Get your tax IDs in Maine

An EIN, if you need one, comes from the IRS. Maine then adds a sales tax account if you sell taxable goods or taxable services, withholding if you pay wages, unemployment once you are liable, and paid family leave once you have one employee in the state.

What’s different in Maine

• Sales tax is one schedule, not a city map. General sales are 5.5%. Prepared food is 8%. Lodging is 9%. Grocery staples are exempt¹⁹. The service provider tax is repealed as of January 1, 2026¹.
• A sole proprietor can register for sales tax without an EIN. Any entity other than a sole proprietor needs a federal EIN to register. A sole proprietor does not.²
• Paid family leave starts with one Maine employee. Unemployment tax waits until you hit a wage or weeks test. They are different registrations.
• Unemployment tax for 2026 is on the first $12,000 each employee earns. The schedule is Schedule A for 2026, the lowest schedule in the law¹².

Do this

1. Get an EIN from the IRS if you need one. It is free and, if approved, issued immediately¹⁸ online. Any entity other than a sole proprietor needs a federal EIN to register. A sole proprietor does not.² Don’t pay a website to apply for you.
2. Register for sales tax with Maine Revenue Services if you are a business in Maine that makes regular sales of taxable goods or taxable services. Start at the Maine Tax Portal. You receive a Retailer Certificate. Registration is free³. A seller outside Maine registers after more than $100,000 of sales delivered into Maine in the current or previous calendar year². Maine Revenue Services’ remote-seller guidance page still prints a second test, at least 200 separate transactions delivered into Maine in the current or previous calendar year⁵; the statute has only the $100,000⁴ sales threshold. If you sell through a marketplace, open the marketplace facilitator FAQ the sales tax page links before you assume those sales are covered.
3. Use the rate for what you sell, not a local add-on. The rates table is below. Grocery staples are exempt¹⁹. The sales tax definitions say which foods count as grocery staples and which count as prepared food. If a product might be either, check there before you charge the higher rate.
4. File sales tax on the schedule Maine Revenue Services assigns. You do not pick it. Filing is monthly, when the average tax is $600 or more a month. It is quarterly, when the average tax is at least $100 and under $600 a month. It is twice a year, when the average tax is under $100 a month and more than $50 a year. It is once a year, when the average tax is under $50 a year. Returns are due the 15th day of the month after the period ends. If that day is a weekend or holiday, the return is due the next day that is not a weekend or a state holiday. A late return adds the greater of $25 or 10% of the tax due, and the greater of $25 or 25% if the return is still missing 60 days after a formal demand. Late payment adds 1% of the unpaid tax per month, up to 25%².
5. Register for withholding when you pay Maine wages. Start at the withholding FAQ. Payments are quarterly, if Maine withholding reported for the 12 months ending the prior June 30 was under $18,000. They are semiweekly, if that lookback was $18,000 or more. Once the semiweekly schedule starts, it stays, even if later withholding is lower. Quarterly payments are due the last day of the month after the quarter, or the next business day if that day is a weekend or holiday. A quarterly return is still due when withholding is zero⁶.
6. Open an unemployment account when you are liable. Under the statute, you are liable at $1,500 or more in wages paid in any calendar quarter, or one or more people at work for some part of a day in each of 20 different weeks, counting this calendar year and the one before¹⁴. The glossary in the Department of Labor’s employer guide says more than $1,500, or 20 weeks. The statute is the rule. Two exceptions: farm work is liable at $20,000 in a quarter, or at 10 workers in each of 20 different weeks. Household work is liable at $1,000 in a quarter¹⁵. File at ReEmployME. Reports are due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31¹¹. The wage base is $12,000¹². A new employer’s 2026 rate is 2.54%, made up of 2.23% plus a 0.14% CSSF rate and a 0.17% UPAF rate¹³. Your own rate arrives in a December notice.
7. Register for paid family leave when you have a Maine employee. It applies to any employer with at least one Maine employee. Every employer the law covers registers in the Paid Leave Portal. The rate is 1.0% of wages if 15 or more Maine employees were paid in 20 or more weeks. The employer may deduct up to half from wages. If you are smaller, 0.5% of wages if fewer than 15 Maine employees. The employer may deduct all or part of that from wages. Reports are due 30 days after the quarter ends, through the Paid Leave Portal¹⁶. The employer sheet has the counting rules. Wages for this premium do not include payments to independent contractors.
8. Report new hires and rehires within 7 days. That covers anyone who will get a W-2, and an independent contractor expected to be paid $2,500 or more in a year¹⁷. The new hire FAQ has the portal. The hiring guide covers the federal side.

Rates and income tax

From the rates table, the column in effect January 1, 2026:

• General sales and use tax: 5.5%¹.
• Prepared food: 8%¹.
• Lodging: 9%¹.
• Short-term auto rental: 10%¹. Long-term auto rental stays at the general rate.
• Adult-use cannabis: 14%¹.
• Service provider tax: repealed as of January 1, 2026¹.

Grocery staples are exempt¹⁹.

Individual income tax, for owners who report the business on their own return: a single filer pays 5.8% under $27,400, 6.75% from $27,400 up to $64,850, and 7.15% at $64,850 or more. There is also an extra 2% on the slice of Maine taxable income over $1,000,000 for a single filer, over $750,000 if married filing separately, and over $1,500,000 if married filing jointly or head of household, starting in 2026⁷. File by April 15. If the due date falls on a holiday or a weekend, it moves to the next business day¹¹. The due-date list puts the individual extension form on that same April 15 and does not say how long the extra time lasts.* Read the form before you count on a later filing date.

A C corporation pays 3.5% up to $350,000 of adjusted federal taxable income, 7.93% on the band up to $1,050,000, 8.33% up to $3,500,000, and 8.93% above that, for tax years beginning in 2026⁸. File Form 1120ME by April 15 for a calendar year, September 15 if the year ends June 30, and the 15th day of the fourth month for any other fiscal year. If the due date falls on a holiday or a weekend, it moves to the next business day¹¹. The extension is automatic extra time equal to any federal extension plus 30 days, or 7 months, whichever is later. Filing late is not permission to pay late. Pay at least 90% of the tax by the original due date. Estimated tax is required unless the year’s tax, or last year’s tax after credits, is under $1,000⁹.

An LLC is treated as a partnership for Maine income tax unless the IRS classifies it some other way, in which case Maine follows the IRS. A disregarded entity for federal tax is disregarded for Maine tax. A pass-through has one more return when a member lives outside Maine. A partnership or S corporation with Maine-source income files Form 941P-ME if any member was not a Maine resident¹⁰. No 941P-ME is required when every member was a Maine resident for the whole period. Withholding on those nonresidents is 7.15% of each nonresident member's estimated Maine-source income, or 8.93% if that member is a C corporation²⁰. Form 941P-ME is due March 15. If the due date falls on a holiday or a weekend, it moves to the next business day¹¹. An S corporation files Form 1120ME only for income the IRS taxes at the corporate level, such as certain capital gains and certain built-in gains⁹. Whether any election helps depends on your numbers. Ask a CPA. This page does not pick one for you.

What you get back

An EIN from the IRS if you applied, a Retailer Certificate if you registered for sales tax, a withholding account if you have employees, an unemployment account once you are liable, and a Paid Leave Portal account once you have a Maine employee. Write down the sales tax filing frequency Maine Revenue Services assigns. It is not something you choose.