The Delaware sales tax rate is effectively 0% because there’s no statewide sales tax. There are no local add-ons, no jurisdiction-level variations, and no exceptions. But while businesses that sell into Delaware don’t have sales tax collection, remittance, or filing requirements with the state, many will find that they must pay gross receipts tax. This is levied on sellers rather than customers.

Below, we’ll discuss what Delaware’s sales tax rate means for businesses, how the gross receipts tax works, and how Delaware fits into a multistate compliance setup.

Highlights

• Delaware is one of five US states with no statewide sales tax. No local jurisdictions in the state impose one either.

• Businesses that operate in Delaware generally pay a gross receipts tax instead. Rates vary by industry, and there’s a variable monthly exclusion that often starts at about $100,000.

• Delaware requires no sales tax registration, filing, or remittance for multistate sellers. This removes it from sales tax compliance tracking entirely.

What is Delaware’s sales tax rate?

Delaware’s statewide sales tax rate is 0%. It’s one of five states that collect no general sales tax at the state level. When a customer buys something in, say, Wilmington or Dover, they pay exactly what’s on the tag. Businesses don’t collect, remit, or file sales tax returns with the state for retail transactions.

How does Delaware’s gross receipts tax work?

Without a state sales tax, Delaware leans heavily on income taxes—both personal and corporate. It also applies a gross receipts tax, which functions differently from a sales tax. Sales tax is charged to the customer at the point of sale (POS), while the gross receipts tax is levied on the seller based on total revenue from Delaware business activity. Gross receipts tax rates differ by industry, ranging from 0.0945%–1.9914%. Petroleum products have a variable tax rate, which can be as high as 2.4218%, depending on the business activity.

Many businesses are entitled to an exclusion, but it varies depending on business activity. The Business Tax Tips page provides more information by industry. The monthly exclusion generally starts at $100,000, which means businesses below that threshold in a given month owe nothing for that period. Because of that exclusion, the tax is light for smaller operations but adds up for higher-volume businesses.

Gross receipts tax returns and payments are due monthly or quarterly, depending on total gross receipts. With monthly filing, tax is due on the 20th day of the following month. With quarterly filing, it’s due on the last day of the month after the close of the quarter.

What taxes are included in Delaware’s local sales tax?

Delaware counties, cities, and municipalities don’t impose local sales taxes. The 0% rate applies uniformly across every city and county in the state. This is meaningfully different from states such as Colorado and Louisiana, where combined state-plus-local rates can exceed 10% and vary street by street. When you operate in these states, a sales tax calculator is a useful tool. In Delaware, there’s no patchwork of local rates to track, no jurisdiction-level filing requirements, and no risk of miscalculation because a transaction crossed a county line.

Which businesses are required to collect sales tax in Delaware?

Businesses selling into or operating within Delaware might need to register with the Delaware Division of Revenue and file gross receipts tax returns. Delaware has no economic nexus law for sales tax, so remote sellers need to assess whether they owe gross receipts tax based on whether their business activity creates sufficient nexus in the state. Delaware also doesn’t require marketplace facilitators to collect sales tax on behalf of sellers since there’s no sales tax framework.

More than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware, largely because of its well-developed corporate law and Court of Chancery, a nonjury trial court known for its fast and predictable handling of corporate disputes and fiduciary litigation. Incorporation alone doesn’t create a tax obligation for businesses that operate entirely outside the state. But it does mean they’re subject to Delaware’s franchise tax, which is separate from any sales or gross receipts tax.

Delaware is excluded from multistate sellers’ sales tax compliance setups. Stripe Tax automatically applies the correct rate, including Delaware’s 0% rate, based on the customer’s location. It also monitors nexus thresholds across the 45 states that do impose statewide sales tax so businesses know when they’ve exceeded the registration threshold without needing to manually check every transaction.

If a business has employees, inventory, or physical locations in Delaware, a tax adviser familiar with the state’s gross receipts structure is advisable, as they can give a clearer picture than any generalized compliance framework.

How Stripe Tax can help

Stripe Tax reduces the complexity of tax compliance so you can focus on growing your business. Stripe Tax helps you monitor your obligations and alerts you when you exceed a sales tax registration threshold based on your Stripe transactions. In addition, it automatically calculates and collects sales tax, value-added tax (VAT), and goods and services tax (GST) on both physical and digital goods and services—in all US states and in more than 100 countries.

Start collecting taxes globally by adding a single line of code to your existing integration, clicking a button in the Dashboard, or using our powerful application programming interface (API).

Stripe Tax can help you:

• Understand where to register and collect taxes: See where you need to collect taxes based on your Stripe transactions. After you register, switch on tax collection in a new state or country in seconds. You can start collecting taxes by adding one line of code to your existing Stripe integration or add tax collection with the click of a button in the Stripe Dashboard.

• Register to pay tax: Let Stripe manage your global tax registrations and benefit from a simplified process that prefills application details—saving you time and simplifying compliance with local regulations.

• Automatically collect tax: Stripe Tax calculates and collects the right amount of tax owed, no matter what or where you sell. It supports hundreds of products and services and is up-to-date on tax rules and rate changes.

• Simplify filing: Stripe Tax seamlessly integrates with filing partners, so your global filings are accurate and timely. Let our partners manage your filings so you can focus on growing your business.

Learn more about Stripe Tax, or get started today.