Ohio Clothing Tax: Rates, Exemptions, and 2026 Holiday Rules

The Ohio clothing tax is the regular state and local sales tax, applied to clothing the same way it applies to most other retail goods. The combined rate runs from 6.50% to 8.00% depending on the county, and there is no year-round exemption for everyday apparel.¹ The only break comes during Ohio’s annual back-to-school sales tax holiday, which in 2026 runs Friday, August 7 through Sunday, August 9 and suspends tax on clothing priced at $75 or less per item.²

What Rate You Actually Pay

Ohio’s base state sales tax is 5.75%. Counties and regional transit authorities can add their own tax on top in 0.05% increments, up to a combined local maximum of 3%.³ As of late 2025, counties such as Cuyahoga and Franklin sit at the top of the range at 8.00%, while counties like Butler come in at the low end at 6.50%.¹

Clothing gets no preferential rate under this system. Unlike a handful of states that carve out everyday clothing from sales tax, Ohio taxes shirts, shoes, and coats at the same combined rate as most other tangible personal property.

Buying Clothing Online

Ordering from an out-of-state website does not sidestep Ohio tax. Remote sellers have to register for an Ohio seller’s use tax license once their sales to Ohio customers cross $100,000 in the current or prior year, or once they hit 200 or more separate Ohio transactions in that period.³ Most major online retailers already meet those thresholds and collect Ohio tax at checkout.

If a seller doesn’t collect the tax, you owe it directly as use tax at the same combined rate you’d pay in a local store. You can report it on your Ohio individual income tax return.

The 2026 Sales Tax Holiday

Ohio’s sales tax holiday runs the first Friday through Sunday of August every year. In 2026, that’s August 7, 8, and 9.² During those three days, state and local sales tax are suspended on three categories:

Clothing priced at $75 or less per item
School supplies priced at $20 or less per item
School instructional materials priced at $20 or less per item

The threshold applies per item, not per receipt. You can fill a cart with qualifying clothing and pay nothing in tax as long as each piece is individually priced at $75 or below. But a single jacket priced at $80 is taxed on the full $80, not on the $5 over the limit.²

The holiday covers online purchases too. Items ordered by phone, email, or internet qualify as long as you order and pay during the holiday window, even if the package arrives afterward.⁴ No use tax is owed on exempt items bought online during the holiday either.

Time zones can trip up online shoppers. If you’re buying from a seller on the West Coast, the seller’s time zone is what determines whether the transaction falls within the holiday. Ordering at 1:00 a.m. Friday Eastern time from a Pacific Time seller means it’s still Thursday night on the retailer’s clock, and tax applies.⁴

One boundary worth flagging: in some prior years Ohio expanded the holiday to cover most tangible personal property priced at $500 or less. That expanded version does not apply in 2026. Only the three back-to-school categories are tax-free, so electronics, furniture, and sporting goods remain fully taxable. Clothing bought for use in a trade or business also doesn’t qualify, even if it costs less than $75. A restaurant buying aprons or a construction company ordering uniforms still owes full tax that weekend.⁴

What Counts as Clothing

Ohio Revised Code Section 5739.02(B)(55) defines clothing broadly as human wearing apparel suitable for general use.⁵ The categories most shoppers care about include:

Everyday wear: shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, dresses, sweaters, coats, and jackets
Footwear: shoes, sneakers, boots, sandals, slippers, and steel-toed shoes
Undergarments: underwear, socks, hosiery, and pantyhose
Outerwear and rain gear
Formal and wedding apparel
Uniforms, both athletic and nonathletic
Diapers, disposable or cloth, for children and adults
Belts, suspenders, scarves, neckties, hats, caps, and earmuffs
Gloves and mittens for general use
Bathing suits and caps

What Doesn’t Qualify

Plenty of things you wear on your body stay taxable during the holiday. Missing these is where shoppers get surprised at the register.

Accessories

Accessories are taxable no matter how little they cost: jewelry, handbags, wallets, watches, non-prescription sunglasses, briefcases, umbrellas, cosmetics, wigs, and hair accessories like barrettes and hair nets.⁶

Protective Equipment

Safety gear falls outside the clothing definition. Hard hats, helmets, breathing masks, face shields, safety glasses, protective gloves, tool belts, and welding masks all remain taxable.⁶

Sports and Recreational Equipment

Specialized athletic gear is excluded: cleated or spiked shoes, baseball gloves, bowling gloves, golf gloves, ski boots, roller and ice skates, helmets, shin guards, shoulder pads, mouth guards, wetsuits, and life vests.⁶ Ballet and tap shoes fall into this bucket too, which catches some parents off guard.

Sewing Supplies and Separately Sold Components

Materials for making or altering clothing don’t qualify. Fabric, thread, yarn, zippers, buttons, lace, sewing machines, patterns, scissors, and knitting needles stay taxable during the holiday.⁵ Belt buckles, costume masks, and patches sold separately from a garment are also excluded.

How Coupons and Discounts Affect the $75 Limit

Whether an item clears the $75 threshold depends on its final sale price, but not every discount counts the same way.

Store discounts, loyalty card rewards, and store-issued coupons do reduce the price for threshold purposes. A jacket marked at $85 with a $13 store coupon comes to $72 at the register and qualifies as tax-free.⁴

Manufacturer’s coupons do not. That same $85 jacket reduced to $72 with a manufacturer’s coupon is still treated as an $85 item and taxed at the full rate.⁴ Rebates work the same way: they happen after the sale and don’t change the qualifying price.

“Buy one, get one free” deals have their own trap. You can’t average the total across items. Pay $80 for one shirt and get a second shirt free, and the $80 shirt stays taxable because its individual price exceeds $75. The free shirt qualifies on its own at a price of zero.⁴

Deducting Ohio Sales Tax on Your Federal Return

If you itemize on your federal return, you can deduct the state and local sales tax you paid during the year, including tax on clothing bought in Ohio. You claim it on Schedule A, choosing between deducting state income tax or state sales tax, whichever produces the larger deduction.⁷

You don’t have to save every receipt. The IRS provides a Sales Tax Deduction Calculator that estimates annual sales tax based on your income, family size, and ZIP code, and you can add tax paid on large purchases on top of that estimate. For 2026, the total deduction for combined state and local taxes (income or sales, plus property taxes) is capped at $40,400 for most filers, with a phasedown starting at $505,000 in modified adjusted gross income. Married couples filing separately face a $20,200 cap.

Ohio residents who pay meaningful state income tax will usually come out ahead deducting income tax instead of sales tax, but it’s worth running both numbers if you made big taxable purchases during the year.

1
Ohio Department of Taxation. Total State and Local Sales Tax Rates by County
2
Ohio.gov. Annual Sales Tax Holiday
3
Ohio Department of Taxation. Sales and Use Tax
4
Ohio Department of Taxation. Ohio Sales Tax Holiday 2026
5
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 5739.02 – Levy of Sales Tax
6
Ohio Department of Taxation. Sales Tax Holiday FAQ Sheet
7
Internal Revenue Service. Use the Sales Tax Deduction Calculator