Get your tax IDs in West Virginia

An EIN, if you need one, takes minutes online. West Virginia then asks for a business registration certificate before you do business. That certificate is what opens the tax accounts. Sales tax, income tax, and unemployment tax follow only if they apply to you.

What’s different in West Virginia

• There is no separate seller’s permit. Registration with the Secretary of State is not a substitute for a business registration certificate from the Tax Division. The certificate is $30 and permanent until the business moves, closes, or the Tax Commissioner suspends, revokes, or cancels it¹.
• Doing business without the certificate is a misdemeanor. On conviction the fine is $1,000 to $10,000⁴, and $100⁵ for each day it continues past 30 days. A penalty of $50³ a month or part of a month can be added.
• Grocery food is not taxed. A prepared meal is. The sales tax does not apply to food and food ingredients intended for human consumption¹. Prepared food, food sold through a vending machine, and soft drinks stay at the general sales-tax rate⁸.
• Individual rates were cut for 2026. The band is 2.11% to 4.58%¹. W. Va. Code 11-21-4j sets those rates for tax years beginning on and after January 1, 2026¹⁵.
• A federal S election does not skip the West Virginia return. Partnerships and S corporations file Form WV/PTE-100¹. The elective entity tax replaces that return for the year you elect it. The elective page does not print a rate.

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 file unemployment reports. 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. Get the business registration certificate before you start. Register at Business4.wv.gov or on the application the tax publication names, Form WV/BUS APP. The fee is $30. Each business location needs its own certificate. It is permanent until the business moves, closes, or the Tax Commissioner suspends, revokes, or cancels it. Registration with the Secretary of State is not a substitute for a business registration certificate from the Tax Division. A person can skip registration only when all three conditions on the registration publication are true: gross income of $4,000 or less in the most recently completed income-tax year, and only if the person is not required to collect or withhold a tax and does not claim a sales-tax exemption². A new shop that will collect sales tax does not meet that test. Some organizations are exempt from the fee. The registration publication points to the Business Registration booklet for that list.* Check the booklet if you think you qualify. Under the statutes, doing business without the certificate can bring a penalty of $50³ for each month or part of a month. It is also a misdemeanor. On conviction the fine is $1,000 to $10,000⁴, and once it runs past 30 days, $100⁵ for each day it continues. The July 2026 tax publication says $100¹ for each day a business operates without registering and does not mention the 30 days.* Those statutes set no daily fine before 30 days. Check with the Tax Division if you are already operating without a certificate.
3. If you will sell taxable goods or services, the certificate is what opens the sales account. There is not a second permit to buy. The state rate is 6%. The publication says to multiply taxable gross sales by .06. The use tax is the same 6%⁷ on taxable goods and services used in West Virginia when the sales tax was not paid. The tax does not apply to food and food ingredients intended for human consumption¹. Prepared food, food sold through a vending machine, and soft drinks stay at the general sales-tax rate⁸.
4. Check the municipal table before you set a price. Cities on the municipal sales tax table add 1%, and the combined rate printed on those rows is 7%. The municipal table includes rows effective January 1, 2027⁹. The overview PDF still says 98 municipalities and up to 1%⁷.* Use the table for the city where the sale happens. Report the municipal tax on the same combined return. You collect it if you do business inside a city that imposes it.
5. Calendar the sales return if you have the account. Vendors who collect more than $250 a month file monthly. If the average month is no more than that, you may file quarterly. If the year is $600 or less, you may file annually. Returns are due the 20th day of the month after the reporting period closes. File a return even when no tax was collected. File in MyTaxes, the filing site named in the tax publication. If you paid more than $25,000¹ in the prior year, you have to file and pay electronically.
6. If you are a person who has to file, calendar the individual return. It is due April 15. The rate-cut page describes a 5% cut, effective June 12, 2026, and retroactive to January 1, 2026. The July 2026 publication puts the rates at 2.11% on taxable income under $10,000, up to 4.58% on income over $60,000. The rate-cut page prints the steps between those lines, and a separate table for married filing separately that starts at 2.11% on income up to $5,000 and reaches 4.58% over $30,000⁶. W. Va. Code 11-21-4j sets those rates for tax years beginning on and after January 1, 2026¹⁵. The state’s overview PDF, labeled Calendar Year 2026, still prints the older 2.22% to 4.82%⁷. Use the statute’s rates for a 2026 return, and check the form instructions for the year you file. A federal filing extension also extends the West Virginia return. It does not extend the time to pay. Estimated payments, if you have taxable income that is not withheld, are due April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year¹. This page does not compute the tax.
7. If the business is taxed as a C corporation, calendar the corporation net income tax. The rate is 6.5%. The return is due the 15th day of the fourth month after the tax year ends. Estimated payments are required when you reasonably expect West Virginia taxable income over $10,000, and they are due the 15th day of the fourth, sixth, ninth, and twelfth months of the tax year¹. The business tax publication does not print the extension rule for this return.* Check the return instructions for the year you file.
8. If the business is a partnership or an S corporation, file the pass-through return. Form WV/PTE-100¹ is the informational return, and it is also where nonresident withholding is reported. The federal S election is Form 2553¹⁶. This page does not pick it. A disregarded LLC files the way its owner files.
9. Read the elective pass-through entity tax before you treat it as a default. It is a tax on the entity. An entity that elects the pass-through entity tax does not also file PTE-100 for that year. The election is due on or before March 15 for a calendar-year taxpayer. Once you elect for a tax year, you cannot switch for that year¹⁰. The election is year by year. The page does not print the rate.* Ask a CPA before you elect. Filing the return is the election.
10. Withhold when you pay wages, and register for unemployment when you are liable. An employer who pays wages subject to West Virginia personal income tax must withhold. Remit withheld tax on or before the 15th day of the next month. Quarterly withholding returns are due the last day of the month after the quarter ends. If you withhold less than $600 a year, or you are in the domestic and household group the publication names, you file the annual return instead, and the reconciliation is due January 31¹. Unemployment tax is separate. You are liable if you meet $1,500 or more of gross wages in a quarter, or at least one employee during 20 different weeks in a calendar year. The weeks do not have to be consecutive, and the employee does not have to be the same person. An employer already liable under the federal unemployment tax, with at least one employee in West Virginia, is liable here regardless of weeks or payroll. For household employees, the test is $1,000 or more of cash wages in any calendar quarter for domestic service. Apply through Business4.wv.gov on the Employer’s Initial Statement, or ask the status unit for the form. The February 2025 handbook says the wage base beginning in 2025 is $9,500. It does not print a later change.* Confirm the current figure with WorkForce West Virginia. A new employer who did not buy an existing business starts at 2.7%. An out-of-state construction business starts at 8.5%. A delinquent employer is charged 7.5%¹². That is not the new-employer rate. Reports are due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31¹¹.
11. Report new hires and reportable independent contractors. The handbook says to report employees and rehires to the West Virginia New Hire Reporting Center within 14 days of hire¹². W. Va. Code § 48-18-125 also requires reporting an independent contractor who is an individual with $2,500 or more in annual contracted services or aggregate payments within 14 days of signing a contract providing for $2,500 or more in a year or of aggregate payments first reaching $2,500, whichever happens first. The reporting statute's independent-contractor definition excludes direct sellers under 26 U.S.C. § 3508(b)(2)¹³. This reporting obligation does not itself determine the worker’s unemployment-tax classification. The hiring guide covers the federal side.

What you get back

An EIN from the IRS if you applied, a West Virginia business registration certificate if you were required to get one, and tax accounts only for the taxes you registered. An unemployment account number comes after WorkForce West Virginia accepts the application. Local business licenses are on Licenses and permits.