NSNexus by State

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

Updated

Reviewed by Nexus by State research team using official state tax sources. Last reviewed .

Guide content last reviewed: 2026-07-30

Whether Texas 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 TX source behind each rule (retrieved 2026-07-30).

Does Texas charge sales tax on services?

Enumerated list

Only for the services on the statutory list. Texas Tax Code section 151.0101 names sixteen categories of taxable service, and the Comptroller publishes them in Publication 96-259; a service outside those categories is not subject to Texas sales tax however commercial it looks. A taxable service carries the 6.25% state rate plus local rates.

The sixteen taxable service categories

  • Amusement services — performances, exhibitions, sporting events, participatory sports and games, carnivals
  • Cable television services, including direct broadcast satellite, subscription television, and video on demand
  • Credit reporting services
  • Data processing services — word processing, data entry, storage, and compilation (20% of the charge is exempt)
  • Debt collection services, including repossession and lien filing
  • Information services — gathering and furnishing news or specialized information (20% of the charge is exempt)
  • Insurance services — appraisal, claims adjustment, actuarial analysis
  • Motor vehicle parking and storage, including meters, valet, and impound fees
  • Nonresidential real property repair, remodeling, and restoration
  • Personal property maintenance and repair — shoe repair, appliance repair, jewelry cleaning
  • Personal services — massage parlors, Turkish baths, escort services
  • Real property services — pest control, janitorial services, landscaping, surveying
  • Security services — locksmith, private investigation, alarm monitoring, computer forensics
  • Telecommunications services — telephone, mobile, VoIP, fax, texting, email
  • Telephone answering services
  • Utility transmission and distribution — delivery of electricity and gas to end-use customers

Outside the list

  • Accounting and legal services are not among the sixteen categories
  • Publication 96-259 states specifically that an accountant preparing a tax return or performing financial analysis is not providing a taxable data processing service
  • Any other service the statute does not name — consulting, design, marketing strategy, and general professional advice are not enumerated

Are professional services taxable in Texas?

No. Accounting and legal services are not among the sixteen categories in Tax Code section 151.0101, and Publication 96-259 states specifically that an accountant preparing a tax return or performing financial analysis is not providing a taxable data processing service. Consulting, design, and marketing strategy are likewise unenumerated.

How Texas handles services in practice

Texas is the clearest enumerated state to reason about, because the Comptroller keeps the list in one publication and the statute behind it in one section. Find your service on the list or you are out. The categories are broad in name and narrow in application, though, which is where the arguments happen.

Data processing and information services carry a 20% exemption. Only 80% of the charge is taxable, which materially changes the effective rate on a hosting, storage, or data-compilation invoice. It also makes the classification worth getting right rather than defaulting to fully taxable.

The accounting carve-out is explicit, not inferred. Publication 96-259 states that an accountant who prepares a tax return or performs financial analysis is not providing a taxable data processing service. That matters because “data processing” is the category most often over-applied to professional work that happens to be done on a computer.

Nonresidential is the dividing line on property work. Real property repair, remodeling, and restoration is taxable for commercial property. Residential repair and remodeling is treated differently, so the same crew can produce taxable and non-taxable jobs in the same week.

Where these Texas rules come from

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

Texas nexus note

Texas sales tax nexus and SaaS taxability: economic nexus applies to remote sellers with $500,000 or more in total Texas revenue during the preceding twelve calendar months. After crossing that safe harbor, Texas requires a permit and sales/use tax collection no later than the first day of the fourth month after the threshold-crossing month. Texas treats data processing as a taxable service and the Comptroller says data processing providers include software-as-a-service sellers and application service providers; 20% of a data-processing charge is exempt, so SaaS treated as data processing is generally taxed on 80% of the invoice amount. Marketplace-only sellers whose marketplace provider certifies Texas collection generally do not need a Texas tax permit, but sellers must keep marketplace-sales records for at least four years.

What to do next

Read the full Texas 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 Texas

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

Frequently asked questions

Does Texas charge sales tax on services in 2026?
Only for the services on the statutory list. Texas Tax Code section 151.0101 names sixteen categories of taxable service, and the Comptroller publishes them in Publication 96-259; a service outside those categories is not subject to Texas sales tax however commercial it looks. A taxable service carries the 6.25% state rate plus local rates.
Which services are taxable in Texas?
The sixteen taxable service categories in Texas: Amusement services — performances, exhibitions, sporting events, participatory sports and games, carnivals; Cable television services, including direct broadcast satellite, subscription television, and video on demand; Credit reporting services; Data processing services — word processing, data entry, storage, and compilation (20% of the charge is exempt). The full list on this page is drawn from Texas Comptroller Publication 96-259 — Taxable Services (Tax Code § 151.0101), retrieved 2026-07-30.
Are professional services taxable in Texas?
No. Accounting and legal services are not among the sixteen categories in Tax Code section 151.0101, and Publication 96-259 states specifically that an accountant preparing a tax return or performing financial analysis is not providing a taxable data processing service. Consulting, design, and marketing strategy are likewise unenumerated.
Do I need to register in Texas if I only sell services?
Registration follows from nexus, not from what you sell. Texas's economic nexus test is $500,000. Whether your service receipts count toward that threshold, and whether Texas still expects a registration when your particular service is not taxable, are separate questions that the state answers per service — confirm both with the Texas revenue agency before deciding you have no filing obligation.
How do I check whether my specific service is taxable in Texas?
Start from Texas'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 Texas Comptroller Publication 96-259 — Taxable Services (Tax Code § 151.0101) (https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/publications/96-259.php), retrieved 2026-07-30. 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: 2026-05-25