General information only — not tax advice.

Why Is There Still Tax on My Oklahoma Grocery Receipt?

You heard Oklahoma ended the tax on groceries. So why does your receipt still show tax? Here is the short answer, in plain words.

The tax left on your receipt is only the city and county part. The state part is gone — it is now 0% on food and food ingredients. Cities and counties still charge their own sales tax on groceries, and that part did not change.

What changed on August 29, 2024

Starting August 29, 2024, the state sales and use tax rate on food and food ingredients in Oklahoma is 0%.

Before that date, the state charged 4.5% on groceries, the same as on most other things. That state charge on food is now gone.

But the change only removed the state part. Sales of food and food ingredients are still subject to city (municipal) and county sales and use taxes. That is the tax you still see.

What counts as “food and food ingredients”

The 0% state rate covers food and food ingredients — the regular food and drink you buy to eat or drink. The law says this group does include:

  • Bottled water
  • Candy
  • Soft drinks

Yes — candy and soft drinks count. They get the 0% state rate too, just like the rest of your groceries. City and county tax still applies to them.

What does not count

Some things sold in a grocery store are not “food and food ingredients” under the law, so the 0% state rate does not cover them:

  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Dietary supplements
  • Marijuana and marijuana-infused products
  • Over-the-counter medications that carry a drug-facts box or active-ingredients labeling
  • Prepared food (explained next)
  • Tobacco

What “prepared food” means, in plain words

Food counts as prepared food when the seller did the work of getting it ready to eat. In plain words, it is food like this:

  • Food the seller heats up for you
  • Food sold hot — already heated when you buy it
  • Food the seller mixed or combined from two or more ingredients and sells as one single item
  • Food sold with utensils provided by the seller, like a fork, spoon, plate, or straw that comes with it

Think of the hot, ready-to-eat items at the deli counter. That is the kind of food this means.

Some things still get the full state tax

Three of the groups above are still taxed at the full state rate of 4.5%, plus city and county tax:

  • Prepared food
  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Dietary supplements

So a hot deli item in your cart is taxed differently from the cold groceries next to it — even though both came from the same store, on the same trip.

One cart, two kinds of tax — a plain example

Say one shopping cart holds two things: a bag of regular groceries and one hot prepared item. Here is how the tax works on each one.

The bag of groceries gets 0% state tax — no state tax at all — plus the city and county tax.

The hot prepared item gets 4.5% state tax — 45 cents on a $10 item — plus the same city and county tax.

That is the whole story: on plain groceries, the only tax left is your city and county tax. The state no longer takes a share.

Where this comes from

Everything on this page comes from the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC):

  • The OTC page “State Sales Tax on Food and Food Ingredients.”
  • Oklahoma Administrative Code, Title 710, Chapter 65, rule 710:65-13-571 — “Food and food ingredients,” which sets the 0% state rate, the 4.5% rate for prepared food, alcoholic beverages, and dietary supplements, and keeps city and county taxes in place. Read the OTC rules (PDF)
  • The definition of “food and food ingredients” at 68 O.S. § 1352(16), as published by the OTC — the list of what is included and what is not.

Facts checked against those sources on November 2, 2026.

General information only — not tax advice.