9.75%, the total cost is $384.13 ($34.13 sales tax).

Out-of-State Sales

Arkansas businesses only need to pay sales tax on out-of-state sales if they have nexus in other states. Nexus means that the business has a physical presence in another state.

Common types of nexus include:

• A physical location, such as an office, store, or warehouse
• An employee who works remotely or who is a traveling sales representative
• A marketing affiliate
• Drop-shipping from a third party seller.
• A temporary physical location, including festival and fair booths.

File Your Sales Tax Return

Now that you’ve registered for your Arkansas seller's permit and know how to charge the right amount of sales tax to all of your customers, you are all set to file your sales tax return. Just be sure to keep up with all filing deadlines to avoid penalties and fines.

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How to File

Arkansas requires businesses to file sales tax returns and submit sales tax payments online.

File the Arkansas Tax Return

File with the Arkansas Taxpayer Access Point page of the Arkansa Department of Revenue

How Often Should You File?

How often you need to file depends upon the total amount of sales tax your business collects.

• Annual filing: If your business collects less than $25 in sales tax per month then your business should file returns on an annual basis.
• Quarterly filing: If your business collects between $25 and $100 in sales tax per month then your business should file returns on a quarterly basis.
• Monthly filing: If your business collects more than $100 in sales tax per month then your business should file returns on a monthly basis.

Note: Arkansas requires you to file a sales tax return even if you have no sales tax to report.

Filing Deadlines

All Arkansas sales tax return deadlines fall on the 1st day of the month, with a deadline of the 20th of the given month unless it is a weekend or federal holiday, in which case the deadline is moved back to the next business day. Below is a list of this year’s filing deadlines:

Annual filing: January 20, 2020

Quarterly filing:

• Q1 (Jan. - Mar.): April 20
• Q2 (April - June): July 20
• Q3 (July - Sept.): October 22
• Q4 (Oct. - Dec.): January 22

Monthly filing: The 20th of the following month, or the next business day, e.g. April 20 for the month of March, or May 22 for the month of April.

Penalties for Late Filing

Arkansas charges a late filing penalty of 5% per month or partial month up to a maximum of 35% of the tax that is reported on the tax return. If the late filing penalty has been assigned to the taxpayer, the late payment penalty will not be applied.

Arkansas also charges a late payment penalty that is equal to 5% per month up to 35% of the tax that is unpaid. If the late payment penalty has been assigned to the taxpayer, the late filing penalty will not be applied.

Arkansas Helpful Resources

Local Sales and Use Tax Information

Arkansas Sales Tax Frequently Asked Questions

Sales and Use Tax Helpline Number: 
(501) 682-7104