What Is Use Tax in Ohio: When You Owe, Exemptions, and Filing

Use tax in Ohio is a 5.75% state tax (plus any county and transit authority add-ons) that you owe when you buy something taxable without paying Ohio sales tax and then store, use, or consume it in Ohio. It most often comes up on purchases from smaller out-of-state sellers, private-party vehicle sales, and business orders from vendors that aren’t registered to collect Ohio tax. Combined state and local rates run from 5.75% up to 8.25% depending on where you live.1Ohio Department of Taxation. Sales and Use Tax Rate Change Effective April 1, 2025

Why Ohio Has a Use Tax at All

Ohio can’t always force a seller located outside the state to collect its sales tax. When collection doesn’t happen at the register, the law shifts the obligation to you. The statute calls it an excise tax on the “storage, use, or other consumption” of tangible personal property or the benefit of a taxable service in Ohio, and the consumer stays liable until the tax is paid.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5741 – 5741.02

The rate matches Ohio’s sales tax exactly: 5.75% at the state level, with counties and regional transit authorities layering on their own percentages.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5741 – 5741.02 Most Ohio counties land between 6.5% and 7.25%. The only thing that changes between sales tax and use tax is who writes the check. The amount is identical.

When You Actually Owe Use Tax

For individuals, use tax comes up less often than it used to. After the 2018 Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Ohio adopted economic nexus rules requiring out-of-state sellers with more than $100,000 in Ohio sales or 200 or more separate Ohio transactions in the current or previous calendar year to register and collect Ohio tax.3Ohio Department of Taxation. Sales and Use Tax Ohio also treats marketplace platforms as sellers under ORC 5741.01(E), so Amazon, eBay, Walmart.com, and Etsy collect Ohio tax on every transaction they facilitate regardless of the individual seller’s size.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5741 A 2025 update extended that definition to delivery network services as well.5Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Title 57 Chapter 5741 – 5741.01

What’s left? These are the situations where you still owe:

  • Purchases from independent websites or small out-of-state retailers that fall below the economic nexus thresholds and don’t sell through a marketplace.
  • Items you buy in another state and bring back to Ohio for use here.
  • Business equipment, supplies, and raw materials ordered from out-of-state vendors that aren’t registered with Ohio. This is the biggest audit exposure area.
  • Vehicles bought from a private party rather than a dealership. Ohio collects the use tax when you register the vehicle.
  • Catalog and phone orders from specialty vendors that don’t collect Ohio tax.

If you paid sales tax to another state on the same item, Ohio gives you credit for it. Pay 5% in another state on a $1,000 purchase and your Ohio county rate is 7.25%? You owe the 2.25% difference, which is $22.50. If the other state’s rate equaled or exceeded Ohio’s, you owe nothing. And if Ohio sales tax was already collected at checkout, there’s no use tax to pay. Check your receipts; the verification is on you.

What’s Exempt

Use tax exemptions track sales tax exemptions. If an item wouldn’t be taxed at an Ohio store, it isn’t taxed as a use tax purchase either.

  • Groceries sold for off-premises consumption. Prepared food and restaurant meals are still taxable.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5739 – 5739.02
  • Prescription medications, insulin, diabetic testing materials, and durable medical equipment bought with a prescription.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5739 – 5739.02
  • Items bought for resale, if you hold a valid vendor’s license.
  • Materials and equipment used directly in manufacturing or farming.
  • Non-taxable services. Ohio taxes only a limited list of services; professional work like legal, accounting, and medical services isn’t subject to sales or use tax.

How to Calculate and File

Multiply the purchase price by the combined state and local rate for the county where you’ll use the item, then subtract any sales tax you already paid to another state. A $500 untaxed purchase used in a county with an 8% combined rate works out to $40 in use tax.

Individuals

Most individuals pay use tax once a year on Line 12 of the Ohio IT 1040 income tax return.7Ohio Department of Taxation. 2025 Ohio IT 1040 Individual Income Tax Return The instructions include a worksheet for tallying untaxed purchases and computing what you owe.8Ohio Department of Taxation. 2025 Ohio IT 1040 and SD 100 Instructions If you’d rather pay outside the income tax cycle, Ohio also accepts a standalone Consumer Use Tax Return, Form UUT-1.

Businesses

Businesses file the Universal Sales Tax Return (Form UST-1), generally electronically through the Ohio Business Gateway at gateway.ohio.gov.9Ohio Department of Taxation. Ohio Universal Sales Tax Return (UST 1) Instructions Filing frequency depends on the size of your liability, with larger filers reporting monthly or quarterly instead of annually.

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

Interest accrues on unpaid balances from the due date until payment, at a rate set periodically by the Ohio Tax Commissioner. Businesses face additional charges tied to late or deficient payments and failures to file electronically when required.10Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5741 – 5741.122

Criminal penalties exist too. Under ORC 5741.99, a first offense can bring a fine of $25 to $100. Repeat violations rise to $100 to $500 for corporations, and individuals can face up to 60 days in jail along with fines.11Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5741 – 5741.99 These are rarely pursued against individuals who missed a few online purchases, but they signal that Ohio treats the obligation as real.

Then there’s the assessment window. Ohio generally has four years from the return’s due date or from when a return was actually filed (whichever is later) to assess unpaid sales and use tax. If you never filed a return for the period in question, no limitation period applies. Ohio can go back indefinitely.12Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5739 – 5739.16 That matters most for businesses buying from unregistered out-of-state vendors. Auditors compare accounts payable records against reported use tax, and the gap is where assessments come from. Keeping purchase receipts, invoices, and proof of tax paid to other states for at least four years is practical, and longer if you’re not sure a return was filed.