The cost of a wholesale license is $200.00 per year. Retail licenses cost $30.00 each for the first five locations and $25.00 for each additional location.

Your County Auditor's office issues those licenses. A directory of all county auditors is listed below.

Directory of County Auditors

Write to the Ohio Department of Taxation, Excise Tax Section, P.O. Box 530, Columbus, Ohio 43216-0530, telephone us at (614) 466-7026, visit the cigarette and other tobacco products information release section of the department's Web site, or e-mail us.

Click on the link below to view spreadsheets for the minimum prices for the State of Ohio and for Cuyahoga County.

Minimum Prices

A list of all brands legal for sale in Ohio and their respective manufacturers can be found on the Ohio Attorney General’s Web site (www.ag.state.oh.us/business/tobacco/).

This list can be found on the Department of Taxation's Web site here.

Once you have browsed the list, you need to decide if you are looking for who you can purchase from or who you are selling to depending on your operation.

No. Licensed retailers must only purchase from licensed wholesalers.

No. However, you may request permission by faxing a completed consent form (CIG 99) to (614) 728-1806.

Yes.  You are required to file the cigarette tax return even if you have no purchases.  The form MSA 60 is also required even if there were no non-participating manufacturer’s cigarette purchases for the period.

Yes. You are required to notify the Department of Taxation that you are closing down the operation and must file all of the required returns and form MSA 60 reporting through the final date of operation.

If you are a wholesaler, please see the cigarette “Closing a Business” page for additional information.