Kentucky sales tax on invoices (2026 guide)

Kentucky's sales and use tax is a flat 6%, and the Department of Revenue says there are no local sales and use taxes — so 6% is the rate anywhere in the state.

What has changed is what Kentucky taxes. Since 2018, and again in 2023, Kentucky added dozens of services to the sales tax base — from landscaping and cleaning to photography, website design and software as a service. In 2026 it added data brokering services too. If you're a freelancer or small service business in Kentucky, there's a real chance some of your work is taxable.

Kentucky sales tax rates

The Department says tax must be calculated to the nearest penny, regardless of how the customer pays.

Which services are taxable in Kentucky?

Kentucky taxes goods, digital property and the services listed in KRS 139.200. The services added since 2018 are listed on the Department's tax registration application (Form 10A100):

Taxable since July 1, 2018

• Landscaping — lawn care, tree trimming and removal, landscape design and installation, snow plowing or removal
• Janitorial — residential and commercial cleaning, carpet, upholstery and window cleaning (the Department treats power washing as janitorial)
• Small animal veterinary services and pet care — grooming, boarding, pet sitting, obedience training
• Industrial laundry, linen supply, non-coin-operated laundry and dry cleaning
• Indoor skin tanning and non-medical diet and weight-reducing services
• Photography and photo finishing
• Telemarketing and public opinion and research polling
• Rental of space for meetings, weddings, parties and other short-term events
• Leisure, recreational and athletic instruction and social event planning and coordination

Taxable since January 1, 2023

• Website design and development and website hosting
• Prewritten computer software access services (software as a service)
• Interior decorating and design
• Specialized design — clothing, fashion, jewelry, shoes, textiles and lighting
• Household moving, private mailroom services and parking services
• Personal fitness training, recreational camp tuition and fees, and massage unless medically necessary
• Lobbying and executive employee recruitment
• Private investigation, bodyguard, process server, personal background check, repossession and security system monitoring services
• Cosmetic surgery, body modification such as tattooing, and laboratory testing (except medical, educational or veterinary testing)
• Labor to repair or alter apparel, footwear, watches or jewelry, lapidary services, and commercial refrigeration repair
• Road and travel services provided by automobile clubs

Taxable since August 1, 2026: data brokering services, added by House Bill 757.

Kentucky also taxes extended warranty services, admissions, and labor or installation charges connected with a taxable sale.

Registering for a Kentucky sales tax permit

You register for a sales and use tax permit through the Department's MyTaxes portal (or on Form 10A100), and file your returns there too.

The $12,000 exemption. Since January 1, 2025, the first $12,000 of gross receipts per calendar year from the services that became taxable in 2018 and 2023 can be exempt. A provider that sells only these services and stays under $12,000 may not need an active permit, but once you go over, everything above $12,000 is taxable that year and all of your receipts are taxable in later years. The exemption doesn't apply if you also sell goods, digital property or certain other taxable services.

Remote sellers: since August 1, 2026, an out-of-state seller must register and collect Kentucky tax once its gross receipts from sales into Kentucky exceed $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year. House Bill 757 removed the old 200-transaction test.

What a Kentucky sales tax invoice should show

• your business name and address,
• the customer's name and address,
• a unique invoice number and the invoice date,
• a description and price for each item or service,
• taxable and nontaxable work on separate lines,
• sales tax as a separate line at 6%, and
• the total due.

Separate lines really matter here. Under Kentucky's bundling rule, if you sell a taxable and a nontaxable item for one price, the whole price is taxable. In Invoice Native, tick Tax only on the taxable lines.

Resale and exemption certificates

A business buying from you to resell gives you Form 51A105, Resale Certificate. The buyer must have an active Kentucky sales tax account, and can mark the form as a blanket certificate for future purchases or for a single purchase. Kentucky also accepts the Streamlined Sales Tax Exemption Form (51A260) and the Multistate Tax Commission's Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate.

Supplies you use up while providing a taxable service — like cleaning chemicals for a power-washing job — aren't bought for resale, so you pay tax on them. For other exempt customers, see how to invoice a tax-exempt customer.

A worked example

This one comes from the Department's own guidance. Say you're a landscaper in Lexington and your contract covers:

• $4,000 to build a retaining wall (construction, not taxable), and
• $1,500 to plant shrubbery (landscaping, taxable).

Itemized on separate lines, only the planting is taxable: $1,500 × 6% = $90.00, and the invoice total is $5,590.00.

If you billed one lump sum of $5,500, the bundling rule would make the whole amount taxable: $5,500 × 6% = $330.00 — $240 more in tax for your customer.

Selling to customers in other states

If you ship goods or deliver taxable services to customers in another state, that state's rules may apply instead of Kentucky's. Since the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, states can require out-of-state sellers to register and collect their sales tax once sales into the state pass a threshold the state sets. If you sell across state lines regularly, check the thresholds and registration rules of each state you sell into — and use that state's rate on those invoices.

Common mistakes on Kentucky invoices

• Assuming services are tax-free. Check the list — website design, photography, landscaping and cleaning are all taxable.
• Lump-sum pricing that pulls nontaxable work into the tax base.
• Adding a local rate. Kentucky has none.
• Misreading the $12,000 exemption. Once you cross it, all later years' receipts are taxable.
• Using the 200-transaction test for remote sales after August 1, 2026.

Quick checklist for Kentucky invoices

• ✅ Checked your services against Kentucky's taxable list
• ✅ Sales tax permit, or confirmed you qualify for the $12,000 exemption
• ✅ 6% on taxable lines, rounded to the nearest penny
• ✅ Taxable and nontaxable work on separate lines
• ✅ Form 51A105 (or 51A260) on file for resale purchases