Get your tax IDs in Massachusetts

An EIN, if you need one, takes minutes online. Massachusetts then wants a MassTaxConnect¹⁵ account for the taxes that actually apply, unemployment once you are a liable employer, paid family and medical leave once you have covered people, and a new-hire report once you hire. Do not open an account just to have the number.

What’s different in Massachusetts

• The income tax is flat, then a surtax. The ordinary rate is 5%. Tax year 2026 adds 4% above 1,107,750 dollars¹.
• Sales tax is one statewide rate. It is 6.25%¹ on the sales line. Restaurant meals can add 0.75%⁸, and only in a city or town that accepted the option.
• An S corporation still has a corporate excise. The minimum is $456⁶. A state page that says S corporation profits are not taxed is repeating the federal rule.
• Unemployment for a new employer is a published 2026 rate, not a range you guess. It is 2.42%, or 6.08%¹⁰ in construction. The wage base is $15,000¹¹.
• Paid leave has an employer share only at 25 people. Below that, the 2026 rate you send is 0.46 percent of eligible wages with fewer than 25 covered individuals, all of which can be withheld from wages, with no required employer share¹².

Do this

1. Get an EIN from the IRS if you need one. It is free and, if approved, issued immediately¹⁴ online. You will need it to hire, to open many bank accounts, and to register a corporation or a partnership. A sole proprietor with no employees can often use a Social Security number for federal tax. Don’t pay a website to apply for you.
2. Open MassTaxConnect¹⁵ for the taxes you will actually owe. The sole-proprietor page says to register if you will offer taxable goods, rentals, or services, or if you will have employees.
3. If you sell taxable goods in Massachusetts and you have a location here, register for sales tax. The rate on tangible personal property is 6.25%¹. The rates page’s sales line does not add a city rate. How often you file depends on the tax: Once a year, by the 30th day after the year, when the tax is 100 dollars or less. Each quarter, by the 30th day after the quarter, when the tax is from 101 dollars to 1,200 dollars. Each month, by the 30th day after the month, when the tax is over 1,200 dollars².
4. If you sell restaurant meals, register for that tax too. The state piece is 6.25%¹. A city or town may add 0.75%, and only if the city or town accepts the local-option section⁸. Meals returns are each month, by the 30th day after the month, at any amount².
5. If you sell into Massachusetts and you have no store, staff, inventory, or representatives here, read the remote-seller rule before you collect. You collect when you have more than 100,000 dollars of Massachusetts sales in a calendar year, if the seller has no store, employees, inventory, or representatives in the state⁹. A marketplace facilitator uses the same dollar test on its own sales plus the sales it facilitates. Having a location takes you out of that remote rule and back to step 3.
6. If you file a Massachusetts individual return, calendar it. The rate on wages and most other income is 5%. For tax year 2026, income over 1,107,750 dollars also pays 4%. Short-term capital gains are 8.5%¹ before that surtax. The return is due April 15, or the next business day if the 15th is a weekend or holiday¹⁶. The due-dates page prints April 15, 2026 for the 2025 resident return. An extension moves the filing date, not the payment. A return with no tax due that is not filed by the due date gets an automatic extension to October 15, 2026. A paid extension needs at least 80 percent of the tax, paid by April 15, 2026, for a 2025 income extension². An IRS extension does not extend Massachusetts. This page does not compute the tax.
7. If the business is taxed as a C corporation, calendar the excise. The income piece is 8%¹. The other piece is 2.60 dollars per 1,000 dollars of taxable tangible property or net worth. The minimum is $456⁶. Under chapter 62C, section 11, a C corporation return is due the 15th day of the fourth month after the tax year closes³. The extension is automatic if the greater of half the tax ultimately due, or the minimum excise, is paid by the original due date². A filing extension does not move the payment deadline. The DOR date table still shows deadlines for tax-year 2025 returns; calculate the due date for the year you are filing.
8. Read the S corporation pages together. The rates page charges 2 percent of net income when total receipts are 6 million dollars or more and under 9 million, 3 percent of net income when total receipts are 9 million dollars or more, and 8 percent on net income that is taxable to the S corporation at the federal level, including certain built-in gains and passive investment income¹. It also charges 2.60 dollars per 1,000 dollars of taxable tangible property or net worth and at least $456⁶. The starting-a-corporation page says, citing the IRS, that an S corporation is not taxed on its profits, because those pass to the shareholders¹⁷. That is the federal rule. For the Massachusetts excise, use the rates page, and ask a CPA before you skip a return. An S corporation’s Massachusetts return is due the 15th day of the third month after the tax year closes³ under chapter 62C, section 11. A valid extension moves filing, not payment. The election is federal, on Form 2553¹⁸. This page does not pick it.
9. If the business is an LLC, follow the federal classification. Massachusetts classifies it the same way the IRS classifies it. A single-member LLC that is disregarded federally is disregarded for Massachusetts income tax. An LLC treated as a partnership registers for Partnership. An LLC treated as a corporation registers for Corporate Excise⁵. A disregarded single-member LLC does not get its own income-tax return. Sales tax and withholding still apply when those taxes apply.
10. If the business is a partnership, file the partnership return and remember the partners still have their own returns. Under chapter 62C, section 7, the partnership return is due the 15th day of the third month after the tax year closes⁴. The DOR date table lists prior-year calendar examples and the available extensions. The starting-a-partnership page says the partnership itself does not pay income tax and the partners report their shares. This page does not compute a partner’s tax.
11. Register for unemployment when you are a liable employer. That is one or more employees for at least one day in each of 13 weeks in the year, or 1,500 dollars of wages in any quarter. Other tests cover farm work, household employees, and an out-of-state employer. Read the contributions page for those. For 2026, a new employer pays 2.42%. A new construction employer pays 6.08%. After three years, you pay a rate the Department of Unemployment Assistance calculates each year. The wage base is the first $15,000¹¹ of each employee’s wages, for years beginning on or after January 1, 2015. Reports are due by 3 p.m. on April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. Late payments draw 12% until paid. Wages paid to a child under 18 working for a parent, to a spouse, or to a parent working for a child, are among the wages that do not count¹⁰.
12. If you have covered individuals, send paid family and medical leave contributions. For 2026, the contribution is 0.88 percent of eligible wages with 25 or more covered individuals. Up to 0.18 percent for family leave and 0.28 percent for medical leave can be withheld from wages, and the employer pays the other 0.42 percent. Otherwise it is 0.46 percent of eligible wages with fewer than 25 covered individuals, all of which can be withheld from wages, with no required employer share. Each person’s contributions are capped at the Social Security taxable maximum. On January 1, 2027, the employer share moves from medical leave to family leave¹². An approved private plan that pays benefits at least equal to the state plan does not send these contributions. The hiring guide covers the federal side of a first hire.
13. Report new hires to the Department of Revenue’s child-support program. You report every newly hired employee who works in Massachusetts, no matter how many people you pay. The report is due within 14 days of the start of work, or of a return after 30 or more days off the payroll. A payor also reports an independent contractor paid 600 dollars or more over the year, within 14 days of the start of the work. A miss can mean up to 25 dollars for each person missed or reported wrong, and 500 dollars if the miss is a conspiracy not to report¹³. File it in MassTaxConnect. This report is not the quarterly wage report.

What you get back

An EIN from the IRS if you applied, a MassTaxConnect account only for the taxes you registered, and an unemployment account once you are liable. There is no separate state business-license number in this step. Local certificates and professional licenses are on Licenses and permits.