A RITA tax in Ohio is the municipal income tax collected by the Regional Income Tax Agency on behalf of more than 390 Ohio cities and villages.1As of the end of 2024, the agency administered taxes for over 390 member municipalities and more than 450 total taxing jurisdictions. If you are 18 or older and live in a RITA member municipality, you must file an annual return, even if you owe nothing. The same requirement applies to non-residents who earn income or do business inside one of those municipalities. Rates are set locally, not by RITA, and run from under 1% up to 2.5% in cities like Cleveland, Columbus, and Toledo, with a handful of smaller jurisdictions reaching 3%.
What RITA Actually Does
RITA does not write tax law. Each member city or village passes its own income tax ordinance, and RITA runs the back office: processing returns, collecting payments, and distributing the money back to the local treasury. That is why your tax rate, your credit for taxes paid to another city, and your filing requirements can look different from a neighbor’s a few miles away. The agency is a shared service, overseen by a Board of Trustees drawn from the member municipalities, which keeps administrative costs spread across all of them.
Who Has to File
Ohio’s rules catch people off guard because filing is mandatory regardless of whether you owe anything. If you are 18 or older and live in a RITA municipality, you file. If you work in or earn business income from a RITA municipality, you file. Assuming you can skip the return because your employer already withheld, or because your income is exempt, is one of the most common mistakes, and it can trigger a late-filing penalty that has nothing to do with the tax itself.
A few groups are off the hook. People under 18 are generally not subject to municipal tax and do not have to file. Retirees with no taxable income can submit a one-time exemption form reporting their retirement date, and after that no further returns or exemption forms are required.
What Income Is Taxed, and What Isn’t
Municipal tax in Ohio applies to earned income: wages, salaries, commissions, and net profits from a business, profession, or rental activity. On your W-2, the taxable wage figure is the greater of Box 5 (Medicare wages) or Box 18 (local wages). That number is usually higher than your federal taxable wages because 401(k) contributions and deferred compensation are added back for municipal purposes. Report the higher figure.
A substantial category of income is exempt by state law:
- Social Security and railroad retirement benefits
- Pensions, annuities, and retirement plan distributions
- Unemployment compensation (except supplemental unemployment pay)
- Disability payments from private insurers or any level of government
- Intangible income, meaning interest, dividends, capital gains, and other income from investments, patents, copyrights, or similar assets
The intangible income exemption surprises people the most. If your only income is from investment accounts or retirement distributions, you likely owe no municipal tax at all. Military pay also gets favorable treatment: active-duty pay earned while stationed outside Ohio is deductible, and military retirement pay qualifies for a deduction as well.
Living in One City, Working in Another
Your local tax obligation can arise twice: once where you live, once where you work. If you live in a RITA municipality, you report all of your earned income there. If you work somewhere else, your employer withholds for the work city. When both the home city and the work city levy a tax, the overlap is handled through a credit.
That credit is not automatic across the state. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 718.04, each municipality decides by ordinance whether to offer a credit for taxes paid to another city and how much to allow.2ORC 718.04 Some cities credit the full amount paid to the work city, up to the resident city’s own rate. Others cap it lower. The size of that credit determines whether you owe your home city anything on top of what was withheld at work, so check your home city’s ordinance or look up the rate and credit on the RITA website before you assume you are even.
Part-Year Residents
If you moved into or out of a RITA municipality during the year, allocate your income between the periods of residency. Income earned while you were not a resident can be excluded. On Form 37, the dates your income was earned go in Column 6 of Section A, and the same allocation applies to non-wage income on Schedule J. RITA publishes allocation examples. Doing this carefully when you move mid-year can meaningfully reduce your bill.
How to File
Individuals file Form 37, which combines all income sources into a single municipal return. The deadline is April 15 following the close of the tax year; for tax year 2025, that is April 15, 2026. New residents or anyone earning income in a RITA municipality for the first time should also complete Form 75 to establish a tax account.
Before you start, gather:
- All W-2 forms, with particular attention to Box 5, Box 18, and Box 19 (local tax withheld)
- Pages 1 and 2 of your federal Form 1040, including Schedule 1
- Federal Schedules C, E, or F for self-employment, rental, or farm income
- Any 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC, or K-1 forms for non-wage income
RITA offers two electronic filing options. MyAccount is the full-service portal, where you can file, pay, and view your account history. FastFile is a lighter-weight option for simpler returns. Both generate a confirmation number and are usually acknowledged within a few business days. Paper returns are still accepted but take weeks to post, and RITA uses different mailing addresses depending on whether you are enclosing a payment, so confirm the current address on the RITA website.
Extensions
A federal extension automatically extends your RITA return; just attach a copy when you eventually file. If you have not requested a federal extension, you can get a six-month municipal extension by submitting Form 32 EST-EXT on or before April 15. Either way, the extension gives you more time to file, not more time to pay. Interest accrues on any tax still owed after the original April deadline.
Quarterly Estimated Payments
If your municipal tax liability after credits and withholding will be $200 or more for the year, Ohio requires quarterly estimated payments. This typically catches self-employed people, landlords, and anyone whose employer does not withhold local tax. For tax year 2026, the due dates are:
- First quarter: April 15, 2026
- Second quarter: June 15, 2026
- Third quarter: September 15, 2026
- Fourth quarter: January 15, 2027
If a due date falls on a weekend or holiday, it shifts to the next business day. Underpaying triggers the same penalty and interest rules that apply to any late balance, so err on the side of overestimating.
Penalties, Interest, and Payment Plans
Under Ohio Revised Code Section 718.27, interest on unpaid tax, whether from your annual return or missed estimates, accrues at the federal short-term rate rounded to the nearest whole percent, plus five percentage points. That rate resets each calendar year based on the prior July’s federal short-term rate.3ORC 718.27
On top of interest, RITA can assess a penalty of up to 15% of any income or estimated tax not paid on time. Late-filed returns carry a penalty of up to $25 per return, with one exception: the late-filing penalty must be waived the first time you fail to file on time, as long as you eventually submit the return. Employers who withhold tax from paychecks and fail to remit it face a stiffer penalty of up to 50%.
For balances of $250 or more on returns you have already filed, RITA offers monthly payment plans. You can enroll through MyAccount or by calling Collections at (800) 860-7482, ext. 5004. You pick your monthly due date, and once the plan is in place, penalty and interest freeze on those tax years. Miss a payment and the freeze lifts; new tax year balances can be rolled in, raising your monthly amount. Payment plans are not available for estimated payments.
Getting a Refund When You Overpaid
Overpayments happen often, usually because an employer withheld for the wrong municipality or at the wrong rate. To get the money back, file Form 10A by mail with your W-2 and supporting documentation. RITA does not accept Form 10A electronically, and each claim needs its own form: one per employer, per municipality, per tax year.
Refund requests must reach RITA within three years of the original filing deadline. An overpayment from tax year 2025, with its April 15, 2026 deadline, has to be claimed by April 15, 2029. Amounts of $10 or less are not refundable. Your account also has to be current; if you owe anything, RITA applies the approved refund to the outstanding balance first.