Is there still a grocery tax in Arkansas?

Only at the local level. Act 1008 of 2025, the Grocery Tax Relief Act, removed the last 0.125% state tax on food and food ingredients from January 1, 2026. City and county sales taxes still apply, so a Little Rock grocery bill carries 2.125%. Candy, soft drinks, dietary supplements and prepared food are not groceries and pay the full rate.

What is the sales tax in Little Rock, Arkansas?

Little Rock's total rate is 8.625%: 6.5% state, 1% Pulaski County and 1.125% city, according to the Department of Finance and Administration's October–December 2026 rate table. On groceries the total is 2.125%, because only the city and county taxes apply. North Little Rock, across the river, charges more because its city tax is 2%.

How much does an Arkansas sales tax permit cost?

The permit fee is $50, paid electronically when you register through the Arkansas Taxpayer Access Point (ATAP). The Department of Finance and Administration says to allow up to two weeks for processing, that other tax debts must be cleared first, and that the business location can't be a P.O. box. You need a permit before making taxable sales.

When are Arkansas sales tax returns due?

Monthly returns are due by the 20th of the following month. If your average monthly tax is $100 a month or less, the Department can move you to quarterly returns, due April 20, July 20, October 20 and January 20. At $25 a month or less, you file once a year by January 20. Filing on time earns a 2% discount.

Does Arkansas charge sales tax on services?

Yes, on a list of them. Arkansas taxes repair and installation of many kinds of tangible property, such as vehicles, appliances and boats, plus building cleaning and janitorial work, lawn care and landscaping, pest control, alarm monitoring, laundry and dry cleaning, pet grooming and kennels, tattooing and body piercing, boat storage and cable TV. Professional services such as legal and accounting work aren't taxed.

Sales tax

Arkansas Sales Tax in 2026: 6.5% State Rate, Groceries, Local Rates and Filing

Arkansas sales tax 2026: the 6.5% state rate, 0% state tax on groceries since January 2026, local add-ons, Little Rock's 8.625%, permits, filing and examples.

Edited by Sumeet YadavFounder & editor, MSMETOOLS · fact-checked against official sources

Updated October 2026 Verified against official sources 11 October 2026 18 min read

Arkansas sales tax — MSMETOOLS guide cover

Contents (11)

1. How the Arkansas rate is built
2. Groceries in 2026: the state tax is gone, local tax is not
3. Little Rock and other city rates
4. Which services are taxable in Arkansas
5. Worked examples in dollars
6. Getting an Arkansas sales tax permit
7. Filing frequency, due dates and the discount
8. Remote sellers, marketplaces and use tax
9. The sales tax holiday and other 2025–2026 changes
10. Common mistakes and how to fix them
11. What to do next

Arkansas finished a long project on January 1, 2026: the last sliver of state sales tax on groceries disappeared. Everything else about the tax stayed put. The general state rate is still 6.5%, cities and counties still add their own taxes, and Arkansas still taxes more services than most of its neighbors. This guide is for shop owners, restaurants, contractors, service businesses and online sellers who need the 2026 rules: the state and local rates, what Little Rock charges, how groceries are taxed now, which services are taxable, and how to get a permit and file. We checked each figure against the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) in October 2026, including its October–December 2026 local rate table.

Quick answer

The Arkansas state sales tax rate is 6.5%. Cities and counties add local taxes, so Little Rock totals 8.625% (state, Pulaski County 1% and city 1.125%). Since January 1, 2026, the state rate on groceries is 0%, but city and county taxes still apply to food.

Candy, soft drinks, dietary supplements and prepared food pay the full state and local rate
Many services are taxable, including repairs, building cleaning, lawn care and pest control
A sales tax permit costs $50; returns are due the 20th
Pay on time and keep a 2% discount (state part capped at $1,000 a month)
Remote sellers collect after $100,000 or 200 transactions a year

How the Arkansas rate is built

Arkansas calls its sales tax the gross receipts tax. The state levies 6.5% on retail sales of tangible goods and on a list of services, a rate that has been unchanged since July 1, 2013. The 6.5% includes the one-eighth-cent conservation tax that voters added through Amendment 75 in 1996. A matching use tax applies when an Arkansas buyer gets taxable goods without paying Arkansas tax, for example from an out-of-state website that didn't collect.

On top of the state rate sit city and county taxes. Almost every county levies one, and most cities add their own. DFA publishes the full list each quarter, and in the October–December 2026 table county rates run from 0% in Saline County up to more than 3%, while city rates commonly fall between 1% and 3%. A combined local rate of 2% to 4% is typical, which puts most Arkansas totals between about 8.5% and 10.5%.

Which local rate applies depends on where the buyer takes possession. A sale picked up at your counter uses your store's rate. Goods you ship or deliver use the rate at the delivery address. That means a Fayetteville furniture store delivering to a customer in Bentonville charges Bentonville's rate, not its own. DFA's local tax lookup tool finds the rate for a street address, and local changes take effect at the start of a quarter, so download the new table each January, April, July and October.

Arkansas sales tax at a glance (2026)

6.5%

State sales tax rate

State rate on groceries

Since January 1, 2026

8.625%

Little Rock total

State + Pulaski County + city

$50

Sales tax permit fee

Groceries in 2026: the state tax is gone, local tax is not

Arkansas cut its grocery tax in stages under several governors. After those reductions, the state portion on food stood at 0.125%, the one-eighth cent that had been the hardest to remove. Act 1008 of 2025, passed as House Bill 1685 and known as the Grocery Tax Relief Act, exempted food and food ingredients from state sales and use tax from January 1, 2026. DFA's rate table now shows the State Reduced Food Tax at 0%.

The Act was clear that city and county taxes continue. A Little Rock shopper still pays 2.125% on groceries, which is Pulaski County's 1% plus the city's 1.125%. In towns with higher local rates, the grocery tax can be 4% or more. Retailers that simply switched grocery items to "non-taxable" in January 2026 under-collected local tax and owe the difference.

The definition of food matters more than ever now that the state rate is zero. DFA's food guide excludes six categories from "food and food ingredients": alcoholic beverages, tobacco, dietary supplements, prepared food, candy and soft drinks. Those items pay the full state and local rate. Candy means sweetened bars, drops or pieces, but anything containing flour, such as a packaged cookie or a granola bar with flour, isn't candy and qualifies as food. A soft drink is a sweetened non-alcoholic beverage; drinks with milk or more than 50% fruit or vegetable juice are food. Dietary supplements are identified by the Supplement Facts box on the label.

Prepared food is food the seller heats, food the seller combines from two or more ingredients and sells as one item, and food sold with utensils, plates, cups or napkins the seller provides. A supermarket rotisserie chicken, a made-to-order sandwich and a fountain drink are prepared food. Bread and bakery items that the store didn't make and doesn't heat stay food, as does deli meat that's only sliced and repackaged. Act 1008 also kept two carve-outs: food the seller only cuts, repackages or pasteurizes, and raw eggs, fish, meat and poultry that the customer has to cook.

Grocery tax in Little Rock (2026)

Item	State rate	Total in Little Rock
Milk, bread, produce, raw meat	0%	2.125%
Packaged cookies (contain flour)	0%	2.125%
Deli ham sliced and repackaged	0%	2.125%
Candy bar	6.5%	8.625%
Soda or sweetened tea	6.5%	8.625%
Vitamins (Supplement Facts label)	6.5%	8.625%
Hot rotisserie chicken	6.5%	8.625%

Milk, bread, produce, raw meat

State rate: 0%
Total in Little Rock: 2.125%

Packaged cookies (contain flour)

State rate: 0%
Total in Little Rock: 2.125%

Deli ham sliced and repackaged

State rate: 0%
Total in Little Rock: 2.125%

Candy bar

State rate: 6.5%
Total in Little Rock: 8.625%

Soda or sweetened tea

State rate: 6.5%
Total in Little Rock: 8.625%

Vitamins (Supplement Facts label)

State rate: 6.5%
Total in Little Rock: 8.625%

Hot rotisserie chicken

State rate: 6.5%
Total in Little Rock: 8.625%

Little Rock and other city rates

Little Rock's total rate is 8.625%. That's 6.5% to the state, 1% to Pulaski County and 1.125% to the city, per DFA's October–December 2026 table. Some websites still quote 9% for Little Rock; DFA's table shows the city's 1.125% rate in effect since January 1, 2022. Across the Arkansas River, North Little Rock charges 2% city tax, for a total of 9.5%.

Northwest Arkansas runs higher. Fayetteville adds 2% city and 1.25% Washington County tax for a total of 9.75%. Bentonville and Rogers each add 2% city and 1% Benton County tax, totaling 9.5%. Springdale straddles Washington and Benton counties, so the county portion depends on which side of the line an address sits. In the west, Fort Smith totals 9.5% with Sebastian County's 1%. Jonesboro is lower at 8.5%, because both Jonesboro and Craighead County levy 1%. Conway's city rate rose to 2.125% on April 1, 2026, which with Faulkner County's 0.5% gives 9.125%.

The River Market district in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas — Downtown Little Rock pays 8.625%: the 6.5% state rate, Pulaski County's 1% and the city's 1.125%.· Image: pasa47 (CC BY 2.0)

Rates change more often than many owners expect. In the 2026 tables alone, Conway, Alpena, Sharp County and Stone County all had changes. Voters approve most local taxes in special elections, and some are temporary, tied to a bond issue or a road program, so they can end as well as start. Because DFA's table and lookup tool are updated each quarter, set a calendar reminder to check every location and the delivery areas you serve.

The $2,500 local tax rebate

Arkansas used to cap local tax at the first $2,500 of a single transaction. For most goods, sellers no longer apply the cap at the register: they charge full local tax on the whole invoice. DFA's FAQs explain that a business buyer can instead claim a rebate of the local tax paid on the part of a single item's price above $2,500. The cap still applies at the time of sale for motor vehicles, boats, aircraft and manufactured homes. Act 1013 of 2025 clarified that, for vehicles sold or leased with periodic payments, the $2,500 cap applies to the total of all payments.

Which services are taxable in Arkansas

Arkansas taxes a long list of services, set out in the gross receipts statutes and DFA's GR-9 series of rules. If your business provides one of them, you need a permit and must charge tax just as a retailer does. The main taxable groups are:

Initial installation, alteration, cleaning, refinishing, replacement and repair of listed property, including motor vehicles, boats, aircraft, appliances, electrical devices, furniture, flooring and many kinds of machinery.
Cleaning or janitorial services for the inside or outside of a building, plus parking lot and gutter cleaning.
Lawn care and landscaping, including residential lawn care.
Pest control, alarm monitoring, laundry and dry cleaning, pet grooming and kennel services.
Body piercing, tattooing and electrolysis; boat storage and docking; camping and trailer spaces; wrecker and towing; cable and video services.

Installation in new construction gets different treatment. Contractors building or improving real property generally pay tax on the materials they buy and don't charge tax on their labor, though repair or replacement of specific items, such as a furnace, water heater or dishwasher, is taxable repair work. DFA has issued many legal opinions on borderline cases, which it publishes online; if your service doesn't fit neatly in a category, a written opinion request is the safe route.

Services not on the list aren't taxed. Accounting, legal work, consulting, medical care, haircuts and most professional services fall outside the tax. Shipping charges follow the item: delivery of a taxable product is taxable.

Is the service taxable in Arkansas?

Service	Taxable?	Rule
Car repair, parts and labor	Yes	Repair of listed property
Weekly office cleaning	Yes	Cleaning of buildings
Mowing a homeowner's lawn	Yes	Lawn care
Termite treatment	Yes	Pest control
Dog grooming	Yes	Pet grooming
Bookkeeping or tax preparation	No	Not listed
Haircut	No	Not listed

Car repair, parts and labor

Taxable?: Yes
Rule: Repair of listed property

Weekly office cleaning

Taxable?: Yes
Rule: Cleaning of buildings

Mowing a homeowner's lawn

Taxable?: Yes
Rule: Lawn care

Termite treatment

Taxable?: Yes
Rule: Pest control

Dog grooming

Taxable?: Yes
Rule: Pet grooming

Bookkeeping or tax preparation

Taxable?: No
Rule: Not listed

Haircut

Taxable?: No
Rule: Not listed

Worked examples in dollars

A television in Little Rock. A customer buys a $1,000 television at a Little Rock store. Tax at 8.625% is $86.25, for a total of $1,086.25. If the store delivers the set to a home in North Little Rock, it charges North Little Rock's 9.5%, or $95.

A grocery run. A shopper spends $150 on qualifying groceries, $10 on soda and $8 on candy at a Little Rock supermarket. The groceries pay 2.125%, which is $3.19. The soda and candy pay 8.625% on $18, which is $1.55. Total tax is $4.74. Before 2026, the groceries would also have carried the 0.125% state food rate.

A lawn care company. A Fayetteville lawn service bills a homeowner $120 a month to mow. Lawn care is taxable, so at 9.75% the company charges $11.70 a month. Over a 30-week season of weekly $40 visits, the customer pays $1,200 plus $117 tax.

A business buyer and the local rebate. A Little Rock company buys a $10,000 piece of equipment from a local dealer. The dealer charges 8.625%, or $862.50. Of that, $212.50 is local tax. Under the single-transaction rule, local tax was due only on the first $2,500, or $53.13, so the company can claim a rebate of about $159.37 from DFA.

Try it — Little Rock sales tax on $1,000

Purchase AmountState

Local / County Rate

Purchase Amount$1,000.00

State Tax (6.25%)$62.50

Local Tax (2%)$20.00

Combined Rate8.25%

Total Amount (Including Tax)$1,082.50

Open the full Sales Tax Calculator (PDF, save, compare)

Getting an Arkansas sales tax permit

You need a sales tax permit before you sell taxable goods or services in Arkansas. Apply online through the Arkansas Taxpayer Access Point (ATAP) by choosing to register a new tax account. The fee is $50, paid electronically when you submit. DFA asks you to allow up to two weeks for processing.

Have these ready: your legal business name and federal EIN or Social Security number, the owners or officers, the physical location (a P.O. box isn't accepted), your start date, a signed lease if you rent the premises, and a signed bill of sale if you bought equipment or inventory from a previous owner. Any unpaid Arkansas taxes have to be cleared before DFA issues a new permit. If you're buying an existing business, ask the seller for proof that their sales tax account is current before closing, and register under your own name rather than continuing to use theirs.

When you open a second location, add it to your account so its sales are reported under the right city and county. If you sell at a temporary event, such as a craft fair or a festival, you still need to be registered. Farmers buying exempt farm inputs can now apply for a farmer sales tax identification card under Act 621 of 2025, which took effect January 1, 2026; retailers can accept the card instead of handling paper exemption forms.

Before your first Arkansas sale

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Filing frequency, due dates and the discount

Most businesses start as monthly filers. Returns for each month are due by the 20th of the next month, moving to the next business day when the 20th is a weekend or holiday; DFA's 2026 calendar, for example, shows June's due date as the 22nd. Under DFA's rule GR-77, the Department can notify you that you may file quarterly if your average monthly tax in the prior fiscal year (July through June) was $100 a month or less. Quarterly returns are due April 20, July 20, October 20 and January 20. At $25 a month or less a month, you can be moved to one annual return due January 20. Keep filing monthly until DFA tells you otherwise.

Arkansas rewards on-time payment. Under rule GR-84, you may deduct 2% of the state tax and 2% of the local tax due when you file and pay by the due date. The state part of the discount can't exceed $1,000 a month, with one combined cap for a business with several locations; the local part has no cap. A business collecting $5,000 of state tax and $1,600 of local tax in a month keeps $132. Pay a day late and the whole discount is gone.

Arkansas filing frequency (2026)

Average monthly tax	Frequency	Due
More than $100 a month	Monthly	20th of the next month
$100 a month or less (DFA notice)	Quarterly	Apr 20, Jul 20, Oct 20, Jan 20
$25 a month or less (DFA notice)	Annual	January 20
Net sales $200,000 a month or more	Monthly plus prepayments by EFT	Per DFA calendar

More than $100 a month

Frequency: Monthly
Due: 20th of the next month

$100 a month or less (DFA notice)

Frequency: Quarterly
Due: Apr 20, Jul 20, Oct 20, Jan 20

$25 a month or less (DFA notice)

Frequency: Annual
Due: January 20

Net sales $200,000 a month or more

Frequency: Monthly plus prepayments by EFT
Due: Per DFA calendar

Large retailers prepay. If your average net sales are $200,000 a month or more, Ark. Code 26-52-512 requires prepayments of sales tax by electronic funds transfer, on two dates each month shown on DFA's due-date calendar. Missing a required prepayment costs a 5% penalty and the discount for that period.

File a return for every period even if you made no sales. Report sales by the city and county where they were sourced so DFA can send the local money to the right place, and keep exemption certificates and delivery records for at least the audit period.

Remote sellers, marketplaces and use tax

Arkansas's economic nexus rule took effect July 1, 2019. A remote seller or marketplace facilitator must register and collect when its sales delivered into Arkansas exceed $100,000 or 200 transactions in the current or previous calendar year. Arkansas is one of the states that kept the transaction count, which matters for sellers of inexpensive goods: 200 orders of $25 each, or $5,000 of sales, is enough. Marketplace facilitators collect for the sellers on their platforms, but a seller with its own website must count those direct sales separately.

Remote sellers charge the combined state and local rate for each delivery address, so they need address-level rates. Arkansas is a full member of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which gives remote sellers a central registration option and free certified software in some cases.

Arkansas businesses owe use tax on taxable items bought from out-of-state sellers that didn't charge Arkansas tax, such as equipment, office furniture or supplies ordered online. Report it on your regular return. Individuals and businesses without a sales tax account file consumer use tax returns; DFA's FAQ sets monthly filing when that tax exceeds $100 a month, quarterly between $25 and $100, and annual below $25.

The Arkansas State Capitol building in Little Rock under a blue sky — Act 1008 of 2025, passed at the Capitol, ended the state grocery tax on January 1, 2026; local grocery taxes continue.· Image: Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. (CC0 1.0)

The sales tax holiday and other 2025–2026 changes

Arkansas holds a back-to-school sales tax holiday on the first weekend of August. The 2026 holiday ran from 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 1, to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, August 2. Clothing and footwear under $100 an item, clothing accessories under $50 an item, school supplies, school art supplies, school instructional materials and qualifying electronic devices were exempt from both state and local tax. Online orders counted when they're paid during the weekend and shipped to an Arkansas address.

Besides the grocery exemption, the 2025 legislative session produced several smaller changes worth knowing. From October 1, 2025, Act 1007 exempts some purchases by small 501(c)(3) charities with operating budgets under $200,000 that serve Arkansans in need, though not vehicles, computers, appliances, phones or building materials. Act 548 created an exemption for qualified large data centers. Act 1019 moved collection of tax on new and used motorboats from dealers to DFA at registration. Act 621 created the farmer identification card from January 1, 2026.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

Removing all tax from groceries. Only the state rate went to zero. Little Rock groceries still pay 2.125%. If your system charged nothing from January 2026, you owe the local tax you didn't collect; fix the code and file amended returns for the affected months.

Treating candy, soda and supplements as groceries. They're excluded from the food definition and pay the full rate. Check how your point-of-sale system codes them, especially private-label items added after the January change.

Using a stale local rate. Rates change at the start of quarters. Charging 9% in Little Rock, for example, over-collects. Use DFA's current quarterly table or lookup tool.

Not charging tax on services. Owners moving from states that don't tax services often miss that cleaning, lawn care and pest control are taxable in Arkansas. Under-collected tax becomes your own bill in an audit.

Losing the discount. The 2% discount disappears if payment arrives late, even by a day. Pay electronically a few days early.

Forgetting use tax. Equipment and supplies bought online without Arkansas tax still owe use tax. It's one of the first items auditors check.

Official links

What to do next

Get your permit on ATAP, look up the local rate for each store and delivery area, and set your register so groceries carry only local tax while candy, soda, supplements and prepared food carry the full rate. Check whether your services are on Arkansas's taxable list, then put the 20th of each month on your calendar so you keep the 2% discount. Use the sales tax calculator to check receipts at 8.625% or your local rate, and our guide to calculating sales tax for tax-included prices. Selling into neighboring states? Compare our Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri and Louisiana guides, and read about economic nexus before you cross a state's threshold.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

The state rate is 6.5%. Cities and counties add their own taxes, so most Arkansas totals fall between about 8% and 11%. In Little Rock the total is 8.625%: the state rate, Pulaski County's 1% and the city's 1.125%. Groceries carry a 0% state rate since January 1, 2026, but local taxes still apply to them.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 11 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1.State Sales & Use Tax Rates — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
2.List of Cities and Counties with Local Sales and Use Tax, October–December 2026 — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
3.What's New in Sales Tax for 2025 — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
4."Food and Food Ingredients" State Sales & Use Tax Guide — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
5.Register for a Tax Account — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
6.Sales & Use Tax Due Dates (2026) — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
7.Ark. Code R. 006.05.06-005 (GR-77) — Reports, returns and remittances — Cornell LII (Arkansas Administrative Code) · accessed 11 October 2026
8.Ark. Code R. 006.05.06-005 (GR-84) — Discount for prompt payment — Cornell LII (Arkansas Administrative Code) · accessed 11 October 2026
9.Who Must Pay by EFT — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
10.Sales and Use Tax FAQs — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
11.Remote Sellers — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
12.Gross Receipts Tax Rules (GR-9 series, services subject to tax) — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
13.Sales Tax Holiday Instructions 2026 — Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · accessed 11 October 2026
14.Arkansas Grocery Tax Relief Act goes into effect January 1st — KAIT 8 News · accessed 11 October 2026

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