Refund for Sales Tax

Submit your school’s sales-tax exemption certificate through a Microsoft billing service request and ask for a review and refund of the sales-tax portion of the completed Excel purchase.

Request the tax refund

1. Gather:
   • The Microsoft order number and invoice.
   • Your school’s current sales-tax exemption certificate.
   • The purchase date, amount, and tax charged.
   • The last four digits of the business P-Card.
   • Your school’s FEIN or local tax identifier, if applicable.
   For a US organization, Microsoft specifically requires a Sales Tax Exemption Certificate when applying for tax-exempt status.^1^
2. Sign in using the same account that purchased Excel:
   • Work or school account: Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center, then Billing → Bills and payments to locate the tax invoice.^2^
   • You can also open Order history → View order details → Manage this item to access the invoice and billing profile.^3^
3. Open a Microsoft 365 billing service request. Microsoft’s documented route for establishing an organization’s tax-exempt status is a service request.^1^
4. In the request:
   • Select the billing, tax, invoice, or refund category.
   • Attach the exemption certificate and invoice.
   • State: “Please validate our school’s tax-exempt status and review order [order number] for a refund of the sales tax charged to the original P-Card.”
   • Ask support to apply the exemption to the billing account for future eligible purchases.

A comparable completed-purchase case directs customers to request a tax-refund review from Microsoft Billing Support; approval is subject to Microsoft’s review rather than an automatic refund.^4^

If the purchase used a personal Microsoft account

Use Microsoft Support at https://support.microsoft.com/home/contact, search for Refund Microsoft 365 subscription, select Contact Support, and choose:

• Product: Microsoft 365
• Category: Subscription, Account, Billing
• Issue: Tax / Invoice / Refund

Provide the same order details and exemption certificate. Do not cancel or return Excel merely to recover the tax; request review of the tax portion only.

If the purchase was made through a reseller rather than directly from Microsoft, the reseller must handle the tax correction because it issued the invoice.

Any approved refund should be requested back to the original P-Card; Microsoft’s work-account refund guidance states that refunds return to the original payment method.^2^

References

1. Tax information for Microsoft 365 for business products and services
2. How to start shopping with your work account at the Microsoft Store | Microsoft Support
3. [Work account](https://support.microsoft.com/accounts-billing/view-your-microsoft-store-order-history#view-work-account-order-details-in-microsoft-365-admin-center)
4. Recently changed to a non-profit status, refund for payment made - Microsoft Q&A