How much is tax, title and license in Ohio?

On a $40,000 new car it comes to about $2,962 — $2,900 of sales tax and $62 of title and registration fees. The tax scales with the price, the fees mostly do not, so a cheaper car pays much less tax but roughly the same fees.

What is the car sales tax rate in Ohio?

5.75% statewide. Ohio charges the sales tax at the rate for your own county, collected by the clerk of courts when the title is transferred. Where you bought the car does not change it.

Does a trade-in lower the sales tax in Ohio?

Yes. Ohio charges tax on the price after the dealer's trade-in allowance is deducted, so a $10,000 trade-in on a $40,000 car saves you 5.75% of $10,000 in tax. This only works when the dealer takes the trade in the same transaction — selling your old car privately first does not count.

What is the title fee in Ohio?

$18. It is charged once, to put the car in your name, and it is the same for everyone — it is not a dealer charge and it is not negotiable.

How much is car registration in Ohio each year?

About $62 is due at signing for the title and first registration, and roughly $44 a year after that for a gas car. Electric cars pay more in most states because of road-use fees that replace fuel tax.

Is the dealer documentation fee included in this?

No, and that is deliberate. The documentation fee is the dealership's charge, not the state's, and Ohio does not publish it — so there is no figure we could cite. It is also the one line on the paperwork worth questioning. Everything in the total above is fixed by law.

Free calculator · Ohio

Ohio Car Tax, Title and License Calculator

Tax, title and license on a $40,000 new car in Ohio comes to about $2,962 — $2,900 of that sales tax and $62 government fees. Put your own price in below and every charge is itemized, with a link to the agency that publishes each figure.

Fill in two things and you have your answer. Everything below is prefilled with the most common case, so change only what applies to you.

Price you agreed to pay

Prefilled with $40,000, the median price of the 81 new models we track. Use the price on your quote.

Trade-in allowance

Ohio taxes the price after your trade-in comes off, so this lowers your tax. Leave it at 0 if you are not trading a car in.

Your county

Ohio charges the sales tax at YOUR county’s rate, collected when the title transfers — not the dealership’s. Rates run from 6.50% to 8.00%.

What it runs on

Florida charges no extra fee on electric cars.

Paying cash or financing?

Financing adds a small fee to record the lender’s lien on your title.

Tax, title and license in Ohio

$2,962

on top of the $40,000 price — $2,900 of it tax, $62 government fees. Then $44 a year to keep it registered.

Every charge, itemized
Charge	When	At signing
State sales tax (5.75%)	Once, at signing	$2,300.00
County sales tax	Once, at signing	$600.00
Certificate of titleThe BMV publishes $18 as the statewide title fee. A county whose officials have approved the local addition charges $23 instead.	Once, at signing	$18.00
Passenger vehicle registration	Every year	$36.00
Deputy registrar service feeCharged per registration transaction. A one-year registration is $8; longer terms cost $4 more per additional year.	Every year	$8.00
Total due at signing		$2,962.00

The short answer

Ohio charges 5.75% sales tax on the price after your trade-in comes off, plus $62 in title and registration fees on a typical new car. Ohio has two local charges people mix up: a county sales tax on the price, and a separate "permissive tax" of up to $30 on the registration. They are not the same thing.

Ohio charges the sales tax at the rate for your own county, collected by the clerk of courts when the title is transferred. Where you bought the car does not change it.
A trade-in reduces the taxable price only when the vehicle you are buying is NEW. Trading a car in against a used one does not lower the tax in Ohio.
Combined state and county rates run from 6.50% to 8.00%. The 5.75% state share is the same everywhere.
Keeping it on the road afterwards costs $44 a year in Ohio.
This covers the charges that go to the government. What the dealer adds on top — the documentation fee especially — is a separate fight; see which dealer fees are negotiable.

What each charge on a Ohio car actually is

Four kinds of money change hands when you buy a car, and only two of them are fixed by law. Knowing which is which is the difference between paying the right amount and paying whatever the paperwork says.

Who charges what
Charge	Who sets it	Can you argue with it?
Sales tax	Ohio law — 5.75% statewide	No. The rate is fixed. What you can change is the taxable amount, by negotiating the price down or the trade-in up.
Title fee	Ohio, to put the car in your name	No. It is the same figure for everyone.
Registration and plates	Ohio, to put it on the road	No, though the amount depends on the vehicle and where you live.
Dealer documentation fee	The dealership	Yes — this one is the dealer's, not the state's. It is not in the total above.

First time buying? The short version: the price you agree on is not the money you hand over. Add roughly $2,962 in Ohio on a $40,000 car before the dealer adds anything of their own. Budget for it up front, because it is due at signing and it cannot be talked down.

What this calculator leaves out, and why

Everything above is a charge Ohio publishes. These are the ones it does not, so we do not guess at them — an invented number would be worse than a missing one.

The local permissive tax on your registration — up to $30 a year, levied in $5 increments. It is set by your TAXING DISTRICT, which is your city or township rather than your county, so the county you pick above cannot resolve it. Ohio publishes every district’s amount in the BMV’s Taxing District Code Book. Add up to $30 a year to the registration figures below.
The $5 county addition to the title fee. The BMV publishes $18 as the statewide figure and this model uses it; counties whose officials have approved the addition charge $23.
The dealer documentation fee, consistent with every other state in this tool.
Two sub-county transit levies that are municipal rather than county-wide: the 1.00% COTA levy in parts of Delaware, Fairfield, Licking and Union counties, and the City of Rossford’s 0.50% levy in Wood County. A buyer inside those city limits pays slightly more than the county rate shown.
Used, private-party and lease transactions, which are taxed differently — in particular a trade-in does not reduce tax on a used purchase.
Deputy registrar service fees for multi-year registrations, since this model prices the one-year term issued at purchase.

Where these numbers come from

Every figure on this page is published by the agency that charges it. Nothing is estimated, averaged or copied from another calculator. Here is each document and the date we last read it.

Ohio sources, last checked 2026-08-01
Document	Published by	Last verified
Documents & Fees — Vehicle Registration (Vehicle registration fees last updated 2026-01-05)	Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles	2026-08-01
Taxing District Code Book — permissive tax by district	Ohio Department of Public Safety	2026-08-01
Sales and Use Tax Rate Map — State and Permissive Rates by County (Published March 31, 2026; rates in effect October 2025)	Ohio Department of Taxation, Tax Analysis	2026-08-01
Motor Vehicle Taxability — Dealers	Ohio Department of Taxation	2026-08-01

We re-check every state once a year and show the date here rather than quietly serving an old figure. Fee schedules move with legislative sessions, so if you are reading this well after the date above, confirm the total with your county tax office before you sign.

Frequently asked questions

How much is tax, title and license in Ohio?: On a $40,000 new car it comes to about $2,962 — $2,900 of sales tax and $62 of title and registration fees. The tax scales with the price, the fees mostly do not, so a cheaper car pays much less tax but roughly the same fees.
What is the car sales tax rate in Ohio?: 5.75% statewide. Ohio charges the sales tax at the rate for your own county, collected by the clerk of courts when the title is transferred. Where you bought the car does not change it.
Does a trade-in lower the sales tax in Ohio?: Yes. Ohio charges tax on the price after the dealer's trade-in allowance is deducted, so a $10,000 trade-in on a $40,000 car saves you 5.75% of $10,000 in tax. This only works when the dealer takes the trade in the same transaction — selling your old car privately first does not count.
What is the title fee in Ohio?: $18. It is charged once, to put the car in your name, and it is the same for everyone — it is not a dealer charge and it is not negotiable.
How much is car registration in Ohio each year?: About $62 is due at signing for the title and first registration, and roughly $44 a year after that for a gas car. Electric cars pay more in most states because of road-use fees that replace fuel tax.
Is the dealer documentation fee included in this?: No, and that is deliberate. The documentation fee is the dealership's charge, not the state's, and Ohio does not publish it — so there is no figure we could cite. It is also the one line on the paperwork worth questioning. Everything in the total above is fixed by law.

The same calculator for other states

We build these one state at a time, because each one is a different fee architecture rather than the same table with different numbers. 7 states are live so far.