Toledo
Toledo's 2.5% municipal income tax is withheld by employers and paid to the City of Toledo Division of Taxation, monthly or quarterly depending on how much was withheld before. Lucas County's combined sales tax rate is 7.75% for October 1 to December 31, 2026. Ohio taxes residential and commercial cleaning, except for a provider with less than $5,000 in sales of that service in a calendar year.
A Toledo cleaning company deals with the city on payroll and with Lucas County on taxable invoices. Below are the city income tax and its filing calendar, a note on the city's contractor registration, the county sales tax rate, the state wage change in January, and what it all means for your books. State payroll registration is on my Ohio page.
The City of Toledo puts its income tax at 2.5%, and its 2025 withholding booklet gives January 1, 2021 as the effective date. The tax applies to residents and nonresidents 18 or older with earned income in Toledo. Employers withhold it and remit to the City of Toledo Division of Taxation: monthly if prior-year withholding exceeded $2,399 or any month of the prior quarter exceeded $200, and quarterly otherwise. Monthly payments are due 15 days after the month ends, and quarterly payments 30 days after the quarter ends.
The annual W-2 and W-3 filing carries two dates in the same booklet: its text says the last day of February, and its W-3 form says March 2, 2026. These details come from the 2025 edition of the booklet, since a 2026 edition wasn't reviewed for this page.
Toledo's income tax FAQ says contractors must register with the city's Income Tax Division before performing work in the city, and it mentions a $250 tax deposit at contractor registration and a Certificate of Compliance for building permits and licenses. It doesn't say whether a cleaning company counts as a contractor, and this page doesn't settle that.
Source: City of Toledo Income Tax Division, income tax FAQ (no page date shown)
The Ohio Department of Taxation's county rate table for October 1 to December 31, 2026 shows Lucas County's combined state and local rate at 7.75%. That figure is the total, not an add-on to the state rate. Ohio taxes residential and commercial cleaning, and its janitorial information release lists carpet and upholstery cleaning, window washing, and power washing building exteriors as taxable. A provider with less than $5,000 in sales of this service in a calendar year isn't providing taxable building maintenance and janitorial service. The rest of the conditions are on my Ohio sales tax page.
Source: Ohio Department of Taxation, Sales and Use Tax Rates by County, October 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026
Source: Ohio Revised Code 5739.01 Definitions
Ohio doesn't have local minimum wages, so Toledo crews fall under the state rate. That's $11.00 an hour for 2026, with a January 1 effective date that is inferred, because the 2026 poster sets the rate without a date and the Ohio Constitution makes annual increases effective January 1. The Department of Commerce's 2027 poster moves it to $11.40 on January 1, 2027. The same poster also moves the small-employer gross receipts threshold to $419,000.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, State Minimum Wage Laws (2026-07-01)
Source: Ohio Revised Code 4111.02
Source: Ohio Constitution Article II, Section 34a
City withholding goes to a liability account of its own, apart from Ohio withholding and from collected sales tax. A Toledo payroll tax line isn't just a number taken out of each check. It's last year's withholding total, which sets how often you remit, it's each month of the prior quarter measured against $200, and it's a set of due dates that shifts with the answer. Payroll is recorded at the wage actually paid, as my payroll page explains, and taxable sales are tracked year to date against the $5,000 line.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I keep the city withholding and the sales tax recorded and separate; whether you remit monthly or quarterly, whether contractor registration reaches your company, and how each return gets 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 Toledo 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
Toledo's city tax comes out of payroll on a calendar set by past withholding, last year's total and each month of the prior quarter, so the books keep those figures where they can be found. Withheld city tax and collected sales tax each get a liability account, and neither one lands in income. Book a short call below and tell me how your Toledo payroll is set up.
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.
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Cleaning in Toledo and not sure which month the city tax is due? Tell me how payroll runs now. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
