Should I claim through my provider or the state?

Through the provider where the tax is recent and the states are ones you still file in: a credit document per original order, spread so no state’s return goes negative, and the next returns pay less. Through the state where the tax is older than the provider will credit, the sum is larger than a few months’ returns can absorb, or you no longer file there.

What evidence does a state want?

The marketplace’s own record that it collected and remitted the tax on those orders, for the period claimed; your return as filed, showing the same sales taxed again; and the amended return where the state requires one. Colorado says this outright, and it is what every other state’s examiner will ask for.

Do I have to refund the customer first?

Every state’s customer-refund rule is written for tax you collected from a customer and should give back. Here you collected nothing; the marketplace did. No state page read for this guide addresses that case, so say so in the claim and attach the marketplace’s statement. Georgia and Colorado are explicit that the condition does not apply to tax you remitted directly.

Mostly three years from the return’s due date, sometimes the later of that and two years from payment; Texas and Washington four. Virginia refused a marketplace seller’s claim filed on the last day because the amended return was missing, so file early and file the whole thing.

Can the credit make my return negative?

Through the provider, yes, and a state rejects a negative return. Size the credits to a share of each state’s normal monthly tax and spread them over the months it takes; the paid-twice guide describes how one brand spread a year’s credits over three months.

Guide · October 27, 2026

Getting marketplace tax back, state by state.

Tax paid twice on marketplace sales comes back one of two ways. Through your provider, as credits against the next returns, which is quickest and needs no form. Or through the state, as a credit on a later return, an amended return or a claim for refund, with the marketplace’s own tax statement as the evidence. Each state has its own form and its own clock, usually three years from the due date and in Texas and Washington four, and some will not take a claim without the amended return beside it. The table below is read from each state’s own revenue department pages.

First, the provider

If the tax was filed through Avalara, TaxJar or another provider in the last year or so, the quickest route is a credit in the provider itself: a negative document per original marketplace order, dated forward, with the tax set to what was filed, so the next returns carry the credit. The provider’s liability reports then agree with what was actually owed, which matters when a state asks. Three rules from doing it:

1
One credit per original order, not one per state.
The state’s examiner, if there is one, ties the credit to an order the marketplace remitted on. A lump sum per state ties to nothing.
2
Spread them so no return goes negative.
A state rejects a return below zero. Size each month’s credits to a share of that state’s normal monthly tax and let it take the months it takes.
3
Date them to the original period’s rules.
A credit dated today can pick up a local district that did not exist when the order was placed. Override the tax date to the original, or the figures will not match the filing.

If you want the state’s money back in cash, or the tax is older than the provider will credit, or you no longer file there, it is the state’s route below.

Then, the state

Twelve states, each read from its own revenue department’s pages on October 27, 2026. Route is what you file. Clock is how long you have. Note is what the state says, or does not, about a marketplace seller’s double payment. A state’s page can change; the link is the record.

California

Route: A written claim for refund: online with the CDTFA, form CDTFA-101, or a letter. An amended return is only a supporting document, never the claim.
Clock: The later of three years from the return’s due date or six months from the overpayment.
Note: The CDTFA’s marketplace guide says it will not hold a marketplace seller liable where the facilitator collected and paid; you report total sales and deduct the facilitated sales. Its refund rule on excess tax is written for tax collected from a customer.
Source: CDTFA publication 117

Texas

Route: Three options and no stated preference: a credit on a future return, an amended return in Webfile, or a refund claim (form 00-957 or the web form), which must state its grounds “fully and in detail”.
Clock: Four years from the date the tax was due and payable. The clock stops only when the claim is complete.
Note: Marketplace sales go in Total Texas Sales, not Taxable Sales. The Comptroller will not refund tax until the purchaser has been refunded or credited, a rule written for tax you collected.
Source: Texas Comptroller, refunds for sellers

Florida

Route: Form DR-26S, online. For an error on a return the Department says you may take a credit on your next return instead of claiming.
Clock: The claim must reach the Department within three years of the date the tax was paid.
Note: The refund form asks for evidence the tax was refunded to the customer. Nothing on the Department’s pages addresses a marketplace seller’s double payment.
Source: Florida Department of Revenue, refunds

New York

Route: A credit on the return if the jurisdiction is known, otherwise form AU-11 through Web File.
Clock: Three years from the date the tax was due, or two years from the date it was paid, whichever is later.
Note: The marketplace guide says that where both the provider and the seller collected tax, the PROVIDER files the AU-11 with documentation that both collected. The seller includes facilitated sales in gross and nontaxable sales.
Source: New York marketplace guide

Illinois

Route: Form ST-1-X, the amended return, which is the claim. It yields a credit memorandum; a cash refund is not the default.
Clock: Rolling: a claim filed January to June reaches the current year and the thirty-six months before it; filed July to December, the current year and thirty months.
Note: Marketplace sales are not reported on the ST-1 at all, and the rule says the Department may not collect from both the facilitator and the seller. No refund procedure for a double payment is published; the credit rule for collected tax wants the purchaser refunded first.
Source: IDOR marketplace FAQ

Georgia

Route: Form ST-12 through the Georgia Tax Center, electronically if you e-file (paper is rejected). No credit route is described.
Clock: Within three years from the date the tax was paid.
Note: Bulletin SUT-2020-01: the seller is not liable for tax on a sale the facilitator is liable for. The customer-refund waiver and affidavit are required only where the tax was paid to a vendor; where you remitted it directly, they are not.
Source: Georgia form ST-12

Washington

Route: Amend the excise return in My DOR, or file an Application for Refund or Credit; the form is encouraged, not mandatory.
Clock: No refund or credit for an overpayment received more than four years before the start of the current calendar year.
Note: Sellers report all Washington sales and claim the deduction “Gross Sales Collected by Facilitator”. The refund rule is written for a buyer asking a seller; nothing is said about tax never collected.
Source: WAC 458-20-229

Colorado

Route: A credit on a later DR 0100, otherwise a Claim for Refund, form DR 0137, through Revenue Online.
Clock: Three years from the return’s due date, or one year from the overpayment, whichever is later.
Note: The one state whose guidance says it outright: a marketplace seller that files and remits on facilitated sales in error may file a claim for refund, with documentation that the facilitator was responsible. No customer-refund condition on a seller’s own overpayment.
Source: Colorado marketplaces guide

Virginia

Route: A credit on the return for the month the error is found, or the next; otherwise an amended return. A refund claim without the amended return is incomplete.
Clock: Within three years from the return’s due date, “strictly adhered to”.
Note: Ruling P.D. 25-70 (May 2025) is the case itself: a marketplace seller remitted tax the facilitator had already collected, claimed on the last day without an amended return, and was refused with no time to cure. File the amended return with the claim, early.
Source: Virginia P.D. 25-70

Minnesota

Route: An amended return in e-Services. The Department’s “do not amend” list is about tax a purchaser overpaid to a vendor, not a seller over-reporting.
Clock: Three and a half years from the original due date, or two years from the date paid.
Note: The return instructions say not to include sales made through a marketplace that is required to collect. Nothing published addresses a double payment.
Source: Minnesota, amending a sales tax return

Pennsylvania

Route: A Petition for Refund to the Board of Appeals, form REV-65 or the Online Petition Center. A credit on a later return is allowed only for tax erroneously collected, with proof the customer was reimbursed.
Clock: Within three years of the payment.
Note: Nothing on the Department’s pages addresses a marketplace seller’s double payment; the collected-tax rules treat it as a trust fund unless refunded.
Source: Pennsylvania tax appeals

North Carolina

Route: An amended return or form E-588; no preference stated.
Clock: The later of three years after the return’s due date or two years after payment.
Note: Facilitated sales go on line 2 of the E-500 and on none of the taxable lines. The statute’s refund condition (credit the purchaser first) is written for over-collected tax and silent on tax never collected.
Source: NCDOR refund claims

What goes in the claim

Whatever the form, the same three things: the marketplace’s own statement of the tax it collected and remitted on your orders in that state for those months; your return as filed, with the same sales taxed again; and, where the state wants it, the amended return showing the facilitated sales taken off. Say in the claim that you collected no tax from any customer on those orders, because every state’s customer-refund rule assumes you did. The paid-twice guide says how to find the figures; the check produces them, by state and month, from your files.

Questions people ask

Should I claim through my provider or the state?: Through the provider where the tax is recent and the states are ones you still file in: a credit document per original order, spread so no state’s return goes negative, and the next returns pay less. Through the state where the tax is older than the provider will credit, the sum is larger than a few months’ returns can absorb, or you no longer file there.
What evidence does a state want?: The marketplace’s own record that it collected and remitted the tax on those orders, for the period claimed; your return as filed, showing the same sales taxed again; and the amended return where the state requires one. Colorado says this outright, and it is what every other state’s examiner will ask for.
Do I have to refund the customer first?: Every state’s customer-refund rule is written for tax you collected from a customer and should give back. Here you collected nothing; the marketplace did. No state page read for this guide addresses that case, so say so in the claim and attach the marketplace’s statement. Georgia and Colorado are explicit that the condition does not apply to tax you remitted directly.
How long do I have?: Mostly three years from the return’s due date, sometimes the later of that and two years from payment; Texas and Washington four. Virginia refused a marketplace seller’s claim filed on the last day because the amended return was missing, so file early and file the whole thing.
Can the credit make my return negative?: Through the provider, yes, and a state rejects a negative return. Size the credits to a share of each state’s normal monthly tax and spread them over the months it takes; the paid-twice guide describes how one brand spread a year’s credits over three months.

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