GET is not a sales tax. It is a tax on your gross business income under HRS §237 — and the difference trips up nearly every mainland tool and many CPAs. Here is how it actually works.
A retail sales tax is collected from the customer and passed to the state. Hawaii’s General Excise Tax is different: under Hawaii Revised Statutes §237, it is levied on the business for the privilege of doing business in the state, and it applies to almost all gross income — not just retail sales. Services, commissions, rent, and contracting are all in scope. Because the tax is on your gross receipts rather than a line item you collect, getting the base and the rate right is entirely your responsibility.
The base state rate is 4%. Counties may add a surcharge; Oahu (City & County of Honolulu) adds 0.5%, so most Oahu business income is taxed at an effective 4.5%. Wholesale transactions and certain intermediary activities are taxed at the lower 0.5% rate. Applying the right rate to each stream is exactly the detail work a generic bookkeeping tool skips.
Yes — you may visibly pass on GET, but because the tax applies to the total amount you charge (including the passed-on tax itself), the maximum you can add is slightly more than the base rate. On Oahu the maximum visible pass-on rate is 4.712%; in counties without a surcharge it is 4.166%. Passing it on is optional and does not change the fact that you, the business, owe the tax.
Before you do business you register for a GET license with the Hawaii Department of Taxation using Form BB-1 (the Basic Business Application), which also handles other tax registrations. There is a one-time license fee. Once registered, you are assigned a filing frequency based on your expected annual GET liability.
Form G-45 is the periodic return. You file it monthly, quarterly, or semiannually depending on your liability, reporting your gross income for the period and paying the tax. Form G-49 is the annual return that reconciles the whole year — it trues up what you reported on your G-45s against your actual annual gross. Filing the periodic G-45s does not replace the annual G-49; you file both.
Hawaii assigns your G-45 frequency by expected annual GET liability. As a general rule:
Returns are generally due by the 20th day of the month following the close of the filing period. See the 2026 filing deadlines for exact dates, or estimate what you’ll owe with the GET calculator.
No. GET is a tax on the business’s gross income under HRS §237, not a sales tax collected from the buyer. It applies to almost all business income, including services and rent, which is why Hawaii-specific handling matters.
4% statewide, plus a 0.5% county surcharge on Oahu for an effective 4.5%. Wholesale and manufacturing activity is taxed at 0.5%.
G-45 is the periodic return you file monthly, quarterly, or semiannually. G-49 is the annual reconciliation that trues up the year. You file both.
Monthly if you owe more than $4,000/year, quarterly if $4,000 or less, semiannually if $2,000 or less. Returns are due the 20th of the following month.
You can visibly pass it on, up to a maximum of 4.712% on Oahu (4.166% elsewhere), but the business still legally owes the tax.
This guide is general information about Hawaii GET, not tax advice. Rates, thresholds, and rules can change — verify current details with the Hawaii Department of Taxation (tax.hawaii.gov) or your CPA before filing.
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