Ohio municipal income tax for employers

Who collects: RITA, CCA or the city

Before you can withhold, you need two facts per work location: the rate and the administrator.

• RITA. The Regional Income Tax Agency collects for its member municipalities. Its rates table did not load for our reader on October 16, 2026, so pull rates from RITA's table directly or from The Finder file.
• CCA. Cleveland's Central Collection Agency collects for Cleveland and a group of other members.
• Self-administered cities. Columbus and Cincinnati run their own income tax divisions. We could not read a current Columbus rate from an official page on October 16, 2026, so we do not print one; use The Finder.

The Finder looks up a rate by street address, ZIP+4 or latitude and longitude, handles JEDD and JEDZ districts, and offers a downloadable rate table with begin date, end date, FIPS code, municipality and rate. School district income taxes are a separate tax and are not covered here; the Ohio payroll tax page flags them.

The rates and rules

Cleveland and the other CCA members

The CCA's 2026 withholding form lists Cleveland at 2.5% and gives rates for other members, including:

CCA sets the filing schedule by how much you withhold. Over $200 a month: monthly, due the 15th of the next month. Always $200 or less: quarterly, due the last day of the month after the quarter. Semimonthly filers pay by the third banking day after the 15th and after month end.

Cincinnati's 1.8% and the resident credit

Cincinnati has charged 1.8% since October 2, 2020, down from 2.1%. Residents get credit, up to 1.8%, for tax paid to another locality. The city's separate payroll withholding frequency summary was not read for this page, so get the schedule from the Income Tax Division when you register.

One $60,000 employee, worked two ways

Works in Cleveland: $60,000 x 2.5% = $1,500.00 a year, or $125.00 a month. A business with just this employee always withholds $200 or less a month, so it files quarterly with CCA. Two such employees put it at $250.00 a month and move it to monthly filing.

Works in Cincinnati: $60,000 x 1.8% = $1,080.00 a year.

Lives in Cincinnati, works in Cleveland: Cleveland's 2.5% is withheld ($1,500.00). Cincinnati's credit covers up to 1.8% of the tax paid elsewhere, which is $1,080.00, the same as Cincinnati's own tax on this salary, so on these figures nothing more is owed to Cincinnati. Whether an employer must also withhold for the resident city when the work city's rate is lower is a rule we did not verify; ask the resident city.

Ohio's state income tax and the 2.7% new employer SUTA rate on $9,000 (plus Ohio's 0.15% technology and customer service fee) come on top; see SUTA rates by state and run totals in the employee cost calculator.

Remote, traveling and cross-border staff

Ohio municipal withholding is generally tied to where the work is done, and Ohio law has a rule for employees who work in a city only occasionally, often called the 20-day rule. We did not read either rule on an official page this month, so read Ohio Revised Code chapter 718 or ask the administrator before you rely on it for a field sales team or remote staff.

For staff who commute across the state line, note that Pennsylvania lists Ohio among its reciprocal states for state income tax. That agreement covers state tax only. It does not touch city tax or the Pennsylvania local EIT.

Checklist before your first Ohio payroll

1. Run every work address through The Finder and save the result with its date.
2. Note the administrator (RITA, CCA or the city) and register with each one.
3. Check for a school district income tax at the employee's home address.
4. Confirm your payroll provider files with each administrator, not just calculates. OnPay says local filings are included in $49 a month plus $6 per worker (checked October 16, 2026); compare others in the payroll software rankings.
5. Recheck rates at least each January, using the begin and end dates in The Finder file.

Neighboring states run city taxes differently: compare Michigan's city income taxes and Kentucky's occupational license taxes, or start from the payroll tax hub.