Do contractors charge sales tax in Mississippi?
Mississippi does not run an ordinary sales tax on contractors. It taxes the contractor's own GROSS RECEIPTS, and the charge is called Contractor's Tax. It is a tax on the business, not a tax collected from the customer, so it applies to the whole job — including amounts a contractor recharges "at cost", such as a permit fee. Mississippi also has county, city or special-district rates on top of the state rate, so the rate depends on where the job site is, not where the contractor is based. Source: Miss. Code §27-65-21 (contractor's tax on commercial construction contracts exceeding $10,000).
| What | Mississippi |
|---|---|
| Contractor’s default role | Gross receipts (Contractor's Tax) |
| What the charge is called | Contractor's Tax |
| Local rates on top | Yes — sourced to the job site |
| Capital improvement exempt to the customer | No |
Where this gets more complicated
Mississippi levies a separate contractor's tax on the total contract price of qualifying COMMERCIAL contracts over $10,000, payable by the contractor, with a job bond and a materials exemption certificate. It is not an ordinary sales tax and this row cannot compute it — quotes in Mississippi commercial work carry the advisory rather than a number.
Source
Miss. Code §27-65-21 (contractor's tax on commercial construction contracts exceeding $10,000). — last checked 2026-09-15.
This is a summary of a state’s published guidance, not tax or legal advice. Rates and rules change, local jurisdictions add their own, and the treatment of a specific job depends on the contract and the work. Check the citation and speak to a CPA or a state tax adviser before relying on it.
How Seayora uses this rule
Seayora resolves this rule on every invoice a contractor raises — per line, from the job site’s own address — and prints the rate, the jurisdiction and this citation on the document itself, so the estimate a customer accepts is the invoice they are billed. Where the rule is more nuanced than a single answer, Seayora refuses to guess a total rather than quoting a confident wrong one.
Compare this rule in every state
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The same question in other states
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii