Nebraska sales tax on invoices (2026 guide)

Nebraska charges a 5.5% state sales and use tax. Cities and counties can add a local sales and use tax of up to 2%, so the combined rate in Nebraska ranges from 5.5% to 7.5%.

Nebraska also taxes a defined set of services — including building cleaning, pest control, security and repair labor — so you can't assume service work is tax-free. This guide covers the rates, which services are taxed, permits, and what your Nebraska invoices should show.

Nebraska sales tax rates

Cities can adopt 0.5%, 1% or 1.5% with voter approval, and 1.75% or 2% with a 70% vote of the governing body plus voter approval. Counties can adopt 0.5%, 1% or 1.5%. A county tax doesn't apply inside a city that already has its own local sales tax.

Local rates change at the start of a calendar quarter. The Department of Revenue publishes current rate charts each quarter and has a rate finder for specific addresses.

Which local rate to use

The Department says the point of delivery determines the location of the sale. Goods delivered into a city with a local tax are taxed at 5.5% plus that city's rate. Services are generally taxed where the service is provided to the customer. Deliveries into another state are not subject to Nebraska sales tax.

Which services are taxable in Nebraska?

Nebraska taxes retail sales of goods and a specific list of services. Examples from the Department's FAQs include:

• Building cleaning and maintenance — including post-construction cleanup and cleaning after a fire or flood.
• Pest control — except applications to crops or land used in commercial agriculture.
• Security services, including alarm monitoring and system repairs, and services of licensed private detectives.
• Motor vehicle services such as towing, painting, and washing and waxing.
• Repair, installation and production labor on taxable property — for example musical instrument repair, gunsmithing and tool sharpening.
• Animal grooming for pets (not livestock).

Some common services are not taxable:

• Website development and maintenance of web pages hosted by the developer or a third-party host.
• Computer consulting that gives only generalized advice. But consulting that results in a transfer of software — programming, customization, installation — is taxable.
• Lawn sprinkler blowouts, HVAC inspection-only charges, and laundering clothes.

Getting a Nebraska sales tax permit

If you make taxable sales in Nebraska, you need a Nebraska sales tax permit for each place of business. You apply with the Nebraska Tax Application, Form 20, or register online with the Department of Revenue. Once registered you collect state and local tax, file returns by the 20th of the month after each tax period, and keep records of your sales.

Remote sellers without a Nebraska location only need to register and collect if they have more than $100,000 of sales into Nebraska, or 200 or more separate transactions delivered into the state, in the current or prior calendar year.

What a Nebraska 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,
• sales tax as a separate line, with the combined rate you applied, and
• the total due.

Put taxable and non-taxable work on separate lines. Delivery and handling charges are taxable when the item they relate to is taxable. In Invoice Native, tick Tax only on the taxable lines.

Photographers, take note: the Department says sales tax is collected on the total charge to the customer regardless of how the charges are stated on the invoice, and expenses such as travel, props and proofs become part of the taxable price of the photographs.

Resale and exemption certificates

A business buying to resell, or an exempt buyer, gives you the Nebraska Resale or Exempt Sale Certificate, Form 13. When you accept a properly completed Form 13, you don't charge tax on that sale. Keep the certificate with your records — it's your evidence if you're ever audited.

Exempt organizations and certain other buyers also use Form 13, in the section that matches their exemption. See how to invoice a tax-exempt customer.

A worked example

Suppose you run a commercial cleaning business and invoice a client in a city with a 1.5% local tax (a hypothetical rate for this example), so the combined rate is 5.5% + 1.5% = 7%:

• $1,200 for monthly office cleaning (building cleaning — taxable), and
• $150 for blowing out and draining the lawn sprinkler lines (not taxable).

Tax applies only to the cleaning: $1,200 × 7% = $84.00. The invoice total is $1,200 + $150 + $84 = $1,434.00. Keeping the two services on separate lines shows exactly why only part of the invoice is taxed.

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 Nebraska'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. Our sales tax calculator has each state's rate.

Common mistakes on Nebraska invoices

• Assuming all services are tax-free. Cleaning, pest control, security and repair labor are taxable.
• Taxing website development that's hosted by you or a third party — it isn't taxable.
• Using your own city's rate for a delivery to a customer in a different city.
• Applying a county tax inside a city that has its own local tax.
• Not keeping Form 13 for tax-free sales.

Quick checklist for Nebraska invoices

• ✅ Sales tax permit (Form 20 or online) before your first taxable sale
• ✅ Checked whether your services are taxable in Nebraska
• ✅ 5.5% plus the local rate where the sale is delivered (7.5% max)
• ✅ Taxable and non-taxable lines separated
• ✅ Form 13 resale and exempt sale certificates on file