North Carolina sales tax: how do I register, what's the rate, and when is Form E-500 due?

If you sell goods at retail or run a restaurant in North Carolina, you need to register before you start doing business and get a Certificate of Registration. You can register on Form NC-BR or online with NCDOR, and there's no fee.

The usual suspects:

• Restaurants, bubble tea shops and cafés: prepared food, eaten in or taken out, is taxed at the full rate.
• Retail stores: grocery, gift, clothing and phone stores, and anyone else selling goods.
• Hair and nail salons, spas: the retail products you sell, such as shampoo or skin care.
• Online and out-of-state sellers: no store in NC, but more than $100,000 in sales into the state (more on that below).

Once you're registered, NCDOR gives you a sales tax account number and assigns a filing frequency. Doing business without registering can bring a separate penalty, so get it done before opening day. If you're still setting up the company itself, start with our guide on which state to form your company in.

The state rate is 4.75%. County tax is added on top, and some counties add a 0.5% transit tax. Under NCDOR's rate table effective July 1, 2026, the combined rate is 7.25% in Wake, 7.50% in Durham and 8.25% in Mecklenburg.

A few details that matter:

• Mecklenburg added a 1% county tax on July 1, 2026, taking the combined rate from 7.25% to 8.25%. The new 1% doesn't apply to items with their own special rates, such as qualifying food (groceries), electricity, boats, aircraft, telecommunications, video programming and manufactured or modular homes. NCDOR's returns from July 1, 2026 include a line for it.
• Qualifying food (groceries) is taxed at 2% local tax only, with no state tax. Prepared food sold by restaurants is taxed at the full combined rate.
• The rate follows the county where the sale happens. If you open a second location or move to a new county, update the rate and the county lines on Schedule E-536.

One row per county; add state, county and transit to get the combined rate.

County	State	County tax	Transit	Combined
Wake	4.75%	2.00%	0.50%	7.25%
Durham	4.75%	2.25%	0.50%	7.50%
Mecklenburg	4.75%	2.00% + new county 1.00% (from July 1, 2026)	0.50%	8.25% (7.25% through June 30, 2026)

Source: NCDOR sales and use tax rate table effective July 1, 2026.

It depends on the county. Wake and Mecklenburg each have a 1% Prepared Food and Beverage Tax that you file and pay with the county, separately from Form E-500. Not every county has one.

• Wake County: 1%, filed monthly with Wake County, online by the 20th of the next month (or by mail, postmarked by then). Sales the delivery platforms already collected on are deducted on line 3 of the county return.
• Mecklenburg County: 1%, filed and paid separately through the county's online system. Our approach is to start from the same month's E-500: gross receipts, minus non-prepared-food sales and platform-collected sales, times 1%. Once submitted online, a county return can't be reopened. Corrections go on a paper amended return, so check the numbers before you submit.

Don't mix these up: this 1% county food tax is separate from the new 1% county sales tax Mecklenburg added on July 1, 2026. A Charlotte restaurant owes both.

NCDOR assigns your frequency based on how much tax you collect each month. You don't pick it. Under $100 a month, you file quarterly. From $100 up to $20,000 a month, you file monthly by the 20th. At $20,000 a month or more, you file monthly and also prepay the next month. North Carolina has no annual filing option.

Form E-500 covers state and county tax together, with the county breakdown on Schedule E-536. File on the frequency NCDOR assigned you, and don't switch between monthly and quarterly on your own.

Find your filing frequency first, then the sales period in that table; the right column is the E-500 due date.

① Monthly filer ($100 or more a month): 12 returns a year

Sales month	E-500 due
January	By February 20
February	By March 20
Every month, same pattern	By the 20th of the next month

② Quarterly filer (consistently under $100 a month): 4 returns a year

Sales period	E-500 due
January–March	By the last day of April
April–June	By the last day of July
July–September	By the last day of October
October–December	By the last day of January (next year)

Notes

• No annual filing in NC.
• NCDOR assigns your frequency.
• Restaurants file county food tax separately.

Source: NCDOR Filing Frequency and Due Dates.

Under N.C.G.S. 105-236, filing late costs 5% of the tax due for each month or part of a month, up to 25%. Paying late costs 5%. Interest is added on top.

• Both can apply at once. If you neither file nor pay, you get both penalties.
• If you're already behind, don't estimate the penalty and interest yourself. File the missing periods first. NCDOR reviews the returns and bills the penalty and interest.

An out-of-state seller has to register and collect once its North Carolina sales (in the prior or current year) exceed $100,000, counting marketplace sales. The old 200-transaction test was repealed effective July 1, 2024. Only the dollar amount matters now.

• Amazon, DoorDash, Uber Eats and similar platforms: since February 1, 2020, a marketplace facilitator doing business in NC is treated as the retailer and collects and remits tax on sales made through its platform.
• Your sales outside the platform are still yours to collect and report: your own website, your store, phone orders.
• How we handle it: platform-collected sales go into gross receipts on Form E-500 and then come out on the deduction line. On the Wake and Mecklenburg food tax returns, they go on the marketplace line too. Leaving them off entirely throws off the numbers.

The retail products you sell (shampoo, skin care, accessories and so on) are subject to sales tax. Whether your service income is taxable needs to be checked item by item against NCDOR's rules. Don't guess. Ring up services and products separately in your POS.

• Retail stores: how returns, discounts and giveaways are recorded in your POS flows straight into gross receipts and taxable sales on Form E-500. Reconcile against the POS report every month.
• Salons, nail shops and spas: when a service and a product land on the same ticket, split them so you can tell which part is taxable.
• Restaurants: track dine-in, takeout and delivery-app sales separately. If you serve alcohol, you need an ABC permit too (see our NC liquor license guide). If you have employees, payroll tax is a separate set of filings (see our small business payroll guide).

Start with three questions: which county you're in, what frequency NCDOR assigned you, and whether your county has a food tax.

• Situation A: Opening soon, not registered yet. Register for sales tax (free) before you open and note your account number and frequency. Set the POS rate for your county. Restaurants in Wake or Mecklenburg should set up the county food tax account at the same time.
• Situation B: Already filing, located in Mecklenburg. Confirm your POS has charged 8.25% since July 1, 2026 and that your E-500 uses the new line. If not, fix it now and review every period since July.
• Situation C: Out-of-state online or Amazon seller. Add up last year's and this year's sales into NC, including marketplace sales. Over $100,000 means you need to register. You don't pay again on what the platform collected, but you do report your off-platform sales.
• Situation D: Missed a return or paid late. File the missing periods as soon as possible and don't estimate the penalty yourself. NCDOR will bill penalty and interest after review, and we can look at next steps once the notice arrives.