Kroger Ohio Sales Tax Refund: Why You Were Charged (2026)

You are staring at a Kroger receipt from central Ohio and the sales tax looks too high. You are not imagining it, and you are not alone. In early 2025, Kroger charged shoppers at roughly 45 central Ohio stores an extra quarter-percent of sales tax weeks before the rate change was actually legal. The chain has been issuing refunds ever since. Here is exactly what happened, who qualifies, and how to check whether the tax on your own receipt was right.

What Happened With the Kroger Sales Tax Overcharge?

Voters in central Ohio approved a Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) sales tax increase that raised the combined rate in five counties. The increase was scheduled to take effect April 1, 2025. Kroger's registers, however, started applying the higher rate early — so shoppers paid the new, higher tax before the law required it.

The overcharge was small on any single trip, usually a few cents to a few dollars, because it was only the 0.25% difference between the old and new COTA levy. But across millions of transactions at about 45 stores, it added up. Kroger acknowledged the error and began refunding the difference at the register.

Which Counties Were Affected?

The COTA increase — and therefore the Kroger overcharge — applied to the five central Ohio counties served by the transit authority:

Franklin County is the big one: it holds Columbus and the bulk of the affected stores. For the full breakdown of how the Columbus / Franklin County rate reached 8.00%, see the dedicated guide — the COTA levy is the exact component that changed.

Pro tip: The overcharge only touched taxable items — beer, pop, cigarettes, apparel, and other general merchandise. Groceries were never supposed to carry the extra tax because most food in Ohio is exempt in the first place. If you see tax on plain groceries, that is a separate error. See is food taxable in Ohio.

Who Gets a Refund, and How?

If you bought taxable goods at an affected central Ohio Kroger between the date the store started charging the higher rate and April 1, 2025, you were overcharged and are owed the difference.

• At the register: Kroger refunded the overcharge directly to affected shoppers, mostly ranging from a few cents to a few dollars per trip.
• Keep your receipt: The receipt is your proof of the tax charged. Compare the tax line against the rate that was legally in effect on your purchase date.
• The amount is small per trip but real. It is the 0.25% COTA difference applied to the taxable portion of your basket, not the whole total.

How to Check the Tax on Your Own Receipt

Ohio sales tax is charged on the taxable items in your cart, not on exempt groceries. To verify a receipt:

1. Identify the taxable items (pop, beer, cigarettes, paper goods, apparel, prepared/dine-in food). Exempt groceries should carry no tax at all.
2. Add up the taxable subtotal.
3. Multiply by your county's combined rate. In Franklin County today that is 8.00%.

On a $40 taxable subtotal in Franklin County: $40 × 0.08 = $3.20 in tax. If your receipt shows meaningfully more, something is off. Use the calculator above to confirm, and read how to calculate Ohio sales tax for the full method.

Was This a Tax or a Kroger Problem?

This was a retailer error, not a change in Ohio tax law. The state sets the rate and its effective date; the store is responsible for programming its registers to match. When Kroger applied the April 1, 2025 rate early, the extra money collected was not owed to the state on those dates, which is why it had to come back to shoppers.

If a store collects tax it should not have, the fix is a refund from the retailer. That is different from Ohio use tax, which is what you owe when a seller does not collect sales tax on a taxable purchase.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Kroger charge me extra sales tax in central Ohio? Kroger applied the April 1, 2025 COTA transit-tax increase to its registers early, charging the higher combined rate before it legally took effect at about 45 central Ohio stores.

How much was the overcharge? It was the 0.25% difference between the old and new COTA levy, applied only to taxable items — usually a few cents to a few dollars per trip.

Which counties were affected? The five COTA counties: Franklin, Delaware, Licking, Fairfield, and Union.

Do groceries get taxed at Kroger in Ohio? No. Most groceries are exempt from Ohio sales tax. Only taxable items like soft drinks, alcohol, tobacco, and general merchandise carry tax. See is food taxable in Ohio.

Is the Columbus sales tax rate really 8.00% now? Yes. Franklin County rose from 7.50% to 8.00% on April 1, 2025 when COTA raised its levy. See the Columbus Ohio sales tax guide.

Sources

• Kroger is refunding central Ohio shoppers charged early for April sales tax increase — Columbus Dispatch
• Sales & Use Tax — Ohio Department of Taxation
• Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA)