Do I charge different sales tax rates in different Michigan cities?

No. The Department of Treasury says Michigan does not allow city or local units to impose sales tax, so the 6 percent state rate is the rate. Residential electricity, gas and home heating fuel are taxed at 4 percent. This is not tax advice; confirm with the Michigan Department of Treasury.

When does a store outside Michigan have to collect Michigan sales tax?

When it made over 100,000 dollars of gross sales or 200 or more separate transactions with Michigan customers in the previous calendar year, according to the Treasury's remote seller FAQ. Registration and payment start on January 1 of the following year. Until then, Michigan shoppers owe 6 percent use tax on taxable items that a seller did not tax. This is not tax advice.

How busy are the Michigan crossings from Canada?

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics counted 1,132,114 inbound truck crossings at the port of Detroit and 1,060,776 at Port Huron in 2025, the two highest totals on the US-Canada border. The count covers trucks entering the United States, and it predates the July 2026 opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

Do the Soo Locks close every winter?

Federal regulation 33 CFR 207.440 sets the season: at least one lock is in operation on March 25, and the locks stay open only for the last vessels leaving Lake Superior ports before midnight on January 14 and passing Detour before midnight on January 15. The regulation allows exceptions, so check the Army Corps of Engineers for the current season.

Michigan: one tax rate, two border gateways and a long winter for your offers

Three things set Michigan apart for a store that sells online. The first is simple: one sales tax rate for the whole state, with no city or county add-ons, so a threshold or a gift banner reads the same in Detroit and in Marquette. The second is geography. Michigan holds the two largest truck gateways on the border with Canada, and a third crossing opened in July 2026, which matters if your stock, or your supplier's, comes through Ontario. The third is weather. The northern Upper Peninsula sits at the end of a long lake-effect season, and the Soo Locks, the lift that moves lake freighters between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, close every winter. This page covers the tax rule that makes Michigan easy, the crossings that set how freight reaches the state, a winter handling note for delivery promises, and a shipping-tier plan built around them. Each number comes from the agency that publishes it.

Updated October 10, 2026 · 10 sourced facts

The Ambassador Bridge spanning the Detroit River on a gray winter day, with floating ice on the water and a railing in the foreground — Photo: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA via Wikimedia Commons

Shipping into the state

The delivery question in Michigan is seasonal, not statewide. At Sault Ste. Marie the 1991-2020 normals put December snowfall at 30.4 inches, so a shipping promise written in October needs a December exception for the northern counties. Inbound freight has its own calendar: the Soo Locks run from March 25 and wind down by January 15, and the Detroit and Port Huron crossings together handled more than 2.1 million inbound trucks in 2025. A store whose stock arrives from Canada should ask its carrier which crossing the shipment uses, because the third crossing opened only in July 2026. The state rate is 6 percent with no local add-ons, so a free shipping line set on the pre-tax cart total is the same line in every Michigan town.

Source: Michigan Department of Treasury: Sales and Use Taxes

Source: NOAA NCEI: U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, Sault Ste. Marie Sanderson Field

Source: eCFR: 33 CFR 207.440, St. Marys Falls Canal and Locks, Mich.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics: Border Crossing/Entry Data (2025, trucks, US-Canada border)

Source: Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority: A Historic First (Sept. 1, 2026)

A shipping-tier plan with a winter handling note

When you set the first tier
Write the threshold once for the whole state. Michigan has a single 6 percent rate and does not allow local sales tax, so there is no county table to explain. Say in the banner whether the line counts the cart before or after tax, and keep that wording identical at checkout.
Source: Michigan Department of Treasury: Sales and Use Taxes
If your stock crosses from Canada
Ask your freight forwarder which crossing the shipment uses, and do not promise a restock date that depends on a single bridge. Detroit and Port Huron carried more than 2.1 million inbound trucks between them in 2025, and the Gordie Howe bridge added a third crossing on July 27, 2026.
Source: Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority: A Historic First (Sept. 1, 2026)
November and December
Add a handling note to your top shipping tier for Upper Peninsula addresses: promise a ship date, such as shipped within two business days, instead of an arrival date, because December snowfall at Sault Ste. Marie averages 30.4 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI: U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, Sault Ste. Marie Sanderson Field
Before January 15
If any of your inventory travels by lake freighter, schedule the last restock before the Soo Locks close, and plan the winter sell-through on what is on the shelf. Federal rules set the opening at March 25 each year unless the Corps authorizes a change.
Source: eCFR: 33 CFR 207.440, St. Marys Falls Canal and Locks, Mich.
Each January
Check your Michigan sales for the year. Over 100,000 dollars of gross sales or 200 separate transactions in a calendar year creates a registration duty from the next January 1, and the count includes sales that are not taxable.
Source: Michigan Department of Treasury: Remote Seller FAQ

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Questions merchants ask

Do I charge different sales tax rates in different Michigan cities?: No. The Department of Treasury says Michigan does not allow city or local units to impose sales tax, so the 6 percent state rate is the rate. Residential electricity, gas and home heating fuel are taxed at 4 percent. This is not tax advice; confirm with the Michigan Department of Treasury.
When does a store outside Michigan have to collect Michigan sales tax?: When it made over 100,000 dollars of gross sales or 200 or more separate transactions with Michigan customers in the previous calendar year, according to the Treasury's remote seller FAQ. Registration and payment start on January 1 of the following year. Until then, Michigan shoppers owe 6 percent use tax on taxable items that a seller did not tax. This is not tax advice.
How busy are the Michigan crossings from Canada?: The Bureau of Transportation Statistics counted 1,132,114 inbound truck crossings at the port of Detroit and 1,060,776 at Port Huron in 2025, the two highest totals on the US-Canada border. The count covers trucks entering the United States, and it predates the July 2026 opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
Do the Soo Locks close every winter?: Federal regulation 33 CFR 207.440 sets the season: at least one lock is in operation on March 25, and the locks stay open only for the last vessels leaving Lake Superior ports before midnight on January 14 and passing Detour before midnight on January 15. The regulation allows exceptions, so check the Army Corps of Engineers for the current season.

The year at a glance

Facts and sources

The Michigan Department of Treasury says that businesses selling tangible personal property to the final consumer remit a 6 percent sales tax on the total price of their taxable retail sales, that residential electricity, gas and heating fuel are taxed at 4 percent, and that Michigan does not allow city or local units to impose sales tax.
Michigan Department of Treasury: Sales and Use Taxes (accessed October 10, 2026)
Michigan use tax is 6 percent of the total price of taxable items bought through the internet, by mail or by phone from out-of-state retailers that do not collect and remit sales or use tax, with credit for tax paid to another state.
Michigan Department of Treasury: Sales and Use Taxes (accessed October 10, 2026)
A remote seller has nexus with Michigan if, in the previous calendar year, it made over 100,000 dollars of gross sales or 200 or more separate transactions with Michigan customers, and it must register and pay starting January 1 of the year after it passes either threshold.
Michigan Department of Treasury: Remote Seller FAQ (accessed October 10, 2026)
The port of Detroit recorded 1,132,114 inbound truck crossings in 2025, the most of any port on the US-Canada border; the figure is the sum of the twelve monthly truck counts for the port in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset, ranked against every US-Canada port by the same method.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics: Border Crossing/Entry Data (2025, trucks, US-Canada border) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The port of Port Huron recorded 1,060,776 inbound truck crossings in 2025, second on the US-Canada border behind Detroit and ahead of Buffalo-Niagara Falls at 865,370.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics: Border Crossing/Entry Data (2025, trucks, US-Canada border) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority says the Gordie Howe International Bridge opened to vehicles on July 27, 2026, that a Windsor-based carrier made the first commercial truck crossing, and that nearly 8,000 crossings were recorded over the rest of that day.
Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority: A Historic First (Sept. 1, 2026) (accessed October 10, 2026)
NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals give Sault Ste. Marie (Sanderson Field) an annual snowfall of 120.1 inches, with 30.4 inches in December and 30.3 inches in January.
NOAA NCEI: U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, Sault Ste. Marie Sanderson Field (accessed October 10, 2026)
Federal rule 33 CFR 207.440(u) says at least one Soo Locks lock is placed in operation on March 25 each year and that the locks run only for the last vessels leaving Lake Superior ports before midnight on January 14 and passing Detour before midnight on January 15, unless the Division Engineer authorizes a change.
eCFR: 33 CFR 207.440, St. Marys Falls Canal and Locks, Mich. (accessed October 10, 2026)
Michigan has 56,539 square miles of land area.
U.S. Census Bureau: State Area Measurements (2010) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimate puts Michigan's resident population at 10,127,884 on July 1, 2025.
U.S. Census Bureau: Vintage 2025 state population estimates (accessed October 10, 2026)

Cities in Michigan

DetroitDetroit's 2027 event year, from the January auto show to the Thanksgiving parade, plus Eastern Market Saturdays and a gift ladder that starts on parade day.

Not tax advice. Confirm current rules with the state revenue department before you rely on a date or an exemption.

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