Income Tax Department

In Ohio, local communities—including the Village of Bluffton—fund public services such as police and fire protection, parks and recreation, water and sewer services, and street maintenance through the collection of local income tax. To administer this tax, the Village of Bluffton maintains an income tax account for each adult resident living within the community and any business working within the village corporation limits.

THE VILLAGE OF BLUFFTON IS A

MANDATORY INCOME TAX FILING MUNICIPALITY.

This means all residents age 18 or older and businesses within the village limits, and any non-resident person/business entity doing work or earning income within the village limits must file a return annually even if no tax is due at the time of filing. (See exceptions below.) See our Income Tax Ordinance for complete information on what is taxable and filing details and requirements. Our Income Tax Ordinance and Income Tax forms can be found in the section to the right of this section.

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THE FILING DUE DATE FOR

2025 BLUFFTON INCOME TAX RETURNS IS:   APRIL 15, 2026

This due date applies to all Bluffton Income Tax Return filings, Extension Request, Exemption Certifications, and payments. These items must be received in our office by the filing due date or penalty and interest charges will be applied or request may be denied. Please do not send confidential tax returns, documentation, or information by email, as this cannot be guaranteed to be a secure form of transmission.

*** New ***

New online tax features are now available for individuals and businesses.

New INDIVIDUAL features include:

- Paying tax owed

FIling your Bluffton Tax return

- Submitting tax documents

- Paying Estimated Income tax

New BUSINESS features include:

- Filing your W-3 Reconciliation

- Submitting employee W-2s

-Sending tax documents

- Paying Withholding tax

To access these features, select the blue Individuals or Businesses button on the right side above,

and then click the red New Features button on each of these pages.

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THE VILLAGE OF BLUFFTON'S TAX RATE FOR 2024 AND PRIOR WAS: 1.25%

THE VILLAGE OF BLUFFTON'S TAX RATE FOR 2025 WAS: 1.65%

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Any resident under the age of 18 during the entire tax year is exempt from filing a village income tax return. If an individual worked and was under the age of 18, they may complete a village income tax return to request a refund for any municipal income tax withheld and paid to Bluffton.

Taxpayers may receive a refund of overpaid taxes only if the amount overpaid is more than $10.00. Likewise, taxpayers will not be required to remit tax due that is less than $10.00. However, even if the tax due is less than $10.00 taxpayers are still required to file a Village of Bluffton income tax return.

Business, farm and rental losses are not permitted to be netted against personal wages to reduce taxable income.

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PENALTIES & INTEREST CHARGES

Income Tax Returns, Tax Payments, Exemption forms, and Extension Request

 are all due annually by April 15.

The municipality will impose penalties and interest charges when a taxpayer fails to file their income tax return or remit the appropriate amount of income tax by the above stated due date. Penalties and interest will also be imposed for not filing and paying Withholding tax and Estimated Income tax payments by the required deadline dates. Exemption request and Extensions request may be denied if not filed by the April 15 due date.

Penalties and interest will be imposed on all returns not filed and paid in full by their respective due dates as follows:

Late Filing Penalty: 

• For tax year 2023 and going forward, a late filing penalty of $25 will be imposed for each return that is not filed by the filing deadline date.
• For tax year 2022 and prior, a monthly penalty of $25.00 per month will be imposed for each return not filed by the filing deadline date, up to a maximum of $150.00.

Late Payment Penalty:

• With respect to unpaid income tax, a one-time per return penalty equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the amount not timely paid shall be imposed.
  

Interest Charge for Late Payment of Tax Owed:

Monthly interest will be imposed on all unpaid income tax and unpaid employer withholding tax. Please see the chart below for the interest rate imposed for each tax year.

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WITHHOLDING TAX

Withholding Payments are due either monthly or quarterly as follows:

Remit Monthly: An employer must remit monthly if withholding in the previous calendar year exceeded $2,399 OR if the amount of withholding during any month of the previous calendar quarter exceeded $200.

Remit Quarterly: An employer should remit quarterly if they do not meet the monthly remittance requirement.

Annual Withholding Reconciliations are due annually by February 28.

Penalties and interest will be imposed on all Withholding returns and tax not filed and paid by the deadline dates as follows:

Late Filing Penalty:

• A late filing penalty for failure to file timely annual withholding returns of $25.00 per month will be imposed for each return not filed by the filing deadline date, up to a maximum of $150.00.

Late Payment Penalty:

• With respect to any unpaid withholding tax, a penalty equal to fifty percent (50%) of the amount not timely paid shall be imposed.

Interest Charge for Late Payment of Tax Owed:

• Monthly interest shall be imposed on all unpaid employer withholding tax. Please see the chart below for the interest rate imposed per month, for each tax year.
  

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ESTIMATED INCOME TAX

Effective January 1, 2016, the State of Ohio implemented Ohio House Bill 5. This bill requires all individuals and business expecting to owe $200 or more in non-withheld municipal income tax at the end of each tax year, to make quarterly estimated tax payments towards the next year, to the municipality where the income tax money will be owed.

90% of the estimated tax is due by December 15th for businesses and January 15th for individuals. The remaining 10% is due by the filing deadline date. These payments will be credited to the balance of tax owed to the Village of Bluffton for the next tax year. After filing your return, if it is determined that an overpayment has been made, a refund will be sent to you, or the overpayment will be credited to your next year’s return if estimated payments are still required.

Estimated Income Tax payments are due quarterly or sooner each year, by the dates shown below:

• 1st Qtr. Estimated Payment Due Date: April 15
• 2nd Qtr. Estimated Payment Due Date: June 15
• 3rd Qtr. Estimated Payment Due Date: September 15
• 4th Qtr. Estimated Payment Due Date: January 15

Late payment of estimated income tax will result in penalty and interest charges being applied as follows:

• A late payment penalty of 15% will be imposed on all unpaid estimated income tax not paid by the above stated deadline dates.

• Interest will be imposed on all unpaid estimated income tax according to the Interest Rate Chart below.
  

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PUBLISHED INTEREST RATES

Interest shall be imposed per annum, on all unpaid income tax, unpaid estimated income tax and unpaid withholding tax. The interest rate used shall be the Federal short-term rate (rounded to the nearest whole number percent) plus five percent (5%). The rate shall apply for the calendar year next following the July of the year in which the Federal short-term rate is determined.

NOTE: Interest applies to any balance of tax due that is not paid by the due date of a return, even if the return is filed under an extension.

INTEREST RATE CHART

IMPORTANT NOTE: Bluffton School District tax returns and payments are not filed with the Village of Bluffton Income Tax office. Do not drop off School District forms or payments at the Bluffton Tax office. These items cannot be processed and your school district return will not be filed with the correct agency. For questions, please contact the Bluffton Exempted Village School district or click on the link below to access School District filing information for the State of Ohio:

http://www.tax.ohio.gov/school_district_income.aspx

The Bluffton School District code is listed as 0203 on W-2 forms. Please do not confuse this withholding tax code amount with Village of Bluffton withholding amounts when applying withholding credits to your return. School District tax withheld or paid cannot be applied as a credit on your Village of Bluffton income tax return because this money was paid to the school and not to the Village of Bluffton.

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EXCEPTIONS TO FILING A VILLAGE OF BLUFFTON INCOME TAX RETURN

Exception 1 : If you are a non-resident of Bluffton, but worked for a Bluffton employer that paid you wages and withheld Bluffton income tax from those wages correctly at a rate of 1.25% for tax year 2024 and prior and 1.65% for tax year 2025 and thereafter, you are not required to file an annual return with us. 

Exception 2 : If you have no taxable income to report for the current tax year, you must submit the Individual Exemption Certificate or Business Exemption Certificate form as your filing for the current tax year. This only applies to the tax year it is filed for, and future filings are still required. 

Exception 3 : If you have no taxable income and will not have any in the future (example: retired or permanently disabled), you must submit the Permanent Certification of No Taxable Income form to be relieved of annual filing requirements for the current tax year and in the future. 

Note for Businesses: Active business taxpayers must still file a return for the tax year even if a loss was generated for that specific tax year and no tax is due. This will ensure accurate reporting of any loss carry-forward, since our ordinance contains a 5-year loss carry-forward provision. 

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PAYMENTS

Payments can be made by cash, check, money order, credit card or through our new online payment feature as shown on the Individual and Business pages. If writing a check or getting a money order, please make them payable to the VILLAGE OF BLUFFTON.

Credit card payments can be made online through a third party vender called ACI/Official Payments. To make a payment  to www.officialpayments.com, call 1-800-272-9829 or click the link below:

https://www.officialpayments.com/index.jsp

Here you will see “Local Payments – Make a Payment.” Then you can choose what state you are in (Ohio), who you want to pay (Village of Bluffton) and the type of payment you want to make (Business Income Tax Payment, Individual Income Tax Payment or Utility Payment). Your social security number is your account number and if asked for our Jurisdiction Code use 6786. A processing fee will be charged by Official Payments/ACI.

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FORMS AND DOCUMENTS

To access fillable/printable tax forms in .pdf format for both individuals and businesses click on either the BLUE Individuals or Businesses buttons towards the top, on the right side of the page. Please deliver all paper documents and forms to the Village of Bluffton Tax office located at: 154 N. Main St., P.O. Box 228, Bluffton, Ohio 45817. 

The Bluffton Tax office is open Monday - Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 each day. However, please note that the lobby of the Town Hall building is open 24/7. If after hours, tax forms, payments, and documentation can be placed in our locked drop-box located on the first floor, on the left side of the elevator for your convenience. NOTE: When using the drop box, please place your payments in an envelope and write your name and telephone number on the outside to help ensure the payment is applied to the correct account.

Income Tax Contacts

Mailing Address:

Village of Bluffton Income Tax Dept.

P.O. Box 228 • Bluffton, OH 45817

Phone: (419) 369-2998

Fax: (419) 358-8137

Tax Office Email:

hohenbrinkr@bluffton-ohio.com

Use the above email address for tax questions ONLY. Tax returns or related documents need to be sent to the Bluffton Tax office by clicking on the BLUE Individuals or Businesses button shown above and clicking on the RED button at the top of each of these pages.

Office Hours:

Monday - Friday

9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. or by appt.