Before you start

An SSN or ITIN
Form W-4 with your employer for federal withholding, and Ohio Form IT 4 for state and municipal withholding
Your municipality's name and which agency administers its income tax
Records of foreign income and foreign financial accounts

Step-by-step

1
Complete the W-4 and Ohio IT 4 on day one
Ohio Form IT 4 sets state withholding and also tells your employer which school district you live in — which matters because roughly two hundred Ohio school districts levy their own income tax on top of everything else. Getting the district wrong here produces a bill a year later.
Via employerWho: YouFirst week of employment
2
Establish which agency your municipality uses
The Central Collection Agency administers Cleveland's tax and that of around three dozen other municipalities. The Regional Income Tax Agency serves roughly half the municipalities in Ohio. The remainder collect their own. Ask your city hall; the answer determines your forms, your portal and your estimated-payment schedule.
OnlineWho: YouMonth 1
3
Work out the interaction between your work city and your home city
Cleveland taxes income earned in the city at 2.5% whether or not you live here. Your home municipality taxes your income wherever earned and credits what the work city took, up to its own rate. The practical result is that you pay roughly the higher of the two rates rather than the sum — but if your home city's rate is the higher one, you owe the difference directly and nobody withholds it for you.
OnlineWho: You
4
File the municipal return even if you owe nothing
RITA municipalities require an annual return from every resident aged 18 and over regardless of whether tax is due. CCA municipalities have their own filing rules. Assuming full withholding removes the obligation is the classic newcomer error, and it generates a delinquency notice rather than a friendly reminder.
OnlineWho: YouBy 15 April annually
5
Determine your US tax residency and check for a treaty
The substantial presence test counts weighted days across three years. Ohio starts from federal adjusted gross income, so a federal treaty exclusion generally flows through to the state return — but municipal income tax is levied on gross wages under its own rules and treaty relief does not reliably follow it down.
OnlineWho: You
6
File an FBAR if foreign accounts exceed $10,000
Aggregate foreign account balances over $10,000 at any point in the year trigger a FinCEN filing, separate from every one of your income tax returns.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Form W-2 from each employer, showing both state and local withholding boxes
Form 1099s for freelance, interest and investment income
Your municipality's name and school district number
Passport and travel history for the substantial presence day count
Foreign account statements for FBAR reporting

Things most newcomers don’t know

The credit is capped at your home city's own rate, not at the work city's.

Cleveland gives residents a credit for municipal tax paid elsewhere up to Cleveland's own 2.5%. A suburb charging 2% gives a credit up to 2% — so a resident of that suburb working in Cleveland pays 2.5% to Cleveland and nothing more, while a Cleveland resident working in a 2% suburb pays that 2% and then 0.5% to Cleveland with nobody withholding it. Moving across a municipal line can change your take-home without your salary changing.

Source: Ohio Department of Taxation — municipal income tax

Remote work is taxed where you sit, and the refund is yours to claim.

Since 2022 Ohio has taxed municipal income at the place the work is actually performed. Employers commonly keep withholding to the office's municipality out of habit. If you work from home in a lower-rate suburb, you claim the difference back from the work city yourself — it is not adjusted automatically, and the claim has a deadline.

Source: Ohio Department of Taxation — municipal income tax

About two hundred Ohio school districts levy a third income tax.

The school district income tax is separate from both the state and the municipal tax, is charged on residents only, and is filed on its own Ohio return. It is not levied everywhere, so a colleague's answer is not your answer — check your own district on the Department of Taxation's list before assuming the municipal tax is the last layer.

Source: Ohio Department of Taxation — school district income tax

Rising property values do not raise the tax bill proportionally, thanks to a 1976 statute.

Cuyahoga County's 2024 sexennial reappraisal raised residential values by an average of over 32%. Ohio's House Bill 920 reduction factors hold voted millage revenue roughly flat as values rise, so bills went up far less than values did — but the adjustment works in the aggregate, so a property that rose more than its district's average still pays more. It is the most counter-intuitive part of Ohio property tax and the reason a value notice is not a tax bill.

Source: Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer — 2024 sexennial reappraisal

Common mistakes to avoid

Not filing a RITA return because your employer withheld in full — the obligation exists anyway.
Assuming the work city's withholding settles your home city's claim when your home rate is higher.
Working from home in a suburb and never claiming back the tax withheld to the office's city.
Giving the wrong school district on Ohio Form IT 4 and getting a bill a year later.
Reading a reappraisal notice as a tax increase of the same percentage.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.