Get your tax IDs in Kentucky

An EIN, if you need one, comes from the IRS. Kentucky then adds a sales tax account if you sell taxable goods, withholding if you have employees, and an unemployment account once you owe that tax. An LLC or corporation also has the limited liability entity tax.

What’s different in Kentucky

• Sales tax is one rate. 6%, and there are no local sales and use taxes¹. The local tax people run into is an occupational license tax, set by the city or county. Licenses and permits covers that.
• Individual income tax is a flat 3.5% for 2026. There are no brackets. The standard deduction is $3,360⁹.
• Limited liability itself is taxed. It covers corporations, LLCs, S corporations, limited partnerships, and other businesses that have limited liability. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships do not pay it. Some businesses are exempt by statute. The small-business amount is $175⁷.
• The remote-seller test is dollars only. A 2026 law dropped the count of sales. Step 4 has the current line.

Do this

1. Get an EIN from the IRS if you need one. It is free and, if approved, issued immediately¹⁵ online. Don’t pay a website to apply for you. The Kentucky registration page does not say whether a sole proprietor can use a Social Security number instead.* Get the EIN if the form asks for one.
2. Open the Kentucky tax accounts you need. Register through Kentucky One Stop, or Form 10A100⁸. Start at Kentucky One Stop. The account you get depends on the business. This page does not promise a particular account number.
3. Register for sales tax if you sell taxable goods or those services. The tax is 6%. It covers retail sales of tangible personal property, digital property, and certain services¹. The sales tax page does not list those services.* Check the Department’s sales and excise tax answers for your kind of work before you assume a service is not taxed. There is no registration fee. Register at www.onestop.ky.gov².
4. Know the remote-seller line if you have no place in Kentucky. Since August 1, 2026, state law requires a remote seller to register and collect when it has more than $100,000 in gross receipts from sales into Kentucky in the previous or current calendar year. Register and start collecting no later than the first day of the calendar month that is at most 60 days after you cross that line. Sales a marketplace makes for you count toward that line³. The law no longer counts the number of sales. The Department of Revenue’s sales tax page and remote seller FAQ still print the older test, which also counted 200 sales. State law says a marketplace collects the tax on the sales it makes for you, and you are relieved of collecting and paying tax on those sales⁴. The remote seller FAQ says a seller that sells only through a Kentucky-registered marketplace, and is not otherwise required to collect the tax, does not need to register to report those sales². Neither law linked above makes that exception.* If all your Kentucky sales go through marketplaces and they total more than the line, ask the Department whether you need a permit.
5. File sales tax on the schedule the Department assigns. Returns are due monthly, unless the Department of Revenue assigns a less frequent schedule. It resets the schedules each June⁶. You can ask for a change, and you cannot file less often than your payment history requires. State law puts a monthly return due on or before the twentieth day of the following month⁵. The FAQ does not print the due day for a quarterly or annual schedule.* Check the due date in the filing system. A late return adds 2% of the tax for each 30 days or part of 30 days, up to 20%. The ordinary minimum is $10. After a jeopardy assessment, the minimum is $100¹¹.
6. Register for withholding when you pay wages in Kentucky. Withholding applies to residents and nonresidents who are paid wages, unless the law exempts them. The rate for tax year 2026 is 3.5%, the same rate as the individual return. Every filing frequency has to file and pay the withheld tax electronically. File and pay in MyTaxes. Wage statements are due January 31¹⁰.
7. Open an unemployment account when you are liable. For a non-farm business, the test is $1,500 in one quarter, or 20 different weeks in a calendar year, not necessarily the same worker and not necessarily in a row. Farm employers: at least $20,000 of wages in a quarter, or at least 10 workers in any part of 20 weeks. Household employers: at least $1,000 of wages in a quarter. A 501(c)(3) is liable with at least four workers in any part of 20 weeks in the United States, if at least one of them works in Kentucky. Register in the Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Portal, KUIP, reached through kcc.ky.gov. Reports are due the last day of the month after the quarter. First quarter is due by the last day of April. A weekend or a day state offices are closed moves the due date to the next day the offices are open. The wage base for 2026 is $12,000. A new employer’s rate is at least 2.7% until three years of experience. A new construction employer is assigned the highest rate on the schedule, not the 2.7% new-employer rate¹². The Service Capacity Upgrade Fund charge is not in effect for 2026¹³.
8. Report every new hire and rehire. Report them within 20 days from the date the person first performs services for pay. A rehire is someone who was employed by you before and was gone for at least 60 days in a row¹⁴. The new hire form points to online reporting at ky-newhire.com. The form is about employees. It does not say to report an independent contractor. The hiring guide covers the federal side.

Income tax and the entity tax

People file Form 740 by April 15, 2027, for tax year 2026. The rate is 3.5% of taxable income. The standard deduction is $3,360⁹. This page does not estimate what you will owe.

A C corporation pays 5% of Kentucky taxable income and files Form 720⁹ by the 15th day of the fourth month after the taxable year ends. A Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday moves the due date to the next business day. An extension gives more time to file, not more time to pay⁸. A C corporation’s extension to file runs 7 months. The corporation and entity-tax page lists estimated payments as April 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15, each for 25% of the estimated tax⁷. Those are the dates printed on the page. A fiscal-year filer should read the voucher instructions before using them.

A pass-through entity, including an S corporation, an LLC with more than one member, a limited partnership, and a limited liability partnership, files Form PTE, due the 15th day of the fourth month after the taxable year ends. An S corporation pays corporation income tax only on built-in gains, passive investment income, or LIFO recapture installments⁸. A single-member LLC owned by an individual files Form 725 for the entity tax, not corporation income tax. The owner’s own return is separate. The FAQ chart does not name that owner’s form.* The individual return in the handbook is Form 740⁹.

The tax covers corporations, LLCs, S corporations, limited partnerships, and other businesses that have limited liability. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships do not pay it. Some businesses are exempt by statute. If total gross receipts or total gross profits are $3 million or less, the tax is $175. Above $6 million, the tax is 0.095% of Kentucky gross receipts or 0.75% of Kentucky gross profits. The business pays the smaller of the gross-receipts amount and the gross-profits amount. Between $3 million and $6 million, a sliding-scale formula applies. Only manufacturing, producing, wholesaling, retailing, and reselling of tangible products may subtract cost of goods sold, and Kentucky's definition is not the federal one. A corporation that also owes income tax can reduce that income tax by the LLET above the $175 minimum⁷. This page does not compute the tax for you.

The handbook lists Form 740-PTET-ELECT, an election to pay income tax at the entity level⁹. It does not state a rate, and it does not say who should make the election.* Whether it helps depends on your numbers. Ask a CPA. This page does not pick it for you.

Nonresident owners: the entity files Form 740NP-WH. Withholding is required only for nonresident individual partners, shareholders, or members. A nonresident corporation partner is not withheld on, and still may have to file. Estimated payments for that withholding are required when one owner’s Kentucky tax is expected to be over $500⁸.

Interest on unpaid tax for 2026 is 9%. A 25 percent collection fee can be added 60 days after the original notice date¹¹.

What you get back

An EIN from the IRS if you applied, the Kentucky tax accounts One Stop opens for the taxes that apply to you, a sales tax account if you registered, a withholding account if you have employees, and an unemployment account once you are liable. Write down the sales tax filing frequency the Department assigns. It is not something you choose on the first day.