Cleveland
Cleveland's municipal income tax is 2.50%, collected by the Central Collection Agency (CCA), and employers doing business in a CCA community with one or more employees must file and pay withholding. Those withholding more than $200 a month file monthly; those always at $200 or less may file quarterly. Ohio taxes cleaning except for a provider with less than $5,000 in calendar-year sales of it.
In Cleveland, the city tax covered here is the one on wages. This page covers the 2.50% rate, the CCA filing rules, where sales tax stands, and what it all means for your books. State payroll registration and the minimum wage are on my Ohio page.
The CCA's tax rate table lists Cleveland at 2.50%, with a 100% credit for residents on tax paid to other cities, up to 2.50%. The same row appears in the tables for tax years 2020 through 2026, and the page gives no effective date. Under ORC 718, employers doing business in a CCA community with one or more employees must file and pay withholding. The CCA's 2026 withholding form (CCA-102) sets the rhythm: monthly for employers withholding more than $200 a month, and quarterly allowed for those always at $200 or less. The rate page doesn't separately state how nonresidents are treated, so this page doesn't cover that.
Source: Central Collection Agency, 2026 Employer's Return of Income Tax Withheld (Form CCA-102) (12/27/2025)
Ohio taxes residential and commercial cleaning, except for a provider with less than $5,000 in sales of that service in a calendar year, and county and transit rates add to the state rate. Your CPA can confirm the rate for a specific address, and the state detail is on my Ohio sales tax page.
Source: Ohio Revised Code 5739.01 Definitions
For October 1 through December 31, 2026, the Ohio Department of Taxation's county rate table lists Cuyahoga County, Cleveland's county, at a combined state and local sales and use tax rate of 8.00%.
Source: Ohio Department of Taxation, Sales and Use Tax Rates by County, October 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026
Withheld city tax goes to a liability account of its own, apart from Ohio withholding, and the monthly or quarterly rhythm follows the $200 line. If a city withholding account is new to you, it can feel like one more thing on a full plate. Stop worrying. I've got you. One rate, one account. Payroll is recorded at the wage actually paid, as my payroll page explains, and collected sales tax stays out of revenue.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I keep the withholding recorded and separate; whether you file monthly or quarterly, and how the city and sales tax returns get filed, are questions for your CPA.
Rules checked against the sources above as of October 20, 2026. Rates and rules change; confirm current figures with the agency or your CPA.
About Figure Eight Financial
Figure Eight Financial is Dave Gordon’s bookkeeping practice for residential and commercial cleaning companies. I work with owners in Cleveland and across the country, and I’m a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor.
Before bookkeeping I studied computer science at Penn State and spent a career at IBM as an engineer, so I build the books as a system: data comes in once, lands in the right place, and ties back to a statement. I’m a bookkeeper, not a CPA or Enrolled Agent. I keep the books your CPA works from, and the tax decisions stay with your CPA.
Credentials and memberships reported by Figure Eight Financial.
More about DaveHow I Help
Cleveland's 2.50% city tax comes out of payroll, so it gets a liability account of its own, separate from Ohio withholding and from any sales tax you collect. Payroll goes in at the wage your crews are actually paid. Book a short call below and walk me through your Cleveland payroll.
The core service. Transactions recorded and categorized, every account reconciled so the books and the bank agree, and monthly reports that arrive explained, split by residential and commercial and sliceable per contract.
The full picture of how this works for a cleaning companyFor the months where nothing got entered at all. I fill in the missing periods from the ground up, pulling bank feeds, statements, and receipts until every month has a complete set of records.
How catch-up bookkeeping worksFor books that exist but can’t be trusted. I audit what’s there, fix the unreconciled accounts, duplicate transactions, and wrong categories, and tie every balance back to a statement.
How cleanup bookkeeping worksYour crews paid on time, every pay period, with each payroll run recorded in the books so labor shows up against the jobs it belongs to.
How payroll worksRecurring invoices that match your contracts, an aging report you can trust, and follow-up on slow payers handled by a process instead of your evenings. Built for net-60 commercial accounts.
How invoicing and receivables workA file built right for a cleaning company from day one, or rebuilt after the DIY version drifts, and then I teach you to run it. I’m a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, and this is honestly my favorite part of the job.
How a proper setup worksWe start with a short call about your business and where the books stand. The first conversation doesn’t cost anything.
I take a look at what you’ve got, your QuickBooks file, your spreadsheet, whatever exists.
You get a written proposal with the price, so the decision is yours with the number in hand.
Let's Connect
Cleaning in Cleveland and want the city tax sorted out of your payroll? Tell me how you run payroll now. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
