Do contractors charge sales tax in Pennsylvania?

In Pennsylvania a contractor is treated as the CONSUMER of the materials they build into real property. That means the contractor pays sales tax when they buy the materials, and does not add sales tax to the customer's invoice for that work — the tax is already inside the price. Pennsylvania also has county, city or special-district rates on top of the state rate, so the rate depends on where the job site is, not where the contractor is based. Source: 61 Pa. Code §31.5; 72 P.S. §7201(k)(14) (construction contractors are the ultimate consumers of materials; building maintenance and cleaning services are separately taxable).

WhatPennsylvania
Contractor’s default roleConsumer of materials
What the charge is calledSales Tax
Local rates on topYes — sourced to the job site
Capital improvement exempt to the customerYes

Where this gets more complicated

Pennsylvania taxes building maintenance and building cleaning as enumerated services while treating construction — repair included — as consumption by the contractor. Local rates exist only in Philadelphia (2%) and Allegheny County (1%).

Source

61 Pa. Code §31.5; 72 P.S. §7201(k)(14) (construction contractors are the ultimate consumers of materials; building maintenance and cleaning services are separately taxable).

Read the statute in the Pennsylvania Statutes (Pennsylvania General Assembly): palegis.us.

This is a summary of a state’s published guidance, not tax or legal advice. Rates and rules change, local jurisdictions add their own, and the treatment of a specific job depends on the contract and the work. Check the citation and speak to a CPA or a state tax adviser before relying on it.

How Seayora uses this rule

Seayora resolves this rule on every invoice a contractor raises — per line, from the job site’s own address — and prints the rate, the jurisdiction and this citation on the document itself, so the estimate a customer accepts is the invoice they are billed. Where the rule is more nuanced than a single answer, Seayora refuses to guess a total rather than quoting a confident wrong one.

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