The General Statutes authorize the Secretary of Revenue to issue direct pay permits for tangible personal property, certain digital property, certain services, telecommunications service, and direct mail upon proper application by a business. These numbered direct pay permits authorize a person to purchase tangible personal property, certain digital property, certain services, telecommunications service, or direct mail without payment of sales and use tax to vendors. A person with a direct pay permit assumes responsibility for payment of all applicable taxes directly to the Department. See Sales and Use Tax Bulletin Section 24 for more information.

The General Statutes also authorize the Secretary of Revenue to issue an exemption certificate number to qualifying farmers, conditional farmers, commercial fishermen, commercial loggers, wildlife managers, and State agencies. This exemption certificate number should be placed on Form E-595E, Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement Certificate of Exemption or other exemption information required per N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-164.28, when making a purchase of an item exempt from sales or use tax. See Sales and Use Tax Bulletin Section 5 for more information.

The Registry of Direct Pay Permits and Exemption Certificate Numbers contains the names and numbers of taxpayers that have been issued either a direct pay permit or an exemption certificate number and identifies the type of permit or exemption as maintained in the Department's records. The database is updated by the Department each weekend. To search for a person by a sales and use tax account ID, or SST ID, as applicable use the Registry of Sales and Use Tax Numbers.

If you are unable to determine the direct pay permit or exemption certificate number for an account using this search function, contact the Department toll-free at 1-877-252-3052 for additional assistance.

You can control the amount of search results that you will receive by changing the number in the 'Number of Results' box. There is a limit of 1500 results returned.

If you search by direct pay permit number, you must enter the complete five-digit number. If you search by exemption certificate number, you must enter the complete six-digit number. If you search by taxpayer name, you must enter the complete name as it appears in our database.

Our search function allows wildcards before and after a phrase, word, or number. You may use an * if you are uncertain of the exact name. For example the entry 'DOE*' would return 'DOE INC' and 'DOE JOHN'. The entry '*DOE*' would return 'JOHN DOE INC'.

Searches by taxpayer name for individuals require that you enter the last name followed by the first name or use an *. For example to find 'JANE DOE', enter 'DOE JANE', 'DOE*', or '*JANE'.