Sales Tax on Services in Ohio (2026) — What's Taxable

Enumerated list

Only for the services Ohio has enumerated. The Department of Taxation describes the tax base as applying to all retail sales of tangible personal property that are not specifically exempted, plus "certain sales of enumerated services" — repair and installation of property, automatic data processing and computer services used in business, telecommunications, lawn care and snow removal, building maintenance and janitorial work, and recreation and sports club services among them. The state rate has been 5.75% since September 1, 2013, with county and transit authority rates on top.

• Repair and/or installation of tangible personal property
• Automatic data processing, computer services, and electronic information services used in business
• Telecommunications services, inclusive of mobile telecommunications services
• Lawn care, landscaping, and snow removal services
• Building maintenance and janitorial services
• Recreation and sports club services
• Production or fabrication of tangible personal property for consumers who furnish the materials, transactions providing a warranty, maintenance, or service contract, and the storage of tangible personal property

• Employment services and employment placement services, removed from the list of taxable services by 2021 H.B. 110 — an Ohio answer written before that change is wrong
• Landscaping and lawn care provided by a person with less than five thousand dollars in sales of that service during the calendar year, which the statutory definition excludes outright
• Computer consulting: the Department states that "computer consulting" is generally not a taxable computer service, because R.C. 5739.01(Y)(1)(b) reaches only services provided in conjunction with and to support the sale, lease, or operation of taxable computer equipment or systems
• Computer training on application software — the Department's worked example is a new employee learning a database or spreadsheet — since only training of programmers and operators tied to systems software is reached

Generally no. Ohio taxes a list of enumerated services, and accounting, legal, and consulting work is not on it. The Department publishes a worked example on exactly this point: a consultancy that recommends building, equipment, and computer configurations without selling any equipment is not providing a taxable computer service. The realistic exposure for a professional firm is incidental — an enumerated service such as data processing or repair billed alongside the advice.

Ohio is enumerated, with one caveat that matters more here than in Texas or Florida: the Department introduces its published list with “including, but not limited to.” The illustrative list below is not the statute. If your service is close to a category, read R.C. 5739.01 rather than concluding from the summary that you are outside it.

The computer-services definition is narrower than its name. R.C. 5739.01(Y)(1)(b) defines computer services as specifying hardware configurations, evaluating technical processing characteristics, programming, and training of programmers and operators — but only when provided in conjunction with and to support the sale, lease, or operation of taxable computer equipment or systems. The Department says this relates to hardware and systems software, not application software. Stand-alone consulting and application training fall outside it.

Small landscapers are outside the tax by statute. The definition of “landscaping and lawn care service” in R.C. 5739.01(DD) excludes a person with less than $5,000 in sales of that service during the calendar year. Cross the threshold and the whole service becomes taxable going forward, which makes this one of the few Ohio answers that changes with revenue rather than with what you sell.

Services are sourced to where they are received. Ohio generally sources a vendor’s sales to where the order is received, but the Department names services as an exception: the rate follows the location where the service is received. On multi-site work the county and transit rate can differ job to job.

A 2026 change to watch. The Department records that 2025 H.B. 96 repeals, beginning January 1, 2026, the exemption for telecommunications service used directly and primarily to perform the functions of a qualified call center, the exemption for tangible personal property used in electronic publishing, and the 25 percent sales and use tax refunds provided to providers of electronic information services. If your Ohio position depends on one of those, re-derive it against the current statute.

Every statement on this page traces to one of the official sources below. date_retrieved: 2026-07-30.

• Ohio Department of Taxation — Annual Report Fiscal Year 2025, Sales and Use Tax (tax base, rates, and recent legislation)
• Ohio Department of Taxation — Computer Services (R.C. 5739.01(Y)(1)(b))
• Ohio Department of Taxation — Landscaping, Lawn Care, and Snow Removal (R.C. 5739.01(DD))

Ohio sales tax nexus and economic nexus threshold: effective August 1, 2019, out-of-state sellers have substantial nexus when Ohio gross receipts exceed $100,000 or the seller has at least 200 Ohio transactions in the current or previous calendar year. Ohio marketplace-facilitator rules use the same $100,000-or-200-transaction test, counting the facilitator's own Ohio sales plus sales facilitated for marketplace sellers. Marketplace sellers with Ohio sales through facilitators plus direct channels may need a seller's use tax account once combined Ohio sales exceed the threshold, but collect only on taxable direct sales that are not collected by a facilitator. Ohio Department of Taxation source data last retrieved 2026-06-03.

Read the full Ohio overview for thresholds, filing frequency, marketplace facilitator rules, and registration links. Use the nexus calculator to check whether you have crossed the threshold. For background on the post-Wayfair economic nexus framework, see the pillar guide.

The general rule above is easier to apply against a real trade. These national industry guides walk the same question for three service verticals, and each one names the state-by-state differences that decide whether a given invoice is taxable:

• Salon and barber sales tax guide
  haircuts, nail services, and retail product sales — the clearest case of a personal service whose taxability flips from state to state.
• Restaurant and food service sales tax guide
  prepared food, dine-in versus takeout, delivery, and gratuities, where the service and the product are billed together.
• Construction contractor sales tax guide
  labor on real property, materials, and the residential/nonresidential split that decides taxability in several states.

• Ohio · SaaS
  Software-as-a-service sales tax rules
• Ohio · Digital Products
  Sales tax on digital downloads, eBooks, courses, streaming
• Ohio · Thresholds
  Economic and transaction nexus thresholds

Compare Ohio's services rules with nearby and similar states' services sales tax guides:

• California Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for California.
• Florida Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for Florida.
• Hawaii Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for Hawaii.
• Illinois Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for Illinois.
• Maryland Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for Maryland.
• New Jersey Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for New Jersey.