Sales tax exemption certificate
How do we take a business's or nonprofit's sales tax exemption certificate, check it, apply it to billing and chase the renewals?
Treat the certificate as a document with a validity and the exemption as a billing flag with an end date. Callvu identifies the customer and the accounts, takes the certificate upload with the exemption type (a resale, a manufacturing or production use, a nonprofit or government exemption, an agricultural use) and the accounts and the percentage it covers, reads the certificate and checks it (the state's form, the exemption number and its validity against the state's lookup where available, the entity name against the account, the signature and the date, the exemption's applicability to utility service and the use), routes a partial exemption that needs a use study or a certificate the rules do not clearly cover to the tax desk in the Decision Desk, applies the exemption to the accounts in the billing system with its effective date and its expiry, and chases the renewal before the certificate expires so the exemption does not lapse or continue unsupported.
In scopeSimpleCallvu moves: chase and verify, decide, write back
Last updated November 7, 2026.
The problem today
The exemption was applied from a certificate that had expired three years earlier, and the audit assessed the utility for the tax.
Sales tax on utility service is exempt for some customers and some uses, and the certificate is the utility's protection in an audit. Certificates arrive as faxes and emails, are applied by a billing clerk, and expire unnoticed; a manufacturing customer claims a full exemption for a plant that is half offices; a nonprofit's number is for a different state. The state's auditor finds the gaps and the utility pays.
The state's rules set which exemptions apply to utility service, the certificate forms and their required elements, the validity periods and the renewal, the partial exemptions that need a use study, and the utility's duty to accept a certificate in good faith with the elements complete. Each certificate is a read, a check and a billing flag with an end date; the renewal is a chase.
A certificate checked at receipt and chased before expiry is an exemption that survives the audit.
How it runs
From the requestto the system of record.
A business, a nonprofit or a government customer submits an exemption certificate online, through the business portal or on a call. Callvu opens the request on the accounts.
- Customer
- Uploads the certificate, states the exemption type and the accounts and the percentage covered, and renews before expiry.
- Tax desk
- Decides partial exemptions, use studies and unclear certificates in the Decision Desk.
- Callvu
- Takes the certificate, reads and checks it, routes, applies to billing and chases renewals.
Take the certificate
The customer's accounts are prefilled; the request captures the exemption type, the state's certificate upload, the accounts it covers, the percentage where the use is partial, and the effective date requested.
Chase and verify
The certificate is read: the form and its state, the exemption number, the entity name and address, the exemption type and the use stated, the signature and the date, the expiration; it is checked against the account (the name and the premise), against the state's rules for utility service (the exemption applies to the service and the use), and against the state's verification lookup where one exists; a certificate that is incomplete, expired, for the wrong state or for a different entity is returned to the customer with the specifics.
Decide
A complete certificate for a full exemption the rules clearly cover is applied by rule; a partial exemption that requires a predominant use study or a percentage allocation, a certificate the rules do not clearly cover, a government or diplomatic exemption with its own rules, or a claim for a refund of tax already charged goes to the tax desk in the Decision Desk with the certificate and the checks and only the allowed outcomes (apply in full, apply the percentage, require a use study, apply with a refund for the allowed period, or deny with the reason).
Write back and chase renewals
The exemption with its type, the percentage, the effective date and the expiry is applied to the accounts in the billing system with the certificate attached, the customer receives the confirmation, and before the expiry the renewal is chased from the customer so the exemption is renewed on a new certificate or removed on the expiry date, with the audit file complete.
Where it ends: Every exemption on billing rests on a certificate read and checked, with the partial cases decided by the tax desk, an expiry that is enforced and a renewal chased before it, and the billing system holding the certificate for the audit. The Decision Trace shows the checks and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the certificate, the application, the renewal chase and the expiry with time.
Runtime enforcement
What is enforcedwhile the work runs.
The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.
The handoff
Between the front doorand the back office.
The front door
Online, the business portal or a call with a link; the customer uploads and renews on a secure screen.
The back office
The tax desk decides only partial and unclear cases; billing applies and expires exemptions from the record.
The Decision Desk
- A partial exemption, a use study, an unclear or governmental certificate, or a refund claim goes to the tax desk in the Decision Desk with the certificate and the checks and only apply in full, apply the percentage, require a use study, apply with a refund, or deny.
Proof
In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.
The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.
More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.
Across Callvu customers
PSEG Long Island runs start, stop and move service on Callvu, live in 4 weeks.
Across Callvu customers
Questions
What buyers ask next,answered plainly.
What is checked on a certificate?
The state's form, the exemption number against the state's lookup where available, the entity name against the account, the signature and the date, the expiry, and whether the exemption applies to utility service and the stated use.
What about a plant that is partly offices?
A mixed use needs a predominant use study or a percentage allocation under the state's rules, decided by the tax desk, and the percentage is applied to billing.
What happens when the certificate expires?
The renewal is chased before the date; without a new certificate the exemption is removed on the expiry date so the audit file stays clean.
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