Texas Resale Certificates for Kinesiology Tape: Retail Stock vs. Clinic Use

Disclosure first: I co-founded Easy Kinesiology, and we sell kinesiology tape, including to Texas buyers. I'm not a CPA or a tax attorney, and nothing here is a tax ruling on any product or business. We also haven't published how we handle resale certificates yet, and this page says so plainly below. Every rule here is quoted from the Texas Comptroller's own pages, fetched on October 23, 2026, with the link.

A Texas resale certificate lets a business buy tape without paying sales tax only when it will resell that tape. Tape a clinic applies to patients in the treatment room is a different purchase: the Comptroller's FAQ says that if you use merchandise you bought on a resale certificate, "then you owe tax on the merchandise" [1].

That one line splits most clinic orders in two. A pharmacy or running store that only puts boxes on a shelf has one kind of purchase. A Texas PT, chiropractic or sports-medicine practice that tapes patients and also sells take-home boxes at the front desk has two kinds on the same invoice. This page walks through what the Comptroller's FAQ, Form 01-339 and Publication 94-155 say about each.

What is a Texas resale certificate?

A Texas resale certificate is Form 01-339, a statement the buyer gives the seller saying the items will be resold. The Comptroller puts it this way: "A taxable item that is purchased for resale is exempt from sales or use tax if the seller accepts a properly completed Form 01-339" [1]. The seller keeps it as evidence of why tax wasn't collected, "for four years" [1].

A few details on the form trip buyers up. It asks for a "Texas Sales and Use Tax Permit Number (must contain 11 digits)" [2], so the buyer needs a permit first. It goes to the supplier, not the state: "Do not send the completed certificate to the Comptroller of Public Accounts" [2]. And a permit alone doesn't replace it. The FAQ says a "copy of the customer's permit is not a substitute for a resale certificate" [1].

Can a clinic use a resale certificate for tape it uses in treatment?

No, not for the tape it uses. The FAQ lists what a resale certificate covers, starting with items "that you intend to resell in the form or condition in which you acquired it from your vendor" [1]. Tape that a clinician cuts or applies to a patient during a visit is used by the clinic, not resold in that form.

The FAQ gives the rule for stock that crosses over: "If you use the merchandise that you purchased by issuing a resale certificate, then you owe tax on the merchandise" [1]. Its own example is a store that pulled a broom out of inventory to sweep the floor. Form 01-339 states the same thing from the buyer's side: "if I make any use of the items other than retention, demonstration or display while holding them for sale, lease or rental, I must pay sales tax on the items at the time of use" [2].

That last phrase is useful for a clinic. A box on a display shelf, or one opened to show a patient what the strips look like, reads as "retention, demonstration or display." A box opened to tape the next patient reads as use.

What about the boxes a clinic sells at the front desk?

Those can qualify, because they're resold in the same form the clinic bought them. The catch is the mixed order. The FAQ says: "If you are purchasing a combination of items and some are for resale while others are not for resale, you must clearly indicate to the vendor which items will be resold and on which the vendor should not collect tax" [1].

So a clinic ordering 20 boxes, 12 for the front desk and 8 for the treatment rooms, needs the order or invoice to show that split. The FAQ also sets a caution for anything uncertain: "You should not use a resale certificate if there is any question whether you will resell the property" [1].

Purchase	Resale certificate?	What the Comptroller's pages say
Boxes a pharmacy, running store or supply shop will sell unopened	Can be used	Items you "intend to resell in the form or condition in which you acquired it" [1]
Boxes a clinic will sell to patients at the front desk	Can be used for those boxes	Same rule; mark them as the resale items on a mixed order [1]
Tape a clinic applies to patients in treatment	Not for this tape	"If you use the merchandise ... then you owe tax on the merchandise" [1]
Resale stock later pulled for treatment use	Tax due at the time of use	"I must pay sales tax on the items at the time of use" [2]
A box kept on display or opened to demonstrate	Reads as display, not use	Use "other than retention, demonstration or display" triggers tax [2]

What does a pharmacy or store need to do differently?

Less, if it only resells. The FAQ allows one certificate to cover repeat orders: "if a customer purchases exclusively for resale, a seller can accept a blanket resale certificate" [1]. A pharmacy or running store that buys tape only to shelve it fits that description.

A clinic that also tapes patients doesn't, because it isn't buying exclusively for resale. It should expect to give a certificate that describes the resale items on each order instead.

Sellers have a duty here too, which is why a supplier may ask questions. The FAQ tells sellers to "always note the general character of the purchaser's business" and says "You should not accept the certificate if you know or have reason to believe the property is being purchased for other than resale" [1]. Form 01-339 has a line for exactly this: "Description of the type of business activity generally engaged in or type of items normally sold by the purchaser" [2]. A clinic that writes "physical therapy practice; retail sale of take-home tape" there gives the supplier what it needs.

Is kinesiology tape taxable in Texas in the first place?

That's a separate question, and this page doesn't answer it for any product. A resale certificate only matters for a "taxable item" [1]. The Comptroller's Publication 94-155 says "Wound care dressings and supplies are exempt from sales tax and can be purchased tax free without a prescription," and its list of examples includes "medical tape" [3].

The same publication defines a wound care dressing as "an item that is applied directly to or inside a wound" [3], and kinesiology tape isn't sold for wounds. So whether a given tape product falls inside that exemption is a classification question for your CPA or the Comptroller, product by product. We haven't published a classification for our own tape, and we won't guess at one here.

What are the penalties for misusing a resale certificate?

They scale with the tax evaded, and they're criminal. Form 01-339 says it is "a criminal offense to give a resale certificate to the seller for taxable items that I know, at the time of purchase, are purchased for use rather than for the purpose of resale" [2]. The FAQ's table sets the levels [1]:

• Less than $20: a Class C misdemeanor
• $20 or more but less than $200: a Class B misdemeanor
• $200 or more but less than $750: a Class A misdemeanor
• $750 or more but less than $20,000: a felony of the third degree
• $20,000 or more: a felony of the second degree

For a clinic, the practical risk is small and boring: a blanket certificate on file with a supplier, and treatment-room tape quietly bought under it. Splitting the order fixes that.

Five things to settle before your first tape order

1. Get the permit first. Form 01-339 needs an 11-digit Texas sales and use tax permit number [2].
2. Decide which boxes are for sale. Count front-desk or shelf stock separately from treatment-room stock.
3. Mark the split on every mixed order. The FAQ requires it [1]; a blanket certificate fits only a buyer purchasing exclusively for resale [1].
4. Describe your business honestly on the form. The form's "type of items normally sold by the purchaser" line [2] is where a clinic says it sells take-home tape.
5. Ask your CPA about classification. Whether a specific tape is taxable at all is the question Publication 94-155 raises and doesn't settle [3].

Where Easy Tape stands today

Easy Kinesiology has B2B operations in Texas. We don't publish a wholesale page, reseller terms, or how we handle resale certificates yet, so if you asked us today how we'd process your Form 01-339, we'd answer by email rather than point you to a policy. We'd rather say that here.

If you're working out whether to stock tape at all, our professional discount vs. reseller account guide covers the purchasing side, and the cost-per-application worksheet covers the treatment-room math. Who on a Texas care team may apply the tape is covered in our PTA and aide guide. Volume and resale inquiries go through our contact page, and a single box can be tried from the consumer page under the 100-Day Money-Back Guarantee.

Quick answers

References

1. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Sales and Use Tax Frequently Asked Questions: Resale Certificates (page as published October 23, 2026). https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/sales/faq/resale.php
2. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Form 01-339, Texas Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate (Rev. 4-13/8). https://comptroller.texas.gov/forms/01-339.pdf
3. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Publication 94-155, Sales Tax Exemptions for Healthcare Items (05/2020). https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/publications/94-155.php