Rhode Island sales tax on invoices (2026 guide)

Rhode Island has one of the simplest sales tax rates in the country: a flat 7%, statewide. There are no city or county sales taxes, so every taxable sale in Rhode Island is taxed at the same rate no matter which town your customer is in.

What takes a little more care is knowing what is taxable. Rhode Island taxes goods, certain utility services and a short list of enumerated services — and that list has grown over the years, most recently with short-term parking in October 2025.

Rhode Island sales tax rates

For most freelancers and small businesses, the only number you need is 7%. Restaurants and bars also collect the 1% local meals and beverage tax, and lodging businesses collect hotel tax in addition to sales tax.

Which services are taxable in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island taxes the retail sale, rental or lease of tangible personal property, plus specific services. The services the law defines as taxable (R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-18-7.3) are:

• Taxicab and limousine services, and other road transportation such as charter buses and transportation network companies (ride-hailing).
• Pet care services — boarding, grooming, sitting and training pets. Veterinary services and testing laboratory services are excluded.
• Room resellers — businesses that arrange hotel stays, including sellers of travel packages.
• Investigation, guard and armored car services (security services).
• Parking services — short-term parking, meaning a space in a parking facility for less than a month. This became taxable on October 1, 2025.

On top of that list, Rhode Island taxes telecommunications and cable television services, and since October 1, 2018, vendor-hosted prewritten software ("software as a service") — the Division of Taxation says the tax applies whether access is permanent or temporary and whether or not anything is downloaded.

Services that aren't on these lists — for example most consulting, writing and professional services — aren't taxed as services. Goods you sell alongside them still are.

Getting a Rhode Island sales tax permit

Every person, firm or organization making retail sales in Rhode Island must get a permit to make sales at retail before starting business. There's no minimum amount of sales first. You can register through the Division of Taxation's Taxpayer Portal or with the Business Application and Registration (BAR) form.

A few rules from the Division of Taxation:

1. Permits expire every June 30, and renewal applications are due by February 1 each year.
2. Each business location needs its own permit, and a change of ownership or structure (for example, a sole proprietorship becoming a corporation) needs a new one.
3. Returns are generally due by the 20th of each month for the previous month, even if you had no sales. If your tax has averaged less than $200 a month over six consecutive months, you can apply to file quarterly.
4. Report sales on an accrual basis — in the month the sale happens, not when you're paid.

If you only sell wholesale, you don't need to register.

Remote sellers: the Division's remote seller page says sellers with no physical presence in Rhode Island must register and collect the 7% tax if they had $100,000 or more in gross revenue from sales into Rhode Island, or 200 or more separate transactions into the state.

What a Rhode Island sales tax invoice should show

• your business name and address,
• the customer's name and address,
• a unique invoice number and the invoice date,
• a description and price for each item or service,
• sales tax as a separate line at 7%, and
• the total due.

If you bill customers periodically for a series of purchases, the Division's regulations let you total the bill and apply the tax to the aggregate rather than to each sale. If an invoice mixes taxable and non-taxable services, keep them on separate lines — in Invoice Native, tick Tax only on the taxable ones.

Resale and exemption certificates

A business buying from you to resell gives you a completed Rhode Island sales and use tax resale certificate bearing its sales tax permit number. Under the Division's regulations, Rhode Island also accepts the Streamlined Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption. Sellers who accept a properly completed resale certificate, absent fraud or collusion, are relieved of liability if the exemption turns out to be improper.

Other exempt customers use their own certificates. For example:

• Charitable or religious organizations present a Rhode Island Exempt Organization Exemption Certificate — the Division says Rhode Island retailers should not accept exemption certificates from other states.
• Manufacturers present a Manufacturers Exemption Certificate, and farmers a Farmer Tax Exemption Certificate.
• Sales to the State of Rhode Island, a Rhode Island municipality or the federal government are exempt and need no certificate.

Keep certificates, sales records and invoices for at least three years. See how to invoice a tax-exempt customer.

A worked example

Say you run a pet care business in Providence and invoice a customer for:

• $350 for a week of boarding,
• $80 for grooming, and
• $120 for a training session.

All three are pet care services, so all are taxable: $350 + $80 + $120 = $550, and $550 × 7% = $38.50 in tax. The invoice total is $588.50. Because Rhode Island has no local rate, the same invoice would carry the same 7% in Newport, Warwick or anywhere else in the state.

Selling to customers in other states

The Division of Taxation says you don't collect Rhode Island sales tax when you deliver goods outside Rhode Island — but depending on your activities, you may have to register and collect the other state's tax. Since the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, states can require out-of-state sellers to register once sales into the state pass a threshold the state sets. If you sell across state lines regularly, check each state's rules and use that state's rate on those invoices.

Common mistakes on Rhode Island invoices

• Adding a local rate — there's no city or county sales tax in Rhode Island.
• Missing the newer taxable services, such as software as a service and short-term parking.
• Taxing veterinary care along with other pet services.
• Accepting another state's exemption certificate from a nonprofit instead of the Rhode Island one.
• Letting the permit lapse — renewals are due by February 1 for the permit that expires June 30.

You can double-check totals with our sales tax calculator.

Quick checklist for Rhode Island invoices

• ✅ Permit to make sales at retail before your first sale, renewed every year
• ✅ Checked whether your service is on Rhode Island's taxable list
• ✅ 7% on taxable lines, with no local add-on
• ✅ Sales tax shown as a separate line
• ✅ Resale and exemption certificates on file for at least three years