Looking for the taxes a Houston business plans cash around? Each tax below is a date the cash plan already knows about. Steven Palmieri is a Tax CFO, and this page lists the ones that actually leave a Houston owner's bank account, with who pays, how much and when. The notes after the table cover the rows that cause the most confusion.
| Name of tax | Who bears it | Rate or amount | When cash goes out | Who files it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State sales tax | Your customers, passed along by you | 6.25 percent | The 20th, for a monthly return | You |
| City of Houston sales tax | Your customers, passed along by you | 1 percent | On that same return | You |
| Houston transit sales tax | Your customers, passed along by you | 1 percent, with an exception for some Fort Bend County addresses | On that same return | You |
| Quarterly or annual sales tax return | You | Same rates | Four dates a year in April, July, October and January, all on the 20th, and January 20 for annual filers | You |
| Large electronic payment | You | Anything above $1,000,000 | Started by 8 pm Central on the prior business day | You |
| Franchise report | Companies with more revenue than the threshold | Nothing due at $2,650,000 or less, for 2026 and 2027 reports | May 15 | The company |
| Public information report | Most companies formed or active in Texas | A report with no tax attached | May 15, even in a no-tax year | The company |
| Rendition of business personal property | Owners of equipment and inventory | A list of what you own and its value | April 15 | You, to the appraisal district |
| Property tax | Owners of land, buildings and taxable property | Set by each taxing unit | January 31 | The tax office collects it |
| State hotel occupancy tax | Guests, collected by the operator | 6 percent of what the guest pays for the room | With the hotel return | The operator |
| City and county hotel tax | Guests, collected by the operator | Set by the city and the county, which collect their own local hotel taxes | With the hotel return | The operator |
| Unemployment tax | Employers | The first $9,000 of each employee's wages | Each quarter | You, through your provider |
| Federal payroll deposits | Employers | Federal rules | Taken by the payroll provider | The provider |
| Federal estimated tax | Owners | Based on the year's income | Through the year | You |
At a Houston address the sales tax adds up to 8.25 percent. Harris County adds nothing of its own, and the room in the 8.25 percent cap that a county rate would take is held by the transit tax instead.
Part of the city of Houston lies in Fort Bend and Montgomery counties. The Comptroller's city table lists several Fort Bend County assistance districts under Houston, each carried in the table in place of the Houston transit line. Look up the exact address on the Comptroller's rate locator before you set up the register, and again before you open a second location.
If a payment is above one million dollars, it must be started by 8 pm Central the business day before the due date. For smaller payments, the electronic window runs until 10 am Central on the due date itself. Houston sits on Central Time, the state's clock, so there is nothing to convert.
For 2026 and 2027 reports, a company with revenue of $2,650,000 or less owes no franchise tax. The report is still due on May 15 in the form of a short public information report, and skipping it can put the company's standing at risk. A company above the line files the full report. The date belongs on the cash plan.
If your business owns equipment or inventory, a rendition goes to your appraisal district, and in Harris County that is the Harris Central Appraisal District, which accepts it online. A Houston address in Fort Bend or Montgomery County sends the notice from a different district and works on that district's dates. Property tax bills then arrive in the fall, and the cash leaves by January 31, so the plan has time to hold the amount.
In the quiet months, the one decision this page asks of you is to move each of these dates onto your own calendar, with the amount beside it, and to set the money aside as the date approaches.
None of these filings needs a special license to prepare. Anyone you trust can file them, and we do. We prepare them from the same closed books that feed your cash plan, so the amounts match.
If one of these dates went quiet because a finance person left, read about interim help in Houston. For the full method behind these dates, see cash planning for a year that swings.
You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.