City of Findlay Income Tax: Rates, Who Files, and Deadlines

The Findlay Ohio income tax is a flat 1.0% on earned income, and the city gives no credit for taxes you pay to another municipality where you work. Every Findlay resident age 18 or older has to file a return each year, even with no taxable income to report.¹ Returns are due April 15, and they go directly to the city’s Income Tax Department. Commercial tax software does not transmit anything to Findlay on your behalf.²

The Rate and Who Owes It

The rate is 1.0% on qualifying wages, salaries, commissions, tips, and net business profits.² Three groups are on the hook:

Findlay residents, on everything they earn, no matter where the work happens. Commute to Lima or Toledo and your wages still get taxed here.
Non-residents working inside Findlay’s city limits, on the portion of income earned in the city. If your employer fully withheld Findlay tax, you don’t need to file a separate return.¹
Businesses with an office, rental property, or other activity in Findlay, including sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, corporations, and trusts. The filing requirement applies even when no tax is owed.¹

Why Living in Findlay Can Mean Paying Two Cities

Findlay does not give a credit for income tax paid to other municipalities.³ Ohio allows cities to grant such credits but doesn’t require it, and Findlay has chosen not to.

The practical effect: if you live in Findlay and commute to a city that imposes its own income tax, you can owe both. A resident working in a city with a 2.0% tax pays that 2.0% to the workplace city and another 1.0% to Findlay, for a combined 3.0% local rate on the same wages. Some nearby communities do credit their residents for taxes paid elsewhere, but Findlay residents don’t get that break regardless of where they work.

Who Must File a Return

Findlay’s filing rule is broader than most people expect. If you are 18 or older and live in Findlay, you must file a return every year, even if your only income is Social Security, a pension, or nothing at all.¹ Retirees still need to send in a return showing no tax due. Assuming you can skip the filing because you don’t owe anything is one of the most common ways people pick up a penalty.

Residents who are 16 or 17 must file if they had taxable income during the year, even when the employer withheld the full tax.¹ Income earned through age 15 isn’t taxable, so no return is required for those earnings.

What’s Taxed and What Isn’t

The tax applies only to earned income. Wages, salaries, commissions, tips, and other W-2 compensation are all taxable at 1.0%. Net profits from a business, profession, or rental activity are taxable too, including amounts reported on federal Schedules C, E, and F. Side income that turns a profit counts.

Ohio law exempts several income types from municipal income tax:⁴

Military pay and allowances for members of the armed forces, reserves, and National Guard.
Social Security, railroad retirement, pensions, annuity payments, and other retirement plan distributions.
Interest, dividends, capital gains, and other investment income.
Disability payments from private or government sources, and unemployment compensation. Supplemental unemployment pay from an employer may still be taxable.
Earnings by children 15 and younger.¹

Quarterly Estimated Payments

If you expect to owe at least $200 in Findlay tax after withholding, you have to make quarterly estimated payments.⁵ This usually catches self-employed people, business owners, landlords, and anyone whose employer isn’t withholding Findlay tax.

For calendar-year individual taxpayers, each installment has to bring your cumulative payments up to a set percentage of the year’s total liability:

April 15: at least 22.5%
June 15: at least 45%
September 15: at least 67.5%
January 15 of the following year: at least 90%

Non-individual business filers pay the fourth installment by December 15 instead of January 15.⁵ Underpaying triggers both penalty and interest on the shortfall.

How to File and Pay

Individuals use the Findlay individual return; businesses use the business return. A simplified EZ return is available for straightforward situations. All forms are posted on the Income Tax Department’s site.⁶

Have these ready before you start:

Your Social Security number, or FEIN for a business
W-2s showing wages and any municipal tax withheld
1099-NEC forms for non-employee compensation
The first page of your federal Form 1040, with any Schedule 1, C, E, or F that applies
Your address and residency dates if you moved during the year

One thing to watch: TurboTax, H&R Block, and other commercial software do not transmit anything to the Findlay tax office.² Even if your federal and state returns go through electronically, your Findlay return has to be filed separately. The city uses your federal return to cross-check the local numbers, so what you report has to match.

Three ways to submit:

Online through the city’s electronic filing portal, which also accepts document uploads.⁷
By mail to Income Tax Department, P.O. Box 862, Findlay, Ohio 45839-0862.²
In person at 318 Dorney Plaza, Room 115, Findlay, Ohio 45840-3346.

Payment options include Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover through ACI Payments using jurisdiction code 4553, either online or by phone at 1-800-272-9829. A convenience fee of roughly 3% applies to card payments.⁸ A check mailed with your return avoids that fee.

Deadline, Penalties, and Interest

The annual return is due April 15. For the 2025 tax year, that means April 15, 2026, and any balance owed has to be paid by that date to avoid penalty and interest.²

If you file late, the city can charge a one-time penalty of up to $25 per return, and it must waive that penalty on your first late filing.⁹ It is not a recurring monthly charge.

If you owe tax and pay late, the late-payment penalty is 15% of the unpaid amount.⁹ On a $500 balance, that’s $75 added on top.

Interest also accrues on unpaid tax, estimated tax, and withholding tax. For calendar year 2026, the annual rate is 9%, set as the federal short-term rate plus five percentage points.¹⁰ The longer the balance sits, the more it costs.

Ohio does classify certain willful municipal tax violations as first-degree misdemeanors, but those criminal provisions target employers who withhold tax from paychecks and then fail to turn it over to the city.¹¹ An individual who files late or underpays faces the civil penalties above, not criminal charges.

Employer Withholding

If your employer is located in Findlay, they are required to withhold the 1.0% tax from each paycheck and send it to the city.² That handles the pay-as-you-go side for most Findlay-based workers, though you still have to file an annual return.

If your employer sits outside Findlay, they probably aren’t withholding Findlay tax, and the responsibility to pay falls on you. Check your pay stubs. If no Findlay withholding appears and your expected liability for the year is $200 or more, you’ll need to set up quarterly estimated payments to avoid an underpayment penalty.

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City of Findlay, OH. Income Tax Topics
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City of Findlay, OH. Income Tax
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City of Findlay, OH. FAQs
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 718.01
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 718.08
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City of Findlay, OH. Findlay Forms
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City of Findlay, OH. Findlay Electronic Income Tax Filing Available
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City of Findlay, OH. Payment and Mailing Information
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 718.27
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Regional Income Tax Agency. The Annual Interest Rate for Calendar Year 2026 is 9%
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Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 718.99