Key takeaways
- Kentucky’s sales and use tax is 6%, and the Department states there are no local sales and use taxes.
- The online mandate covers monthly, quarterly and annual accounts but gives no effective date, so file 2026 periods in MyTaxes.
- Keep a resale certificate for each exempt sale, and read KRS 139.280 before you build a template for one.
What the 6% rate covers
Kentucky’s sales and use tax is imposed at 6% of gross receipts or purchase price under KRS 139.200, titled Imposition of sales tax. The Department’s Sales & Use Tax page states that there are no local sales and use taxes. A taxable sale in Louisville and one in a rural county both carry 6%, so a point-of-sale setup that adds a city or county rate is wrong for Kentucky.
The rate is the simple part. The Department’s pages do not set out the taxable base by product or service type, so do not treat a service or software sale as exempt because it is not a physical product. Read KRS 139.200 and the Department’s guidance for the specific product line, and record which section you relied on in the client file.
Pick the worksheet in MyTaxes
In MyTaxes the default is the Sales and Use Worksheet. The MyTaxes FAQ says a filer uses it unless the filer has been notified that it is an Accelerated or SST filer. The worksheet that opens first is a default, so it does not prove the account is set up correctly.
Decision rule: if the account’s filing frequency is Accelerated, file the Sales and Use Tax Accelerated Worksheet. If the client was notified that it is an SST filer, select the Simplified Electronic Return (SER) in MyTaxes. If neither applies, file the Sales and Use Worksheet. Keep the Department notice that set the account type in the client file, because a reviewer will ask for it.
The Department’s Sales & Use Tax page lists five return forms by number only: Form 51A102, Form 51A102E, Form 51A103, Form 51A103E and Form 51A113. It does not give their names, so rely on the account type in MyTaxes and the notice.
What the online mandate settles for 2026
The Department’s notice says “Businesses must file and pay tax returns online as the Department makes the functionality available for various tax types.” It applies the mandate to all monthly, quarterly and annual filer frequency accounts. It gives no effective date and no month or year, so do not tell a client the mandate started on a particular day.
What is dated is the MyTaxes transition. The MyTaxes FAQ lists Sales & Use under the group dated March 14, 2025. Every 2026 sales period falls after that date, so a 2026 return belongs in MyTaxes. The Department says it considers waivers only for businesses without internet access or with documented technical problems, citing KRS 131.250(2)(b).
Failure mode: a client wants to mail a 2026 return because the office connection is unreliable. Ask for the problem in writing, record the date and symptom in the file when it happens, and file in MyTaxes as soon as the connection works, not on the due date.
Logins and access before the due date
The MyTaxes FAQ says “Passwords can only be reset every 24 hours.” The Customer Contact Center cannot reset a password before that period ends, so a client locked out the day before the return is due has no quick way back in.
The Department’s reset steps: type the MyTaxes Username into the Username field and click Next. On the next screen, click the Password button as the verification option. Click “Send Me an Email” to receive a code, then open the email and click the Reset Password link.
Decision rule: if the client already has a MyTaxes login, test it with the owner about a week before the return is due, and confirm the email address that receives Department notices. If the client has no login, set one up now, not on the due date.
Due dates: what this guide could and could not confirm
KRS 139.540 is titled “Taxes are due monthly.” The statute text was not readable in this review, so this guide gives no due day. The Department publishes monthly reminders such as “Reminder: Withholding and Sales & Excise Tax August Due Dates.” Take the due day for each 2026 period from those reminders and the account’s MyTaxes notices, and write the source beside the date in the firm calendar.
Calendar each account separately, with its frequency, worksheet and due date. A monthly account’s December 2026 return is filed in 2027, so it belongs on the early-2027 list. The Department’s Sales & Use Tax page does not state the thresholds that set a filing frequency. The only dollar thresholds it gives are for remote sellers: 200 or more sales into the state, or $100,000 or more in gross receipts. Those decide whether an out-of-state seller must register, not how often it files.
Support each exempt sale
The Department’s Sales & Use Tax page does not describe a certificate or give its form number, so the rules sit in the statute. KRS 139.270 is titled Resale certificate and certificates of exemption, and KRS 139.280 is titled Contents and form of certificate. Read KRS 139.280 for what the certificate must contain before you build a template, and do not copy a form from a third-party site. Keep one certificate per customer, filed by customer name, with the invoice number of each exempt sale linked to it.
Send the client this request: “For each customer that bought from you for resale in 2026, send me the resale certificate you hold and the invoice number of the first sale to that customer.” Ask for the file by the end of the month, so there is time to chase gaps before the return is due.
Worked example, per 100 of gross sales in a month: 37.5 went to a reseller with a certificate on file. The taxable base is 62.5, and the tax is 3.75 at 6%. Second example: if 20 of every 100 in sales cannot be supported with a certificate and is treated as taxable, the tax is 6% of that 20, or 1.2 per 100 of total sales. Who carries that tax under KRS 139.270 is not confirmed here, so raise it with the reviewer before filing.
Records to keep
KRS 139.720 is titled Records required to be kept -- For how long. The retention period sits in the section text, which this guide did not read, so set the firm’s file schedule from the statute itself.
For each exempt sale, keep the certificate, the invoice, and the sale date and amount, so the sale can be matched to the certificate. For each filed period, keep the MyTaxes filing confirmation, the payment confirmation and the sales report the return was built from.
Failure mode: certificates scanned into a folder by year, with no link to the invoice. An auditor asks for the certificate behind one invoice and the firm spends a day hunting for it. Name each file with the client, period and invoice number.
Common errors and the fix for each
Local rate on the receipt. Kentucky has no local sales tax, so the only rate is 6%. Correct the point-of-sale setup before the next period, and review the tax collected on periods already filed.
Return does not match the books. Reconcile taxable and exempt sales on the return to the sales report from the point-of-sale or invoicing system before you submit. If the difference is larger than the exempt sales you can document, try to resolve it before the due date. If you cannot, file on time using the best supportable figures, then correct the return with an amended filing and write the explanation in the file.
Wrong worksheet, or a login that fails on the due date. Check the account type in MyTaxes before you start, and test the login about a week early.
Close out 2026 sales
Reconcile each monthly or quarterly return to the sales account in the general ledger before the last return is filed. A gap between ledger sales and return sales is the first question a reviewer asks, so answer it in the file.
Send this request in November or December: “Send me each Kentucky sales tax return and payment confirmation from MyTaxes for 2026, along with your resale certificate file and a list of any tax-exempt sales”.