The sales tax rate in Boone County, Kentucky is 6%, and that figure is entirely the Kentucky state sales tax. Whether you’re shopping in Florence, Union, Walton, or anywhere else in the county, you pay the same 6% you’d pay anywhere in the commonwealth.1Kentucky Department of Revenue. Sales and Use Tax
No County or City Add-On
Kentucky does not allow cities or counties to impose their own general sales tax. The 6% rate comes from KRS 139.200, which applies statewide to gross receipts from retail sales of tangible personal property, digital property, and certain services.2Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statute 139.200 – Rate of Tax There is no mechanism for Boone County, Florence, or any other local government to tack on an extra percentage.3Kentucky Department of Revenue. FAQ Sales and Use Tax This is a real difference from Ohio and Indiana just across the river, where local rates stack on the state rate and vary by zip code.
If a register total ever looks higher than 6%, the usual culprit is a separate levy sitting next to the sales tax. Hotel stays carry a transient room tax, and some prepared-food purchases carry a local restaurant tax. Neither one changes the underlying 6% sales tax.
What’s Taxed at 6%
The 6% applies broadly to tangible personal property, which covers most physical goods: clothing, furniture, electronics, appliances, vehicles. Digital property is in too, so music downloads, e-books, and prewritten computer software all carry the 6% charge.2Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statute 139.200 – Rate of Tax Software-as-a-service subscriptions became taxable on January 1, 2023, after the legislature broadened the definition of taxable digital property.
A range of services is taxable as well. Kentucky expanded sales tax to cover a wider set of services beginning in 2023, and the tax applies to admissions, hotel and motel stays shorter than 30 consecutive days, communication services, sewer services, and natural gas transmission and distribution.3Kentucky Department of Revenue. FAQ Sales and Use Tax
Prepared Food
Grocery staples are exempt, but prepared food is not. Kentucky defines prepared food as food sold in a heated state, food where two or more ingredients are mixed by the retailer for sale as a single item, or food sold with eating utensils like plates, forks, or napkins provided by the seller.4Kentucky Department of Revenue. Sales Tax Facts A rotisserie chicken from a restaurant counter is taxable. A raw chicken from the grocery meat case is not. Bakery items sold without utensils are also exempt.
Extended Warranties
If you buy an extended warranty from an auto dealer, the warranty contract itself is subject to the 6% tax, and the dealer must itemize that tax separately on your invoice. Cancel the warranty early and you can receive a prorated refund of the sales tax you paid. When repairs are later performed under the warranty, you only owe sales tax on any deductible charged to you, not on the parts used in the repair.5Kentucky Department of Revenue. Extended Warranty Services
What’s Exempt
KRS 139.470 carves out categories that are not subject to sales tax. The exemptions that matter most to everyday shoppers in Boone County:
- Grocery food. Any food or food product eligible for purchase under the federal SNAP program is exempt, as long as it is not prepared food under the definition above.6Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statute 139.470 – Exemptions
- Prescription drugs. Medications prescribed by a licensed practitioner carry no sales tax.
- Prosthetic devices and physical aids. Wheelchairs, oxygen equipment, and similar medical devices are exempt.6Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statute 139.470 – Exemptions
KRS 139.480 adds exemptions aimed at agriculture and industry. Farm machinery used exclusively for crop production, raising livestock or poultry for sale, or producing milk for sale is exempt, though automobiles, trucks, and most trailers do not qualify. On-farm grain storage and drying facilities, poultry and livestock facilities, and the equipment and materials used to build or repair them are also exempt. Machinery purchased for new or expanded industrial operations qualifies as well, as does recycling equipment primarily used for source separation, baling, shredding, or compressing waste materials.7Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statute 139.480 – Property Exempt
Farmers claiming the agricultural exemptions must obtain an agriculture exemption license number from the Department of Revenue under KRS 139.481 and give that number to the retailer at the time of purchase. All active agriculture exemption license numbers remain valid through December 31, 2026.8Kentucky Department of Revenue. Sales Tax Facts Winter 2025/2026 Retailers can verify a number through the Agricultural Exemption Verification tool on MyTaxes.ky.gov.
When You Owe Use Tax Instead
This part catches a lot of Boone County residents off guard. The county sits directly across the river from Cincinnati, so plenty of people shop in Ohio, order from out-of-state retailers, or buy online from sellers that don’t collect Kentucky sales tax. When that happens, you owe Kentucky a 6% consumer use tax on the purchase price.9Kentucky Department of Revenue. Consumer Use Tax The use tax exists so that crossing the river isn’t a tax dodge, which would put local retailers at a permanent disadvantage.
You report and pay the use tax when you file your Kentucky individual income tax return. The liability goes on line 27 of Form 740. If you kept receipts, you calculate the actual tax owed. If you didn’t, the Department of Revenue provides a Use Tax Look-Up Table based on your Kentucky adjusted gross income:
- $0 to $10,000 AGI: $4
- $10,001 to $20,000: $12
- $20,001 to $30,000: $20
- $30,001 to $40,000: $28
- $40,001 to $50,000: $36
- $50,001 to $75,000: $50
- $75,001 to $100,000: $70
- Above $100,000: multiply AGI by 0.08%
One important credit: if the out-of-state seller already charged you state-level sales tax from another state, you can reduce your Kentucky use tax by that amount. Only the other state’s sales tax counts toward the credit. Local city or county taxes paid elsewhere do not.9Kentucky Department of Revenue. Consumer Use Tax
So if you drive to a Cincinnati store and pay Ohio’s state sales tax at the register, you can credit that against what you’d otherwise owe Kentucky. If you order from a site that charges no sales tax at all, the full 6% is yours to report when you file.