Unsure where you owe sales or use tax
Run Your Nexus Risk CheckEconomic nexus determines when a business must address sales tax and use tax obligations based on activity rather than physical presence. Thresholds vary by state and are commonly triggered by revenue, transaction volume, or both, often creating exposure before registration or filing occurs.
Identify where thresholds may have been crossed before filing.
Economic nexus is triggered when a business exceeds thresholds defined by a state, even without physical presence. When thresholds are crossed, historical sales tax and use tax exposure may already exist. These thresholds typically depend on revenue, transaction counts, and the measurement period. Because rules differ by state, tracking economic nexus for sales and use tax manually is error prone. If you want to understand the concept first, see sales tax nexus explained. If you want to see how this applies to your data, see how TaxMap works.
This page is designed to help you understand the general structure and what to look for, then map sales and use tax exposure using your own data. TaxMap evaluates your activity against jurisdiction rules and flags where you may be triggered, near threshold, or currently compliant. For the product view, see TaxMap Product.
This page explains structure and intent. Exposure decisions should be based on your actual data, not generic thresholds.
If you’ve just checked your nexus exposure, take the next step to avoid penalties by registering for sales tax where necessary.
States commonly evaluate:
Thresholds alone do not determine liability. Timing, taxability, and transaction classification matter.
Before registering or filing, confirm whether your business has created sales tax nexus in California or Texas.
Run Your Nexus Risk CheckEven if you know a threshold, you still need to answer:
This is why many businesses start with education, then move to automated exposure analysis and compliance. See pricing for the simplest way to start. Economic nexus frequently surfaces exposure that must be evaluated before registration or filing.
State specific nexus rules should be evaluated alongside exposure to avoid unnecessary compliance actions.
Once you know where thresholds may be triggered, the next step is mapping sales and use tax exposure and moving toward compliance. Identifying exposure before filing preserves flexibility and reduces penalty risk.
Use tax is often missed even when sales tax thresholds are actively tracked. Review use tax explained. For a full explanation of nexus, see sales tax nexus.