Florida annual resale certificate verification.

The Florida certificate number

Florida's Department of Revenue treats the certificate of registration number as 13 alphanumeric characters with no hyphens or spaces; its bulk-verification form (DR-600013) specifies exactly that field. The department's own guide to printing certificates says the certificate number is on the front of the Certificate of Registration and the business partner number is on the back. The checker strips hyphens and spaces, upper-cases letters and counts what is left. It does not know which characters are valid in which positions, because the department does not publish that.

Certificates expire every December 31

The department states that certificates expire on December 31 of each year, and active dealers are issued a new one annually: electronic filers print their own, and paper filers are mailed one in mid-November. A buyer handing you last year's certificate in February is handing you an expired one. Enter the year shown on it and the sale date, and the tool tells you whether the sale fell after December 31 of that year. That treats the year on the certificate as the year it expires, which is how the department's "expire on December 31 of each year" reads.

What the verification result means

A selling dealer can use the department's online Certificate Verification System, or the phone line, to request a transaction authorization number, which is valid for a single transaction only. For bulk checking, form DR-600013 returns your customers' certificate numbers with vendor authorization numbers, and the instructions say customers whose authorization field comes back blank are not authorized to purchase for resale. The department also runs an automated toll-free verification line at (877) 357-3725 that issues the same single-transaction authorization number. Write the number on the invoice or in the customer file so you can show you checked on the date of sale.

Why a blank result matters

The department's bulk process treats a blank as not authorized, and the safe course is the same with the online tool or the phone line: if you cannot get an authorization number, do not take the resale exemption. Charge the tax, or ask the buyer to fix their registration first. Never accept a number just because it looks the right length.

Do you need to register in Florida to sell on Etsy?

Florida's Department of Revenue says a marketplace provider that lists items and collects payment must register and collect Florida tax on those sales. When the provider certifies that it will collect and remit, the marketplace seller may not collect the tax and must exclude those sales from its own return. A seller still has to register as a dealer if it has a physical presence in Florida or makes a substantial number of remote sales to Florida customers outside the marketplace. Tax Information Publication 21A01-03 defines that as taxable remote sales above $100,000 in the previous calendar year. If you also buy goods for resale, you need a certificate of registration to have a resale certificate in the first place.

Worked example

A buyer hands you a certificate printed for 2025 on 15 January 2026. Valid through 2025-12-31, so the sale is after expiry and the tool says the certificate had expired. The same certificate on 20 December 2025 is within its year. A number of 12 characters fails the length test even if it sits on the page looking plausible.

Sources

• Florida DOR: Sales and Use Tax — annual expiry, certificate verification link, transaction authorization number
• Form DR-600013 (R. 01/16) — 13-character field, blank authorization means not authorized; older form revision
• DOR: Print a Sales Tax Annual Resale Certificate — certificate number and business partner number locations
• Tax Information Publication 21A01-03 — marketplace providers and sellers

All figures and rules above were retrieved October 2026. Agencies revise forms and thresholds, so confirm anything that affects a sale against the current official page.

Frequently asked questions

When do Florida resale certificates expire?

The Department of Revenue says certificates expire on December 31 of each year.

How long is a Florida certificate number?

The department's DR-600013 file layout uses 13 alphanumeric characters with no hyphens or spaces.

What is a transaction authorization number?

It is the number a selling dealer gets when verifying a buyer's certificate. The department says it is valid for a single transaction only.

What if the verifier returns nothing for my customer?

In the bulk process a blank authorization field means the customer is not authorized to purchase for resale. Do not accept the exemption.