Ohio: Sales Tax Handbook
How to file your sales taxes in Ohio
Once your business has an Ohio sales tax license and begins to make sales, you are required to start collecting sales taxes on behalf of the Ohio government and filing regular sales tax returns. This page will help you understand the basics of your tax collection and filing responsibilities.
How To Collect Sales Tax In Ohio
After you have evaluated if what you are selling is taxable the next step will be how much sales tax should be collected. This should be based on whether you are in Ohio or Out-of-state. Ohio is an origin based state which makes it fairly easy to collect sales tax within your locality. For sellers who have more than one location in Ohio then they would base the sales tax rate on the original point of sale. It usually gets trickier for online sellers who made a sale into Ohio from an outside state. Such a seller will be charged based on the buyer's destination. Unlike most states, Ohio collects sales tax returns on the 23rd of every month following the reporting period. Ohio require sellers to file monthly and semi-annually returns
Sales Tax Collection Discounts In Ohio
Ohio allows merchants to keep a small percentage of the sales tax they collect as a collection discount, which serves as compensation for the work required to comply with the Ohio sales tax regulations
The collection discount is 0.75% of the tax that is due.
Your Ohio Sales Tax Filing Requirements
To file sales tax in Ohio, you must begin by reporting gross sales for the reporting period, and calculate the total amount of sales tax due from this period.
The state of Ohio provides all taxpayers with two choices for filing their taxes. One option is to file online by utilizing the Ohio Department of Taxation. The other option is also an online service, Autofile. Both of these online systems can also be utilized to remit the payment.
Tax payers should be aware of a late filing penalty; the greater of fifty dollars for each month or fraction of a month, with a maximum cumulative payment of five hundred dollars, or 5% per month or fraction of a month which passes between the date in which it is die and the date in which the return is due to be levied, with a maximum cumulative percentage of 50%.
The state of Ohio requires that every seller who owns a sales tax permit to file a sales tax return on the required day, even if it is a "zeroes-out" tax return, and there is nothing to report.
Your Ohio Sales Tax Filing Frequency & Due Dates
Your business's sales tax return must be filed by the 23rd of the month following reporting period. For a list of this year's actual due dates, see our calendar of Ohio sales tax filing due dates.
Where To File Your Ohio Sales Tax Return:
Filing Your Ohio Sales Tax Returns Online
Ohio supports electronic filing of sales tax returns, which is often much faster than filing via mail.
Electronic sales tax return filing is required for all taxpayers beginning in January 2009.Ohio allows businesses to make sales tax payments electronically via the internet.
Taxpayers are required to use a commissioner approved electronic method. Some of the direct pay permit holders must utilize EFT to pay.
You can process your required sales tax filings and payments online using the official Ohio Business Gateway website, which can be found here 
. You should have received credentials to access your Ohio Business Gateway account when you applied for your Ohio sales tax license.
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