Ohio Paystub Generator

Ohio State Income Tax in 2026

Ohio switched to a flat income tax on January 1, 2026 under House Bill 96, the state budget signed in June 2025. The first $26,050 of income is taxed at 0%. Everything above that is taxed at a single rate of 2.75%, no matter how much you earn.

This replaced the old graduated brackets. In 2025 there was still a top rate of 3.125% on income over $100,000. That top bracket is gone for 2026, so a stub for a higher earner now uses the same 2.75% rate as everyone else. Business income from sole proprietorships, partnerships, and S corps is still taxed separately at a flat 3% after the first $250,000 deduction.

Employees set their state withholding with Form IT 4, the Ohio Employee's Withholding Exemption Certificate. If a worker never files one, the employer withholds as if zero exemptions were claimed.

Ohio Municipal Income Tax

This is where Ohio gets complicated. More than 600 Ohio cities and villages levy their own income tax, usually between 0.5% and 3%, with 2% being the most common. These are collected by the Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA), the Central Collection Agency (CCA), or by the city directly — not by the state.

Municipal tax is generally based on where you work, not only where you live. The 2026 resident rates for several large Ohio cities are below.

If you live in one taxing city and work in another, most cities with a 2% or higher rate give a credit (often 100%) for tax paid to your work city. Ohio also has a 20-day rule: if you work in a city 20 or fewer days in a year, you generally do not owe that city's tax for those days. Confirm your city's current rate with RITA, CCA, or the municipality before relying on any published figure.

Ohio School District Income Tax (SDIT)

Ohio is the rare state that lets school districts levy an income tax on top of state and city tax. Around 200 districts impose the School District Income Tax. It is based on where you live, not where you work, so two employees at the same company can have different SDIT obligations depending on their home address.

If an employee resides in a taxing school district, the employer must withhold SDIT and remit it to the state. There are two bases: a traditional base (tied to Ohio taxable income) and an earned-income-only base. Districts and their four-digit codes can be looked up using The Finder on the Ohio Department of Taxation site. A correct Ohio stub for a resident of a taxing district shows a separate SDIT line, kept distinct from any city tax.

What Ohio Does Not Take Out

Ohio has no state disability insurance and no paid family leave payroll deduction. Unemployment tax (SUTA) is paid by the employer on the first $9,000 of wages and does not appear as an employee deduction. Workers' compensation runs through the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, a state-run fund, and is also employer-paid. The only state and local items withheld from an Ohio worker's check are state income tax, municipal income tax, and SDIT when it applies.

The Pay Stub Protection Act

For most of its history, Ohio did not require employers to give workers a pay stub at all. That changed with House Bill 106, the Pay Stub Protection Act (PSPA), codified at Ohio Revised Code Section 4113.14 and effective April 9, 2025.

The law applies to every employer in Ohio with at least one employee, including out-of-state companies that employ Ohio workers. Each employee must get a written or electronic statement of earnings and deductions for every pay period, on the regular payday.

Required Information on an Ohio Pay Stub

Under the PSPA, each Ohio pay statement must include:

• Employee name and address
• Employer name
• Total gross wages earned during the pay period
• Total net wages paid for the pay period
• A list of the amount and purpose of each addition to or deduction from wages
• The pay date and the beginning and ending dates of the pay period
• For hourly employees: total hours worked, the hourly rate, and any overtime hours beyond 40 in a workweek

When you create your check stub with our tool, these fields are built in, so an Ohio stub meets the statute instead of leaving gaps.

Electronic Stubs and Enforcement

Ohio allows pay stubs to be delivered either on paper or electronically. There is no paper mandate, so electronic-only delivery is fine as long as the employee can access the statement.

The PSPA does not let employees sue over a missing stub. Instead, a worker who does not receive one submits a written request to the employer. The employer then has 10 days to provide it. If they fail, the employee can report the violation to the Ohio Director of Commerce, who can investigate and issue a notice of violation that the employer must post on-site for 10 days.

Record Retention in Ohio

Ohio Revised Code Section 4111.08 requires employers to keep payroll records for at least three years. That includes each employee's name, address, occupation, rate of pay, the amount paid each pay period, and hours worked each day and each workweek. The IRS expects employment tax records to be kept for four years, so many Ohio employers retain stubs and payroll registers for four years to stay aligned with both.

Tipped Workers

Ohio's 2026 minimum wage is $11.00 per hour for non-tipped employees and $5.50 per hour for tipped employees. These rates apply to employers grossing more than $405,000 a year. Smaller employers, and workers aged 14 and 15, follow the federal minimum of $7.25.

The tipped rate is set at half the standard wage, and it adjusts every January 1 with inflation. An employer can pay the $5.50 cash wage only if tips bring the worker to at least $11.00 for every hour worked. If they fall short, the employer must make up the difference, and the tip credit math should be visible on the stub.

Public-Sector and University Employees

Ohio public workers have an unusual paystub. Most do not pay into Social Security. Instead they contribute to a state retirement system, and that contribution appears where Social Security normally would.

Members of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) contribute 10% of salary. Members of the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS Ohio) contribute 14%. School employees, police, and firefighters have their own systems (SERS, OP&F). On these stubs you will see an OPERS or STRS deduction and no Social Security (OASDI) line, though most still pay Medicare. If you generate a stub for an Ohio public employee, this is the detail to get right.

Dominant Industries

Manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics drive much of Ohio's payroll. None of these carry a special state-mandated employee deduction beyond the standard state, city, and school district taxes. The complexity in Ohio comes from location — which city and which school district — not from the industry itself.

Proof of income requests in Ohio almost always trace back to the same local-tax reality. Lenders and landlords in Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati often want stubs that show city withholding, because that confirms where you actually work and live.

Common Ohio situations include renting in a competitive market like Columbus, applying for a mortgage in a fast-growing suburb, or documenting income for a self-employed gig where no employer issues a stub. Ohio's Medicaid and public-assistance programs through Job and Family Services also ask for recent pay documentation.

If you are self-employed or a 1099 contractor, you will not get a stub from anyone, yet you still need one for these purposes. That is a good moment to generate a pay stub that reflects your real Ohio income and the local taxes tied to it.

Your pay stubs across the year add up to your W-2. The year-to-date totals on your final Ohio stub for gross wages, state tax, city tax, and school district tax should match the matching boxes on your W-2. If they do not, something was misreported during the year.

Ohio uses the standard state boxes. Box 15 shows "OH" and the employer's Ohio withholding account number. Box 16 reports Ohio wages, and Box 17 reports Ohio income tax withheld. Because Ohio has an income tax, these boxes should carry real dollar figures, not zeros.

Local Reporting on Ohio W-2s

Local reporting is where Ohio stands out. Boxes 18, 19, and 20 handle both city and school district tax, and they must be kept on separate lines. City withholding goes on one line, and SDIT goes on another — with the four-digit school district number listed next to the district name in Box 20. Combining them on one line is a frequent Ohio filing error that triggers notices from RITA and CCA.

Multi-state and multi-city situations add complexity. An Ohio resident who works across a state line, or who works in a different Ohio city than they live in, may see multiple Box 18–20 entries and rely on credits to avoid double tax. Always compare each W-2 box against your final stub, and request a W-2c correction from your employer if the city or school district amounts do not line up.

Generate Your Ohio W-2 Form

Need to produce a year-end form too? Our Ohio W-2 Generator handles state and local tax boxes, including separate lines for municipal and school district withholding, so the document matches Ohio's reporting rules.