Small Business Development Guide
Sales Tax Issues
Vendor's License
The regular vendor's license notifies the state treasurer's office that your business will need to collect and remit sales tax for the retail sales of tangible property. You can obtain a vendor's license from the county auditor's office for the county in which your business is located. The fee is $25.
If you are going to sell goods at locations away from a fixed place of business, at short-term fairs, trade shows, and special events, you may obtain a transient vendor's license for $25. Contact the Ohio Department of Taxation at (800) 282-1780 (website: www.state.oh.us/tax) or the county in which your business resides to see if you fall within a business classification that must collect and remit sales tax.
Service Vendor's License
The State of Ohio now requires many service businesses to collect and remit sales tax on the services that the businesses provide. The businesses required to get a service vendor's license are as follows:
- Automatic data processing and computer services
- Employment services
- Information services (including 1-900 services)
- Employment placement services
- Building maintenance and janitorial services
- Landscaping services
- Exterminating services
- Security services
Contact the Ohio Department of Taxation at (800) 282-1780 or the county in which your business resides to see if you fall i within a business classification that must collect and remit sales tax.
Certificate of Exemption
A common misconception about sales tax is that you must have a vendor's license to purchase goods wholesale (without paying sales tax). What you actually need to purchase goods for the purpose of reselling is a certificate of exemption that can be obtained in most office supply stores. If you are selling to a business that is not the end user of the product and will resell the item, then that business does not pay you sales tax; instead, they must provide you with a certificate of exemption that you keep on file.