Ohio Universal Sales Tax Return

Universal Sales Tax Return
Form UST 1
hio

Rev. 7/22

Department of
Taxation

Ohio Universal Sales Tax Return (UST 1) Instructions
Note: This return is only to be used by taxpayers that have
been granted permission by the Ohio Department of Taxation
to file by paper. All other filers must file electronically through
Ohio Business Gateway at gateway.ohio.gov or Ohio TeleFile at
1-800-697-0440.
Sales tax is generally collected at the rate in effect in the county
where the consumer takes possession of the item sold or receives the
benefit of the service performed. However, see Ohio Revised Code
5739.033. While most sales occur at the vendor’s place of business,
some taxable transactions may occur in a county different from the
vendor’s place of business. These instructions will guide you through
the process of filing a return that covers many taxing jurisdictions.
STEP 1: Complete the back of Ohio UST 1 (short) or pages 2-4 of
Ohio UST 1 (long).
County name – If not preprinted, enter the first four letters of the
county name for those counties where you have made taxable sales,
or delivered items or services.

Line 2 – Exempt sales: Enter the total exempt sales. This includes,
but is not limited to, sales to holders of direct payment permits and
sales covered by valid exemption certificates. In addition to exempt
sales, include all sales made via a marketplace facilitator as long as
the marketplace facilitator collected and remitted sales tax on your
behalf. Note: Exempt sales may not be larger than gross sales.
Line 3 – Net taxable sales: Subtract line 2 from line 1 to determine
net taxable sales.
Line 4 – Sales where tax was paid to the clerks of courts:
Motor vehicle dealers – Enter the total sales (purchase price or
tax base) of motor vehicles for the reporting period for which you
have receipts from clerks of courts showing tax paid. This includes
automobiles, trucks, trailers and other motor vehicles that are required to be titled. Do not enter the tax paid to the clerks of courts
on this line.
Watercraft/outboard motor dealers/sellers – Enter the total sales
(purchase price or tax base) of watercraft and outboard motors for
which you have receipts from clerks of courts showing tax paid. This
includes watercraft and outboard motors that require an Ohio title
but does not include documented watercraft, watercraft under 14
feet, outboard motors under 10 horsepower and nontitled trailers.
Do not enter the tax paid to the clerks of courts on this line.

County code – Enter the two-digit code or three-digit code that
applies to the county name. Refer to our website at tax.ohio.gov
for county names, code numbers and rates.
Taxable sales – Enter the total amount of reportable taxable sales
for each county in which you have locations or where reportable
taxable sales were made. Note: Do not include sales of motor
vehicles, titled watercraft and/or titled outboard motors that were
reported to Ohio clerks of courts or the Ohio Department of Taxation
on the Nonresident Watercraft Return.

Line 5 – Reportable taxable sales: Subtract line 4 from line 3 to
determine reportable taxable sales. This is required to equal the
total taxable sales reported in the county section of the return.

Tax liability – Enter the total (combined state and local tax) amount
of tax due for those reportable taxable sales indicated. Note: Do
not include taxes on sales of motor vehicles, titled watercraft and/or
titled outboard motors that have been paid to Ohio clerks of courts.
Note: If any sales or tax figure in the county section of the UST 1
is negative, shade the negative sign (“–”) in the box immediately
preceding the sales or tax figure.

Line 6 – Tax liability: Enter the greater of the tax collected or that
which should have been collected. This is required to equal the
total tax liability reported in the county section of the return. Negative numbers are not allowed on lines 1 through 6 of Ohio UST 1.
If those totals are negative, file an Application for Refund (Ohio ST
AR) and follow the instructions for filing a refund claim.
Line 7 – Discount: Enter .75 of 1% (.0075) of line 6 if Ohio UST 1
and full payment are postmarked on or before the due date.

Total each column and enter the totals on lines 5 and 6 on the front
side of the return. The totals cannot be negative numbers. If those
totals are negative, file an Application for Refund (Ohio ST AR) and
follow the instructions for filing a refund claim.

Line 8 – Additional charge: Taxpayers my incur additional charges
if the return is filed late or without payment. However, certain billing
or delinquent programs may apply an additional charge of $50 or
10% of the tax, whichever is greater. If the tax is paid late, interest
from the due date of the tax will accrue until the date of assessment or payment, whichever comes first. Taxpayers should not
attempt to report interest on their sales and use tax returns.
Instead, interest found due by the Ohio Department of Taxation will
be automatically billed.

STEP 2: Complete the front side of the return, lines 1-9.
Line 1 – Gross sales: Enter total sales of tangible personal property and selected services. Marketplace sellers should include
sales made via a marketplace. Do not include the actual sales
tax charged. Qualifying bad debts may reduce gross sales. See
Tax Commissioner Rule 5703-9-44 for details. Gross sales may
be reduced by returned taxable sales on which the full purchase
price and tax were refunded or credited to the purchaser. If the full
purchase price and tax were not refunded on taxable sales, the
law does not permit any reduction from gross sales. Gross sales
may also be reduced by cash or term discounts claimed to reduce
the taxable price of an item or service, provided that the tax was
charged and paid on the full price of the item on the previous return
period, and the customer exercised the discount option when payment was made.

Line 9 – Net amount due: Line 6 minus line 7 or line 6 plus line 8.
Make remittance payable to the Ohio Treasurer of State, write your
vendor’s license number and reporting period on your remittance,
and mail to the Ohio Department of Taxation, P.O. Box 16560,
Columbus, OH 43216-6560.
Note: If payment due is $1.00 or less, no payment is required.
Any refunds (must submit Ohio ST AR) $1.00 or less will not
be approved.
STOP

-1-

Rev. 7/22

STEP 3 – Proceed only if you are required to make payment by
electronic funds transfer (EFT) and have made the proper accelerated payments. If payment of balance due is made by EFT, place
an X in the EFT box to indicate how the payment was made.
Line 10 – Accelerated payments made: Enter the amount of the
accelerated payment made for the month of the reporting period.
Line 11 – Accelerated payment for next reporting period: Enter
the amount of the accelerated payment needed for the next reporting
period (the period after the period of the current return). For example,
if you are filing the January return in February, you are making the
accelerated payment for February. This amount must be included
in the payment on line 12 and will be credited to that month.
Tip: You still have the option to make the accelerated payment
separate from the balance due for the tax return. If you do so, do not
complete line 11. Any amount stated on this line will be transferred
to the next period, which may leave the current return underpaid and
result in the issuance of a billing notice. For example, if the accelerated payment and the balance due for the tax return are paid by one
EFT transfer, then line 11 needs to be filled out with the amount of
the accelerated payment intended for the next reporting period. If,
on the other hand, the accelerated payment and the balance due
for the tax return are paid by two separate EFT transfers, then line
11 should be left blank.
Line 12 – Balance due: The amount on line 9, less the amount on
line 10, plus the amount on line 11. Pay this electronically by using
one of the several payment options below.
You can pay your balance due by:
	 	 Paper check submitted with the paper return (unless required
to pay by EFT)
	 	 Ohio Business Gateway, with the filing of the return
(gateway.ohio.gov)
	 	 Ohio Telefile – 1-800-697-0440. Refer to TeleFile instructions.
You can make accelerated payments electronically by:
	 	 Ohio Business Gateway (gateway.ohio.gov)
	 	 Ohio TeleFile – 1-800-697-0440. Refer to TeleFile instructions.

For Cumulative Filers Only
It is important to note that cumulative filers are still required to obtain and maintain an active vendor’s license for each fixed place
of business. Cumulative filers must report taxable sales and tax
liability on a county-by-county basis, not on a location-by-location
basis. However, your records must include a location-by-location
breakdown of sales and tax activity for audit purposes.
Amended Returns
If an amended return is necessary due to a change in the information provided on the original return, check the box on the front of
the return to signify that this is an amended return. If you need
to file an amended return for a period that contained an accelerated payment on line 11, you cannot change the amount originally
stated on this line.
If an amended return creates an overpayment on the return period,
you must complete an Application for Refund, Ohio ST AR. The
refund application with the amended return and back-up documentation should be sent to the address on the refund application.
Proper Completion of Your Returns
To ensure that your sales and tax information is properly captured
and that your account is properly credited, follow these guidelines
when preparing your returns.
1.	 Use blue or black ink. Do not use pencil.
2.	 Make hand-written characters as close to the following example
as possible.

 


 

3.	 If you had no sales for the reporting period, indicate this by showing zeros (00) in the cents column of line 1. Do not use straight
lines. Tax returns must be timely filed even if no tax is due.
4.	 Other than as stated in number three, above, leave other lines
blank if they do not apply.

-2-