On this page we are describing the sales taxes in the State of Minnesota, we aim to educate you on the differences that occur throughout the state so you get a better understanding of it in regards to whether you may have:

  • Have taken a new job in the are
  • Applied for a new school
  • Opened a new bank account in the state of Minnesota
  • People who may be unable to find their Social Security Card or have lost it.

What is the lowest and highest sales tax in Minnesota?

In the map of Minnesota is pictured below there are a total of 87 countries that are within the state. You can go directly to the page and see which area has the highest and lowest sales tax in your county of choice.

Aitkin Anoka Becker Beltrami Benton BigStone BlueEarth Brown Carlton Carver Cass Chippewa Chisago Clay Clearwater Cook Cottonwood CrowWing Dakota Dodge Douglas Faribault Fillmore Freeborn Goodhue Grant Hennepin Houston Hubbard Isanti Itasca Jackson Kanabec Kandiyohi Kittson Koochiching Lac qui Parle Lake Lakeofthe Woods Le Sueur Lincoln Lyon McLeod Mahnomen Marshall Martin Meeker MilleLacs Morrison Mower Murray Nicollet Nobles Norman Olmsted Otter Tail Pennington Pine Pipestone Polk Pope Ramsey Red Lake Redwood Renville Rice Rock Roseau Saint Louis Scott Sherburne Sibley Stearns Steele Stevens Swift Todd Traverse Wabasha Wadena Waseca Washington Watonwan Wilkin Winona Wright Yellow Medicine
The state sales tax for businesses and so forth is a standard rate of 6.875% which allows the local government to be able to collect up to another 2% on top of this:

  • the average sales tax for the entirety of Minnesota is 7.301%,
  • the highest is within the St Louis County County that consists of Duluth and this equates to 8.875% sales tax,
  • the lowest sales tax is in the Aitkin, Big Stone, Chippewa, Clearwater, Cottonwood, Grant, Houston, Itasca, Jackson, Kittson, Lac Qui Parle, Lincoln, Mahnomen, Marshall, Murray, Norman, Pennington, Pipestone, Pope, Red Lake, Renville, Rock, Sibley, Stevens, Swift, Traverse, Watonwan, Yellow Medicine County, which includes cities like Granite Falls, Breckenridge, Saint James, Wheaton, Benson, Morris, Arlington, Olivia, Red Lake Falls, Glenwood, Pipestone, Thief River Falls, Twin Valley, Slayton, Warren, Mahnomen, Tyler, Madison, Madison, Hallock, Jackson, Grand Rapids, Elbow Lake, Windom, Bagley, Montevideo, Ortonville, Aitkin and the sales tax in these areas total to 6.875%

This is a brief overview, and we suggest that you go directly to the page if you wish to get a clearer image of the different ranges of sale tax in a particular county. Please note that the ones that have an asterisk means they are below the usual county level of sales tax.

How to calculate your own sales tax in the state of Minnesota.

So, what does this mean for you, if you are looking into how much sales tax you are going to charged dependant on what sort of county you are residing or working out of. You can go ahead and use a sales tax calculator which will give you a section that is exampled below.

$
-or- Specify Sales Tax Rate
-or- Specify ZIP Code
%

 

You do need to know the purchase ZIP code and purchase amount in order to get an accurate figure. For an example we will use the amount of $500 and see what the ranges could be from the highest area to the lowest.

In Duluth, MN with the highest sales tax of 8.875% would mean that your $500 purchase would incur a $44.38 sales tax, taking the total amount to $544.38.

Whereas in Minneapolis, MN the sales tax is only 8.025% and a $500 purchase would equate to $40.13 tax, taking the total to $540.13.

The sales tax calculator makes it as easy as it can be to find out what sort of sales tax you will be charged by simply adding the amount and the ZIP code. Though there might be some purchases that are exempt from sales taxes or have some special leniency which do need to be taken into consideration.

City Sales Tax Rate Zip-code Population
Minneapolis 8.03% 55404, 55405, 55406, 55407, 55408, 55409, 55410, 55411, 55412, 55413, 55414, 55417, 55418, 55419, 55454, 55455, 55467 249311
Saint Paul 7.88% 55101, 55102, 55103, 55104, 55105, 55106, 55107, 55108, 55114, 55116, 55117, 55119, 55130, 55146, 55155, 55168 228036
Rochester 8.13% 55901, 55902, 55903, 55904, 55906 100480
Duluth 8.88% 55802, 55803, 55804, 55805, 55806, 55807, 55808, 55811, 55812, 55816 79301
Osseo 7.53% 55311, 55369 58931
Eden Prairie 7.53% 55344, 55346, 55347 55088
Saint Cloud 7.63% 56301, 56302, 56303, 56304, 56393, 56395, 56396, 56399 53379
Burnsville 7.13% 55306, 55337 51837

Lakeville

7.13% 55044 41090

Andover

7.13% 55304 40521

Anoka

7.13% 55303 39074

Shakopee

7.38% 55379 33688

Mankato

7.88% 56001, 56002 31279

Elk River

7.88% 55330 31206

Stillwater

7.38% 55082, 55083 30430

Cottage Grove

7.38% 55016 29532

Inver Grove Heights

7.13% 55076, 55077 29165

Moorhead

7.38% 56560, 56561, 56562, 56563 28610

Farmington

7.13% 55024 26991

Prior Lake

7.38% 55372 26347

Owatonna

7.38% 55060 25176

Hastings

7.13% 55033 25103

Winona

7.38% 55987 24430

Rosemount

7.13% 55068 24049

Austin

7.88% 55912 23996

Circle Pines

7.13% 55014 23573

Brainerd

7.38% 56401 23511

Savage

7.38% 55378 22994

Faribault

7.38% 55021 22884

Chaska

7.38% 55318 21769

Champlin

7.53% 55316 20946

Alexandria

7.38% 56308 20392

Forest Lake

7.38% 55025 19742

Minnetonka

7.53% 55345 19697

Buffalo

7.38% 55313 19513

Willmar

7.88% 56201 18474

Hugo

7.38% 55038 17873

Albert Lea

7.88% 56007 17858

Hopkins

7.53% 55305 17425

Chanhassen

7.38% 55317 17368

Northfield

7.38% 55057 17172

South Saint Paul

7.13% 55075 16581

Grand Rapids

6.88% 55744, 55745 16279

Excelsior

7.53% 55331 16166

Red Wing

7.38% 55066 15965

Fergus Falls

7.88% 56537, 56538 15712

Hutchinson

7.88% 55350 15663

Big Lake

7.38% 55309 15038

Monticello

7.38% 55362, 55365, 55565, 55580, 55581, 55582, 55584, 55585, 55586, 55587, 55588, 55589, 55590, 55591 14937

New Ulm

7.88% 56073 14611

Why do I need to collect sales tax in Minnesota?

You will need to collect sales tax if you have any sort of nexus there, and what this means is that if you have assets that are physical or economic then you need to do this.

Physical meaning having a tangible activity or some sort of presence in any of the states of Minnesota, economic nexus is simply passing the states’ economic threshold for total revenue, or the maximum number of transactions that can occur in the period of time within the state.

Two easy ways to see if you have either a physical or economic nexus in any of the counties is the following:
Physical:

  • Tangible personal property
  • Business assets or property
  • Own, renting properties
  • Made more than $500,000 in a service or content delivery in the state

Economic:

  • Made more than $100,000 in sales annually
  • More than 200 transactions in the last calendar year

How do I get a sales tax permit?

The main way to go about this is to register online at the Minnesota Business Gateway. Follow the steps that are presented to you and ensure that you have the following to hand to use as information:

  • Business identification information
  • Business entity
  • Location/s that you will be conducting this from
  • Date you will start collecting Minnesota sales tax from a business/property
  • NAICS Code (North American Industry Classification System.)

What is the best way to file sales taxes?

Before you think of doing anything else there are three things that we recommend that you do in order to make this process as easy and smooth as possible.

First of all, find out how much tax you owe (remember the sales tax calculator we mentioned before) so that you know how much you need to pay the state at the end. Second is get onto the Minnesota Department Of Taxation ready to submit them, and third have the money ready so you can make the payment straight away.

There are two main options as well to filing and paying your Minnesota sales tax, these are:

  • Filing online. This is where merchants are required to file all of their sales taxes through the department of taxation in the state of Minnesota, you can also pay your taxes on this platform, so it is one to keep close to you for future reference.
  • Filing by mail. Simply fill out the form UST-1, but this is not the recommended way of filing your taxes due to the possibilities of them getting lost in the post and then it could mean that you are subject to late fees if they are not filed within the allotted time.

We hope this document was able to allow you to feel more confident when it comes to sales tax in the state of Minnesota depending on where you operate out of.