Which services are taxable in Tennessee?

The services the statute names in Tennessee: Rental of rooms, lodging, or other accommodations for less than 90 consecutive days by people in the business of providing overnight lodging services; Providing parking or storing of motor vehicles in a parking garage or parking lot; Providing repair of tangible personal property and computer software — including where no new parts are provided, or where the customer furnishes the parts; Laundering or cleaning any kind of tangible personal property. The full list on this page is drawn from Tennessee Department of Revenue SUT-115 — Services Subject to Sales and Use Tax (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-205), retrieved 2026-07-31.

Do I need to register in Tennessee if I only sell services?

Registration follows from nexus, not from what you sell. Tennessee's economic nexus test is $100,000. Whether your service receipts count toward that threshold, and whether Tennessee still expects a registration when your particular service is not taxable, are separate questions that the state answers per service — confirm both with the Tennessee revenue agency before deciding you have no filing obligation.

How do I check whether my specific service is taxable in Tennessee?

Start from Tennessee's posture — enumerated list — then check your own service against the official guidance rather than against a general rule. The primary source for this page is Tennessee Department of Revenue SUT-115 — Services Subject to Sales and Use Tax (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-205) (https://revenue.support.tn.gov/hc/en-us/articles/360058683911-SUT-115-Services-Services-Subject-to-Sales-and-Use-Tax), retrieved 2026-07-31. Taxability of services changes by statute more often than tax rates do, so re-check the source date before relying on it for a filing.

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

Updated 2026-07-31

Reviewed by Nexus by State research team using official state tax sources. Last reviewed 2026-07-31.

Guide content last reviewed: 2026-07-31

Whether Tennessee taxes a service depends on how the state draws its tax base, not on how professional the work looks — Enumerated list. Below: the direct answer, which services are taxable, how professional services are treated, and the official TN source behind each rule (retrieved 2026-07-31).

Does Tennessee charge sales tax on services?

Enumerated list

Only for the services the law names. The Department of Revenue states it directly in SUT-116: "Unless specifically taxable by law, the sale of services is not subject to the sales tax." SUT-115 then lists the services that are specifically taxable under Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-205 — accommodations, parking, repair and installation of tangible personal property and computer software, laundering, telecommunications, and video programming among them. A taxable service carries the 7% state rate plus a local rate that cannot exceed 2.75%.

The services the statute names

Rental of rooms, lodging, or other accommodations for less than 90 consecutive days by people in the business of providing overnight lodging services
Providing parking or storing of motor vehicles in a parking garage or parking lot
Providing repair of tangible personal property and computer software — including where no new parts are provided, or where the customer furnishes the parts
Laundering or cleaning any kind of tangible personal property
Installing tangible personal property that remains tangible property after installation, including stand-alone installation where the installer did not sell the property installed
Installation of computer software
Enriching of uranium materials or compounds
Providing short-term rental of space to a dealer for making sales — booth rental, for example
Furnishing intrastate, interstate and international telecommunications services
Sales of prepaid calling cards, prepaid phones and long distance calling cards
Ancillary services associated with telecommunications — call waiting and forwarding, caller ID, voice mail, conference bridging
Video programming services — cable, wireless cable, and broadband television services
Direct-to-home satellite television services

Outside the list

Services performed by cosmetologists, barbers, and similar trades — SUT-116 names them as an example of a non-taxable service
Plastic surgery and services performed by physical therapists, the Department’s other two named examples
Installation of tangible personal property that becomes part of realty when installed — SUT-115 excludes it from the otherwise-taxable installation category
Accounting, legal, consulting, marketing, and design services, none of which appear in Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-205

Are professional services taxable in Tennessee?

No. Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-205 does not name accounting, legal, consulting, marketing, or design services, and SUT-116 makes the default explicit: unless a service is specifically taxable by law, its sale is not subject to the sales tax. The one thing to watch is not the profession but the invoice — a charge attached to the sale of a taxable good or service is part of that sale’s price even when it is separately itemised.

How Tennessee handles services in practice

Tennessee is an enumerated state with a short, readable list and a stated default. SUT-116 gives the default — services are not taxable unless the law says so — and SUT-115 gives the exceptions. That pairing is unusual: most states publish one side or the other and leave you to infer the rest.

Barber and cosmetology services are the Department’s own example of what is not taxed. That is worth stating plainly because the opposite is true a few states away — Iowa names “barber and beauty” in its taxable list, and Hawaii’s GET reaches the receipts of any business activity. Nothing about the trade decides this; only the state does. Our beauty-salon guide walks the same question by trade.

Repair and installation are where the money is. Tennessee taxes the repair of tangible personal property and computer software, and it taxes repair labor even when no new parts are supplied or the customer brings the parts. Installation is taxable when the property stays tangible afterwards and is not taxable when it becomes part of realty — so the same installer can produce taxable and non-taxable invoices on the same day, and the distinguishing fact is what happens to the property, not who did the work. Contractors should read SUT-21 rather than reasoning from this page.

An unenumerated service can still be taxed as part of a sales price. SUT-115 closes with the trap: services not specifically enumerated may be taxable where the charges, even if separately itemised, are considered part of the sales price of a taxable good or service. Delivery charges, labor and service cost, and services necessary to complete the sale all fall in. Separately stating a charge does not take it out of the base in Tennessee the way it does in Virginia.

Rate. SUT-13 puts the state rate at 7% for most taxable items and services, with local rates set by counties and some incorporated cities and capped at 2.75%. Food and food ingredients are 4% at the state level, and the single article rate is 2.75% on the portion of a single item’s price above $1,600 and up to $3,200.

Where these Tennessee rules come from

Every statement on this page traces to one of the official sources below. date_retrieved: 2026-07-31.

Tennessee nexus note

Economic nexus in Tennessee triggers at $100,000 in gross sales delivered into Tennessee in the current or prior calendar year. No transaction count threshold.

What to do next

Read the full Tennessee 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.

Worked examples: service businesses in Tennessee

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:

Services sales tax in other states

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

Frequently asked questions

Does Tennessee charge sales tax on services in 2026?: Only for the services the law names. The Department of Revenue states it directly in SUT-116: "Unless specifically taxable by law, the sale of services is not subject to the sales tax." SUT-115 then lists the services that are specifically taxable under Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-205 — accommodations, parking, repair and installation of tangible personal property and computer software, laundering, telecommunications, and video programming among them. A taxable service carries the 7% state rate plus a local rate that cannot exceed 2.75%.
Which services are taxable in Tennessee?: The services the statute names in Tennessee: Rental of rooms, lodging, or other accommodations for less than 90 consecutive days by people in the business of providing overnight lodging services; Providing parking or storing of motor vehicles in a parking garage or parking lot; Providing repair of tangible personal property and computer software — including where no new parts are provided, or where the customer furnishes the parts; Laundering or cleaning any kind of tangible personal property. The full list on this page is drawn from Tennessee Department of Revenue SUT-115 — Services Subject to Sales and Use Tax (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-205), retrieved 2026-07-31.
Are professional services taxable in Tennessee?: No. Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-205 does not name accounting, legal, consulting, marketing, or design services, and SUT-116 makes the default explicit: unless a service is specifically taxable by law, its sale is not subject to the sales tax. The one thing to watch is not the profession but the invoice — a charge attached to the sale of a taxable good or service is part of that sale’s price even when it is separately itemised.
Do I need to register in Tennessee if I only sell services?: Registration follows from nexus, not from what you sell. Tennessee's economic nexus test is $100,000. Whether your service receipts count toward that threshold, and whether Tennessee still expects a registration when your particular service is not taxable, are separate questions that the state answers per service — confirm both with the Tennessee revenue agency before deciding you have no filing obligation.
How do I check whether my specific service is taxable in Tennessee?: Start from Tennessee's posture — enumerated list — then check your own service against the official guidance rather than against a general rule. The primary source for this page is Tennessee Department of Revenue SUT-115 — Services Subject to Sales and Use Tax (Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-205) (https://revenue.support.tn.gov/hc/en-us/articles/360058683911-SUT-115-Services-Services-Subject-to-Sales-and-Use-Tax), retrieved 2026-07-31. Taxability of services changes by statute more often than tax rates do, so re-check the source date before relying on it for a filing.

Sources

date_retrieved: 2026-05-27

Page-specific sources — date_retrieved: 2026-07-31