Economic Nexus Thresholds by State: 2026 Guide for Ecommerce and SaaS Sellers

Economic nexus means a state can require you to collect its sales tax once your sales into that state pass a set dollar amount (and, in a shrinking number of states, a transaction count), even if you have no office, employee or inventory there. Most states set the line at $100,000 of sales in the current or prior calendar year; California and Texas use $500,000.

The rule comes from South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. (2018), where the Supreme Court dropped the physical-presence requirement of Quill Corp. v. North Dakota. Every state with a statewide sales tax now has an economic nexus law. The five states without one are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon, and Alaska is the exception that matters: many Alaska local governments tax sales and enforce a remote-seller threshold through the Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission.

Crossing a threshold means you register for a permit, collect tax on taxable sales, and file returns on the schedule the state assigns. That applies to DTC brands, B2B sellers, SaaS companies in states that tax software, and marketplace sellers for any sales the marketplace does not collect on.

The table below lists only thresholds we confirmed on the state revenue department's own site (or the Alaska commission's site) in October 2026. For any state not listed, check that state's revenue department before relying on a figure, since several have changed their rules since 2023.

Measurement periods differ. Most of these states look at the current or previous calendar year. Texas uses the preceding 12 calendar months. Illinois uses a 12-month lookback and, for quarters beginning after March 31, 2026, applies it on a rolling quarterly basis.

The 200-transaction test is on its way out. South Dakota, whose law was the one upheld in Wayfair, no longer uses it, and Indiana (2024), Utah (July 2025), Alaska's commission (January 2025) and Illinois (January 2026) have all removed it. Washington dropped it back in 2019.

This helps low-volume, high-ticket sellers less than it helps high-volume, low-ticket sellers. A subscription box company shipping 250 orders of $40 each into a state ($10,000 total) used to trigger nexus in transaction-count states; under a dollar-only test it does not.

A few states still apply a transaction count. New Jersey is one we confirmed: over $100,000 or 200 or more separate transactions in the current or prior year. New York also pairs a dollar threshold with a sales-count test. Check tax.ny.gov for the current figures, since we could not confirm them on the state's site this month.

States define the sales that count differently, and this is where nexus studies go wrong. Three questions to answer for each state:

• Gross or taxable sales? Texas counts total Texas revenue, including nontaxable sales, sales for resale and sales to exempt buyers. California counts all sales of tangible personal property, including sales for resale. Some states count only retail or taxable sales.
• Marketplace sales included? Texas and California both require you to include sales made through Amazon or another marketplace in your own total, even though the marketplace collects the tax on them. Alabama excludes them. A brand with $300,000 on its website and $300,000 on Amazon is over the Texas line.
• Tangible goods only? California counts only tangible personal property, so SaaS revenue does not count there. Washington counts all gross income from the state, including services.

Physical presence is a separate trigger. An employee working remotely, inventory in a third-party warehouse, or an office creates nexus at any sales level.

A nexus determination answers two questions per state: are you required to collect, and since when. Here is the order we work in.

1. Pull sales by ship-to state for each of the last four calendar years, split by channel (direct, marketplace, wholesale).
2. Map physical presence: employees and contractors by state, inventory locations (including Amazon FBA warehouses), offices and trade-show activity.
3. Apply each state's own definition of counted sales and its measurement period. Do not use one national $100,000 rule.
4. Classify product taxability. SaaS, digital goods and services are taxable in some states and exempt in others, and nexus only matters where you sell something taxable.
5. Date the first period you crossed in each state. That date sets your exposure.

For past periods where you should have been collecting, quantify the tax you did not collect plus penalties and interest, then decide state by state whether to register prospectively or approach the state through a voluntary disclosure agreement, which typically limits the lookback and waives penalties. Investors' diligence teams ask for this analysis before a priced round, so it is better done on your timeline than theirs.

Monitoring is cheaper than cleanup. Most commerce platforms (Shopify, BigCommerce, Amazon Seller Central) report sales by state, and tax engines such as Avalara, TaxJar and Anrok can flag states as you approach a threshold. Set the alert at about 80% of each state's figure so you have time to register before the obligation starts.

Leaving a state is not automatic. Because most states measure the current or prior calendar year, falling below the threshold this year usually keeps you obligated through the end of it, and you still have to file a final return and close the account. Until you do, the state expects returns, even zero returns.

Keep records for at least as long as each state's assessment period. Non-filers face much longer lookbacks; California, for example, generally has eight years to assess a business that never filed.

If you sell into more than a handful of states, do a full nexus study once, then refresh it each quarter as sales grow. Register where you are already over, configure tax collection by product and address, and fix any back exposure before it shows up in an audit or a diligence request.

We run nexus studies, registrations, voluntary disclosures and ongoing filing for ecommerce and SaaS companies. Thresholds in this post were checked against state revenue department sites in October 2026; states change these rules often, so confirm a state's current figure before you rely on it. This is general information, not tax advice for your specific facts.