Hawaiʻi General Excise Tax, explained for owners

GET is a tax on your business's gross income, not a sales tax. Most sales pay 4% plus a 0.5% county surcharge; wholesale pays 0.5%.

Hawaiʻi has no sales tax. It has the General Excise Tax (GET), a tax on the business for the privilege of doing business, charged on gross income before expenses. The state rate is 4% on most activity and 0.5% on wholesale. All four counties add a 0.5% surcharge to the 4% rate. Owners may pass on up to 4.712%.

A tax on the business, not on the customer

A sales tax is charged to the customer and collected by the store. GET is different. The Department of Taxation says Hawaiʻi does not have a sales tax; GET "is assessed on all business activities," and the tax is on the business, not the customer.

You owe GET whether or not you add it to the bill. You owe it on gross receipts, so a job that lost money still carries tax. It reaches almost every kind of income: retail, services, contracting, commissions, rent.

The rates by activity

The Department lists three state rates:

• 0.15% on insurance commissions.
• 0.5% on wholesaling, manufacturing, producing, wholesale services, and use tax on imports for resale.
• 4% on everything else, which covers retail, services, contracting, and most of what a Kauaʻi shop, restaurant, or trade does.

Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes section 237-13 sets the tax at four per cent of gross proceeds for retailers, contractors, and service businesses, and "one-half of one per cent" for manufacturers, producers, and wholesalers.

The county surcharge, county by county

Each county may add up to 0.5% on top of the 4% state rate. The Department lists:

• City and County of Honolulu: 0.5%, January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2030.
• County of Kauaʻi: 0.5%, January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2030.
• County of Hawaiʻi: 0.25% during 2019, then 0.5% from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2030.
• County of Maui: 0.5%, January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2030.

So in every county today, a retail or service sale carries 4.5% in tax. The surcharge applies only to activity taxed at 4%. It does not touch the 0.5% or 0.15% rates. If you do business in more than one county, you report the split on Form G-75 and attach it to your returns.

Passing it on: the maximum rate

You may add GET to a customer's bill, but you are not required to. If you do, the Department sets a ceiling. The maximum pass-on rate, including the surcharge, is 4.712% in Honolulu, Kauaʻi, Maui, and Hawaiʻi Island (Hawaiʻi Island's ceiling was 4.4386% during 2019, when its surcharge was 0.25%).

Why 4.712% and not 4.5%? The amount you add to the bill is itself gross income, and GET is owed on it too. The higher figure recovers the tax on the tax.

Pyramiding: why wholesale is 0.5%

Because GET taxes gross receipts at every step, a product can be taxed more than once as it moves from producer to wholesaler to retailer to customer. That stacking is called pyramiding. The lower 0.5% wholesale rate softens it. A sale for resale, properly documented, pays 0.5% instead of 4%.

Know which of your sales are wholesale and which are retail, and keep the paperwork that proves it. The rate difference is eight to one.

Getting your license

You need a GET license before you do business. The Department's FAQ lays out the steps:

• Apply with Form BB-1, the Basic Business Application.
• Pay a one-time $20 registration fee. Section 237-9 sets the same figure and says the license "shall be effective until canceled in writing."
• File online at Hawaii Tax Online (hitax.hawaii.gov) and expect your Hawaiʻi Tax ID in about 5 to 7 days. Mail or drop-off takes about 4 to 6 weeks. Walk into a district office with two copies and the fee and you get the ID on the spot.

Display the license at your place of business. A closed license cannot be reactivated.

Filing: G-45 periodic and G-49 annual

Form G-45 is the periodic return. It is due on the 20th day of the month after the period closes. A monthly filer's January return is due February 20. A quarterly filer's March quarter is due April 20. A semiannual filer's June period is due July 20.

How often you file depends on how much tax you owe for the year. Section 237-30 sets the lines: quarterly filing when annual GET liability will not exceed $4,000, semiannual when it will not exceed $2,000. Above $4,000, you file monthly.

Form G-49 is the annual return and reconciliation, due on the 20th day of the fourth month after your tax year ends. For a calendar-year business, that is April 20 of the following year. It totals the year, credits your G-45 payments, and settles the difference.

To see how your filing habits fit with the rest of your systems, take the free ten-second reading, or read the five systems every Hawaiʻi business runs on.

What late filing costs

The Department's FAQ and section 231-39 agree on the arithmetic:

• Late return: 5% of the unpaid tax per month or part of a month, up to 25%.
• Interest: two-thirds of 1% per month or part of a month on unpaid tax and penalties, starting the first day after the due date.
• Filed on time, paid late: if the tax shown is not fully paid within 60 days of the filing date, a penalty of up to 20% can be added.
• Negligence: up to 25% of the underpayment. Fraud: up to 50%.

File on time even when you cannot pay in full. The failure-to-file penalty is the steep one.

Questions owners ask

Do I owe GET if I never added it to my invoices? Yes. The tax is on your business, not on your customer, so it is owed on your gross income whether or not you passed it along. Adding it to the bill is optional.

Is the tax 4.5% or 4.712% on Kauaʻi? The tax you owe is 4.5% of gross income (4% state plus 0.5% county). The most you may visibly add to a customer's bill is 4.712%, which covers the tax on the tax. Both figures are on the Department's county surcharge page.

I sell to other businesses. Do I still pay 4%? A true sale for resale, or a wholesale service, is taxed at 0.5% and carries no county surcharge. Keep resale certificates and records to show the sale qualifies. Anything sold to the end user is 4% plus surcharge.

What if I only earn a small amount? You still need the license. Section 237-30 lets the director excuse taxpayers whose annual liability is $100 or less from some reporting, and sets the $2,000 and $4,000 lines for semiannual and quarterly filing. Check the current thresholds at tax.hawaii.gov before you rely on them.

Does the surcharge end? Every county's surcharge is currently scheduled through December 31, 2030. Counties and the Legislature can change that, so check the county surcharge page each January.

Sources

• Hawaiʻi Department of Taxation, General Excise Tax (GET) Information FAQ. Supports: no sales tax, tax on the business, 0.15%/0.5%/4% rates, county surcharge rates and dates, maximum pass-on rates, $20 BB-1 fee, Hawaii Tax Online and processing times, G-45 and G-49 due dates, 5% per month penalty to 25%, two-thirds of 1% monthly interest. https://tax.hawaii.gov/geninfo/get/ (page last updated January 14, 2026). Fetched September 14, 2026.
• Hawaiʻi Department of Taxation, County Surcharge on General Excise and Use Tax. Supports: 0.5% cap, per-county surcharge rates and dates, surcharge applies only to the 4% rate, maximum pass-on rates including 4.4386% and 4.7120%, Form G-75 for multi-county business. https://tax.hawaii.gov/geninfo/countysurcharge/ Fetched September 14, 2026.
• Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes section 237-13, Imposition of tax. Supports: 4% retail, contracting, and service rate; one-half of one per cent manufacturing, producing, and wholesale rate. https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol04_Ch0201-0257/HRS0237/HRS_0237-0013.htm Fetched September 14, 2026.
• Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes section 237-9, Licenses. Supports: one-time $20 payment, license effective until canceled in writing, display at place of business. https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol04_Ch0201-0257/HRS0237/HRS_0237-0009.htm Fetched September 14, 2026.
• Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes section 237-30, Monthly, quarterly, or semiannual return. Supports: 20th-day due date, $4,000 quarterly and $2,000 semiannual thresholds, reporting exemption for liability of $100 or less. https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol04_Ch0201-0257/HRS0237/HRS_0237-0030.htm Fetched September 14, 2026.
• Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes section 237-33, Annual return. Supports: annual return due the 20th day of the fourth month after the taxable year. https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol04_Ch0201-0257/HRS0237/HRS_0237-0033.htm Fetched September 14, 2026.
• Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes section 231-39, Penalties. Supports: 5% per month failure-to-file penalty up to 25%, up to 20% failure-to-pay penalty after 60 days, up to 25% negligence and 50% fraud penalties. https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol04_Ch0201-0257/HRS0231/HRS_0231-0039.htm Fetched September 14, 2026.
• County of Maui news release, January 19, 2024. Supports: Maui surcharge 0.5% from January 1, 2024, combined 4.5%, pass-on 4.712%, ends December 31, 2030. https://www.mauicounty.gov/m/newsflash/Home/Detail/13215?arc=18171 Fetched September 14, 2026.

Information, not legal, tax, insurance, or financial advice.