Single-purchase vs blanket resale certificates
Two valid flavors of resale certificate exist in most US states. Which you should accept depends on how often you expect to sell to the buyer and how strict your destination state’s rules are.
The short answer
- Blanket certificate: One signed document covers every purchase from a given buyer, indefinitely (or until expiration), until they tell you otherwise.
- Single-purchase certificate: One signed document covers exactly one transaction.
For most B2B wholesale relationships → blanket. For one-off transactions (especially in New York, where single-purchase certs are common) → single.
Why blankets exist
Collecting a fresh resale certificate for every transaction is operationally painful. In the 1970s most state DORs adopted “blanket certificate” rules so a reseller could sign once and be covered for ongoing purchases. That’s now the default assumption in wholesale B2B.
A blanket certificate typically says something like: “The undersigned intends to use this certificate for all purchases from [Seller] unless otherwise noted. The purchaser certifies this form covers future purchases of items described.”
When single-purchase certificates still matter
Three situations where a single-purchase cert is required:
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New York Form ST-120 (Part 2 — nonresident). New York makes this distinction explicit. Blanket certs are Part 1 (in-state resellers with a NY Certificate of Authority); single-purchase certs are Part 2 (out-of-state resellers + specific-job exemptions). A NY-out-of-state merchant filling Part 2 commits to that specific purchase only.
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Contractors buying materials for a specific construction project. Many states require a project-specific exemption on each order because the same materials used on a different project may have different tax treatment.
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Buyers you don’t trust to maintain current status. A blanket cert from a buyer whose business closes next month is worthless in audit. If the buyer’s credit / longevity is questionable, asking for a single-purchase cert per order gives you a fresh signature + fresh address + fresh permit-number state check each time.
Blanket expiration windows (state-by-state)
| State | Blanket cert valid for |
|---|---|
| California | Indefinite, until revoked |
| Florida | 1 year (Annual Resale Certificate — DR-13 reissued yearly) |
| New York | No expiration (Part 1 ST-120 blanket) |
| Texas | Indefinite |
| Illinois | Indefinite |
| Pennsylvania | Indefinite |
| Ohio | Indefinite |
| MTC Multijurisdiction | Varies by state accepting — typically 3 years |
If a state’s DOR doesn’t set a blanket cert expiration, best practice is to refresh every 3 years anyway — buyers’ permits change, businesses close, and a fresh signature is audit-defensible.
Which ResaleProof uses by default
ResaleProof’s portal treats every submission as a blanket certificate for the cert’s state. We store an optional expiration_date per cert so state-specific rules (Florida’s DR-13 annual refresh, your own 3-year refresh policy) are enforced automatically.
- 60/30/7 day reminders go to the customer before expiration.
- On expiration day, Shopify’s
customerRemoveTaxExemptionsmutation fires — tax is charged again at checkout. - The customer can submit a renewal through the portal’s deep-link (one-click from the reminder email).
Single-purchase cert path (e.g., NY ST-120 Part 2) is deferred to a later release. If you need per-transaction exemptions for a specific buyer, currently you’d handle those outside ResaleProof — PM us if this is a blocker and we’ll sequence it.