The CereTax Content API supports retrieving accurate and up-to-date tax rates for the US and all CereTax-supported tax types. The following methods are supported by this API:

Tax rates by postal code - retrieves tax rates for a specific Zip5 postal code
Tax rates by address - validates and retrieves rates for a specific address
Download tax rates - generates a downloadable of rates by state and postal code

Each tax rate method and request requires the the contentYear and contentMonth parameters to determine the applicable rates to return in the response:

contentYear - The content year that should be used to determine the applicable rates. Content year must be sent using the YYYY format, ex. 2023.
contentMonth - The content month that should be used to determine the applicable rates. Content month must be sent using the MM format, ex. May should be sent as 05, June should be sent as 06, etc.

All tax types supported by CereTax are included by default in the tax rate responses. We recommended filtering tax rates based on the tax types that are applicable to your business, products, and services. All endpoints support taxType and taxTypeClass query parameters for filtering tax rate results.

taxType - This query parameter can be used to retrieve rates for a specific taxType. For example, passing a value of 130 will retrieve rates for SALES TAX. Valid values for this field and taxType descriptions can be retrieved from the List tax types endpoint.
taxTypeClass - This query parameter can be used alongside the taxType query parameter to retrieve a subset of rates for a taxType. For example, if you filter on taxType 130 and taxTypeClass 101, you will retrieve rates for SALES TAX - GENERAL MERCHANDISE. Valid values for this field and taxTypeClass descriptions can be retrieved from the List tax type classes endpoint.

The Content API will return an error under the following circumstances:

A required field was not included in the request
The provided address or postal code are invalid

Examples

Tax Rates by Postal Code

In this example, we'll retrieve tax rates for sales tax rates effective May 2023 for postal code 30005

GET /content.cert.ceretax.net/taxrates/postalCode=30005&contentYear=2023&contentMonth=05&taxType=130

[
  {
    "state": "GEORGIA",
    "postalCode": "30005",
    "city": "ALPHARETTA",
    "county": "FULTON",
    "taxAuthorityId": 162,
    "taxAuthority": "STATE OF GEORGIA",
    "taxLevel": "2",
    "taxLevelDesc": "STATE/PROVINCE",
    "taxDescription": "STATE SALES TAX",
    "taxType": "130",
    "taxTypeDesc": "SALES TAX",
    "taxTypeClass": "101",
    "taxTypeClassDesc": "GENERAL MERCHANDISE",
    "taxTypeRef": "000",
    "taxTypeRefDesc": "DEFAULT",
    "unitType": "01",
    "unitTypeDesc": "PRICE",
    "passThroughTypeDesc": "REQUIRED",
    "rateOrUnit": "R",
    "taxRate": 0.04
  },
  {
    "state": "GEORGIA",
    "postalCode": "30005",
    "city": "ALPHARETTA",
    "county": "FULTON",
    "taxAuthorityId": 9023,
    "taxAuthority": "FULTON COUNTY",
    "taxLevel": "3",
    "taxLevelDesc": "COUNTY",
    "taxDescription": "DISTRICT SALES TAX",
    "taxType": "130",
    "taxTypeDesc": "SALES TAX",
    "taxTypeClass": "101",
    "taxTypeClassDesc": "GENERAL MERCHANDISE",
    "taxTypeRef": "119",
    "taxTypeRefDesc": "TRANSIT AUTHORITY",
    "unitType": "01",
    "unitTypeDesc": "PRICE",
    "passThroughTypeDesc": "REQUIRED",
    "rateOrUnit": "R",
    "taxRate": 0.0075
  },
  {
    "state": "GEORGIA",
    "postalCode": "30005",
    "city": "ALPHARETTA",
    "county": "FULTON",
    "taxAuthorityId": 9023,
    "taxAuthority": "FULTON COUNTY",
    "taxLevel": "3",
    "taxLevelDesc": "COUNTY",
    "taxDescription": "COUNTY SALES TAX",
    "taxType": "130",
    "taxTypeDesc": "SALES TAX",
    "taxTypeClass": "101",
    "taxTypeClassDesc": "GENERAL MERCHANDISE",
    "taxTypeRef": "000",
    "taxTypeRefDesc": "DEFAULT",
    "unitType": "01",
    "unitTypeDesc": "PRICE",
    "passThroughTypeDesc": "REQUIRED",
    "rateOrUnit": "R",
    "taxRate": 0.03
  }
]

Tax Rates by Address

In this example, we'll retrieve tax rates for sales tax rates effective June 2023 for CereTax's HQ in Alpharetta, GA:

GET /content/taxrates/address?addressLine1=3440 preston ridge road&addressline2=&city=alpharetta&state=GA&postalCode=30005&contentYear=2023&contentMonth=06&taxType=130&taxTypeClass=101

{
    "validatedAddressDetails": {
        "addressLine1": "3440 PRESTON RIDGE RD",
        "addressLine2": "",
        "city": "ALPHARETTA",
        "county": "Fulton",
        "state": "GA",
        "postalCode": "30005",
        "plus4": "3817",
        "country": "",
        "fullAddress": "3440 PRESTON RIDGE RD ALPHARETTA GA 30005-3817"
    },
    "location": {
        "latitude": 34.0723,
        "longitude": -84.263344,
        "plusCode": "866Q3PCP+WM",
        "accuracyType": "Rooftop"
    },
    "rates": [
        {
            "state": "GEORGIA",
            "postalCode": "30005",
            "city": "ALPHARETTA",
            "county": "FULTON",
            "taxAuthorityId": 162,
            "taxAuthority": "STATE OF GEORGIA",
            "taxLevel": "2",
            "taxLevelDesc": "STATE/PROVINCE",
            "taxDescription": "STATE SALES TAX",
            "taxType": "130",
            "taxTypeDesc": "SALES TAX",
            "taxTypeClass": "101",
            "taxTypeClassDesc": "GENERAL MERCHANDISE",
            "taxTypeRef": "000",
            "taxTypeRefDesc": "DEFAULT",
            "unitType": "01",
            "unitTypeDesc": "PRICE",
            "passThroughTypeDesc": "REQUIRED",
            "rateOrUnit": "R",
            "taxRate": 0.04
        },
        {
            "state": "GEORGIA",
            "postalCode": "30005",
            "city": "ALPHARETTA",
            "county": "FULTON",
            "taxAuthorityId": 9023,
            "taxAuthority": "FULTON COUNTY",
            "taxLevel": "3",
            "taxLevelDesc": "COUNTY",
            "taxDescription": "DISTRICT SALES TAX",
            "taxType": "130",
            "taxTypeDesc": "SALES TAX",
            "taxTypeClass": "101",
            "taxTypeClassDesc": "GENERAL MERCHANDISE",
            "taxTypeRef": "119",
            "taxTypeRefDesc": "TRANSIT AUTHORITY",
            "unitType": "01",
            "unitTypeDesc": "PRICE",
            "passThroughTypeDesc": "REQUIRED",
            "rateOrUnit": "R",
            "taxRate": 0.0075
        },
        {
            "state": "GEORGIA",
            "postalCode": "30005",
            "city": "ALPHARETTA",
            "county": "FULTON",
            "taxAuthorityId": 9023,
            "taxAuthority": "FULTON COUNTY",
            "taxLevel": "3",
            "taxLevelDesc": "COUNTY",
            "taxDescription": "COUNTY SALES TAX",
            "taxType": "130",
            "taxTypeDesc": "SALES TAX",
            "taxTypeClass": "101",
            "taxTypeClassDesc": "GENERAL MERCHANDISE",
            "taxTypeRef": "000",
            "taxTypeRefDesc": "DEFAULT",
            "unitType": "01",
            "unitTypeDesc": "PRICE",
            "passThroughTypeDesc": "REQUIRED",
            "rateOrUnit": "R",
            "taxRate": 0.03
        }
    ]
}

Download Tax Rates

In this example, we'll generate a download file of sales tax rates effective June 2023 for the state of GA:

GET /taxrates/download?contentYear=2023&contentMonth=06&state=GA&taxType=130&taxTypeClass=101

{
    "url": "link"
}