How to File RITA Form 27: Schedules, Deadlines, and Payments

RITA Form 27 is the annual net profit tax return that corporations, partnerships, S-corporations, LLCs, trusts, and estates file with the Regional Income Tax Agency to report business income earned in Ohio municipalities that use RITA for tax collection. You start with net income from your federal return, adjust it on Schedule X, apportion the result to each RITA city on Schedule Y, list any pass-through owners on Schedule Z, and submit the return by the fifteenth day of the fourth month after your tax year ends. Calendar-year filers are due April 15. You can file online at ritaohio.com or mail the paper return to one of three Cleveland PO Boxes depending on whether you owe, expect a refund, or neither.

Who Has to File

Every corporation, partnership, trust, or estate that conducts business in a RITA municipality must file Form 27 and pay tax on the net profit earned there.¹ S-corporations and LLCs file at the entity level. The form covers C-corporations, partnerships, LLCs, S-corporations, estates, and trusts, essentially any business entity that isn’t a sole proprietorship.²

A disregarded entity or qualifying subchapter S subsidiary is not the “taxpayer” for Ohio municipal purposes. The owner files the return and reports the income instead.¹ If your single-member LLC is disregarded federally, you file, not the LLC.

Any business activity in a RITA municipality triggers the filing obligation, whether that’s a storefront, employees performing services there, or rental property. You file even if the year ended in a loss. And if the tax due for a given city works out to $10 or less, enter zero for that city and skip the payment.³

Affiliated corporations that file a federal consolidated return may file a consolidated municipal return through RITA. The election is binding for five years and must include every subsidiary.⁴

What to Gather Before You Start

Pull these together before opening the form:

Your federal return with all schedules and 1099s attached. Form 1120 for C-corps, 1120-S for S-corps, 1065 for partnerships, 1041 for trusts and estates, or 990-T for exempt organizations. Without the federal return attached, RITA does not treat the filing as complete.²
Your Federal Employer Identification Number.
The average original cost of real and tangible personal property the business owns, plus gross annual rent for leased property. Rental values get multiplied by eight on Schedule Y.²
Total wages, salaries, commissions, and other compensation, split between amounts paid inside RITA municipalities and amounts paid everywhere.
Gross receipts from sales and services, split the same way.

Pass-through entities also need each partner’s or shareholder’s name, Social Security number, distributive share, guaranteed payments, and ownership percentage for Schedule Z.¹

Working Through the Return

Start With Federal Net Income

Form 27 begins with net income from the attached federal return. For a C-corporation that’s Line 28 of Form 1120. For a partnership, it’s the Analysis of Net Income on Page 5, Line 1 of Form 1065. The form specifies the exact line for each entity type.²

Reconcile on Schedule X

The federal figure rarely matches what Ohio municipalities actually tax. Schedule X reconciles the two by adding back deductions the municipality doesn’t allow and subtracting income the municipality doesn’t tax.¹

The two additions most filers use are foreign, state, local, and other income-based taxes deducted federally (Line B), and capital or ordinary losses from selling assets described in IRC Sections 1221 and 1231 (Line A), typically shown on federal Schedule D or Form 4797. The most common subtraction is Section 1221 and 1231 gains on Line N, which removes income from selling those same asset types.¹ The totals from Schedule X’s addition and subtraction sections carry to Lines 2A and 2B on the main return.

Apportion on Schedule Y

If your business operates both inside and outside RITA cities, you owe tax only on the portion of adjusted income fairly attributable to each RITA community. Schedule Y calculates that portion using a three-factor formula weighing property, payroll, and gross receipts. This is the default method under Ohio law. An alternative apportionment can be requested only in writing, attached to the return, with an explanation of why the standard formula does not fairly represent your activity.¹

For each factor, enter the total everywhere in Column A and the total inside the RITA municipality in Column B, then divide B by A to get a percentage. The property factor uses average original cost of owned property plus eight times annual rent for leased property. The payroll factor uses total compensation. The gross receipts factor uses total sales and service revenue. Add the three percentages and divide by the number of factors actually used. If the business has no property in any location, for example, divide by two instead of three.²

The resulting average percentage is applied to adjusted net income to determine how much is taxable in that municipality. Fill out a separate Schedule Y for each RITA city where you have activity. The common mistake is transposing local and total figures, or letting “everywhere” mean Ohio only. Confirm your “everywhere” columns are company-wide.

Complete Schedule Z if You’re a Pass-Through

Partnerships, S-corporations, and other pass-throughs list each partner or shareholder on Schedule Z with SSN, distributive share, any guaranteed payments, and ownership percentage. The figures must match the federal return.¹ This lets RITA track income flowing through to individuals who may owe municipal tax on their share.

Applying a Prior-Year Loss

A net operating loss from a prior year can be carried forward to offset taxable income on Form 27. For tax year 2026, unused losses carry forward five years, after which any balance expires.⁵

Beginning with taxable year 2023, you can use 100% of your remaining unexpired losses to reduce municipal taxable income to zero. The 50% limitation from the 2018–2022 phase-in no longer applies.⁵

Deadline, Extensions, and Estimated Payments

The return is due the fifteenth day of the fourth month after your tax year ends, which is April 15 for calendar-year businesses. Payment for any tax owed goes with the return. Amounts of $10 or less to a given city are entered as zero with no payment.³

A federal extension automatically extends your RITA deadline to the fifteenth day of the eleventh month after year-end. You do not send RITA a copy of the federal extension by the original date; attach it when you file. Without a federal extension, request one from RITA by submitting Form 20-EXT by the original due date.¹ An extension buys time to file, not time to pay. Use Form 20-EXT to send the estimated balance if the full return isn’t ready.

Businesses expecting to owe $200 or more to any RITA municipality must make quarterly estimated payments.⁶ For calendar-year filers the quarterly due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, and (for entities other than individuals) December 15. Fiscal-year filers use the fifteenth day of the fourth, sixth, ninth, and twelfth months of the fiscal year. Payments made during the year credit against the total on the annual return, and you pay only the remaining balance.

How and Where to Submit

You can file and pay electronically at ritaohio.com. Paper filers use one of three Cleveland PO Boxes:⁷

With payment: RITA, PO Box 94582, Cleveland, OH 44101-4582
Without payment: RITA, PO Box 89475, Cleveland, OH 44101-6475
With refund expected: RITA, PO Box 94652, Cleveland, OH 44101-4652

Mailing to the wrong box doesn’t void the return, but it can delay processing. Enclose a check or money order payable to RITA. Keep a copy of the return and every supporting document; RITA may follow up on reported figures, and you’ll want the records if anything is questioned later.

Rates, Penalties, and Interest

The rate applied to your apportioned income depends on the municipality. Rates across RITA members range from 0% to 3%.⁸ College Corner and Hunting Valley impose no income tax; Bedford and Parma Heights sit at the 3% ceiling. RITA’s tax rates table lists the current rate for every member community and should be checked for each city where you have taxable activity, since rates can change if voters approve an adjustment.

RITA can charge up to $25 per late return, applied per municipality. Three late city filings could mean up to $75 in penalties. Ohio law requires the municipality to waive the penalty on your first late filing once you submit the return.⁹

Interest on unpaid balances runs at the federal short-term rate (rounded to the nearest whole percent) plus five percentage points, using the July determination from the prior year.⁹ The July 2025 short-term rate was 4.12%, which rounds to 4%, putting the 2026 municipal interest rate at roughly 9%.¹⁰ Late estimated payments accrue their own interest on the shortfall for the underpayment period, which is added to the annual bill. Businesses filing through the Ohio Department of Taxation’s centralized system rather than directly with RITA face a separate 15% late-payment penalty on amounts not paid on time.¹¹ The cleanest way to avoid all of it is to make estimated payments that at least equal 100% of the prior year’s liability.

1
Regional Income Tax Agency. 2025 Net Profit Income Tax Form 27 Instruction Booklet
2
Regional Income Tax Agency. RITA Net Profit Tax Return Form 27
3
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 718.05 – Annual Return Filing
4
Regional Income Tax Agency. Business FAQs – Net Profit – Consolidated Returns
5
Ohio Department of Taxation. MNP 2024-02 – Update on Net Operating Loss Deductions
6
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 718.08 – Estimated Taxes
7
Regional Income Tax Agency. Mailing Address
8
Regional Income Tax Agency. Tax Rates Table
9
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 718.27 – Interest and Penalties
10
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2025-13
11
Ohio Department of Taxation. Municipal Net Profit Tax