Excite Tax's answer: Salt Lake County city sales-tax rates run 7.45%–9.05% and Utah County's 7.35%–7.45% (Q4 2026); licences are mostly municipal in both.
Less than most owners expect. Both counties work under the same state statutes: cities license businesses under Utah Code 10-1-203 and counties license only unincorporated areas under Utah Code 17-64-505. Excite Tax finds four real differences: the sales-tax rate, the lodging tax, who issues a licence outside the cities, and the personal property deadline.
Salt Lake County, at the edges. Most cities in both counties charge the same rate: 7.45% on the Salt Lake County side and 7.45% on the Utah County side. The differences are Salt Lake City at 8.45%, Murray and South Salt Lake at 7.65%, and the canyon towns of Alta (9.05%) and Brighton (8.55%); on the Utah County side, some smaller cities and unincorporated areas charge 7.35%. The full table is below.
The city, in both counties. Outside any city, Salt Lake County businesses license through the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District, and Utah County businesses license through Utah County Community Development, which serves only unincorporated areas. Details below.
Yes, and it is the one statutory difference. Salt Lake County is a county of the first class, so its statement is due the later of 60 days after the assessor's request or, if the county adopts it, May 15. Utah County is second class, so the default applies: May 15 of the year the assessor asks.
Restaurants, no: both counties add a 1.00% restaurant tax on top of the combined rate. Lodging, slightly: the combined transient room rate is 6.07% in unincorporated Salt Lake County and 5.57% in unincorporated Utah County, and cities add their own. More below.
The address decides, even inside one city. Draper straddles the line, and the Tax Commission lists 7.45% for Draper and 7.35% for Draper City South, the Utah County part of the city.
Utah sets the framework for both counties, so most of what an owner deals with is identical: one sales-tax return filed with the Tax Commission, the same licensing statutes, the same restaurant tax. Excite Tax's reading is that the practical differences come from two places: the local rate each city stacks on top of the state rate, and the county's size class, which moves one property-tax deadline. The rest of this page takes each difference in turn, then lists what is the same.
The combined sales rate for the various localities in this section applies to all taxable sales in the state. Other taxes and fees, such as transient room, short-term vehicle leasing, restaurant, telecommunications and municipal energy are in addition to the combined rate.
Read plainly, the Tax Commission publishes one combined rate per city or unincorporated area, and it is the number a business charges on a taxable sale made there. The chart for Q3 2026 puts every city in Salt Lake County between 7.45% and 9.05% and every city in Utah County between 7.35% and 7.45%. The next chart, for rates in effect as of October 1, 2026, lists the same rates for the cities below.
Combined sales and use tax rates, Q3 2026, from the Utah State Tax Commission's quarterly chart.
| Where the sale is made | County | Combined rate |
|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake City | Salt Lake | 8.45% |
| Murray, South Salt Lake | Salt Lake | 7.65% |
| Draper, Sandy, West Jordan, South Jordan, West Valley City, Millcreek, Herriman | Salt Lake | 7.45% |
| Kearns, Magna and unincorporated areas | Salt Lake | 7.45% |
| Alta | Salt Lake | 9.05% |
| Brighton | Salt Lake | 8.55% |
| Provo, Orem, Lehi, Lindon, American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Spanish Fork, Springville, Saratoga Springs | Utah | 7.45% |
| Salem, Genola, Goshen, Elk Ridge | Utah | 7.35% |
| Unincorporated areas | Utah | 7.35% |
| Draper City South (the Utah County part of Draper) | Utah | 7.35% |
Why Utah County's own rate is lower than its cities': the chart shows a 0.10% Botanical, Cultural, Zoo tax that Salt Lake County levies county-wide but that Utah County leaves to cities such as Provo, Orem and Lehi. Salt Lake City's, Murray's and the canyon towns' higher rates come from additional local levies on the same chart.
A retailer with $40,000 of taxable sales in a month collects a different amount depending on where each sale is made in Q3 2026:
Tax on $40,000 of taxable sales at each Q3 2026 combined rate.
| Store location | Combined rate | Sales tax collected |
|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake City | 8.45% | $3,380 |
| Murray | 7.65% | $3,060 |
| Provo | 7.45% | $2,980 |
| Unincorporated Utah County | 7.35% | $2,940 |
The tax is the customer's money, so the rate itself costs the business nothing. The error does. A Salt Lake City shop that rings up sales at Provo's 7.45% instead of 8.45% under-collects $400 on that month's $40,000, and the Tax Commission still expects the full 8.45%, so the $400 comes out of profit. Excite Tax's rule for owners with more than one location: set the rate per location in the point-of-sale system, and check it against the new chart each quarter.
The taxes and fees in this section are in addition to the combined sales and use tax in the previous section. Only one combined rate from this section will apply to a given transaction.
So a restaurant charges the combined rate plus the restaurant tax, and both counties impose the same 1.00% restaurant tax. A meal sold in Salt Lake City carries 8.45% plus 1.00%, or 9.45% in total; the same meal in Provo carries 7.45% plus 1.00%, or 8.45%. The restaurant bookkeeping guide covers keeping the two taxes apart on the books.
Lodging is where the counties' own rates differ. The combined transient room rate is 6.07% in unincorporated Salt Lake County and 5.57% in unincorporated Utah County, and cities add a municipal share: 7.07% in Salt Lake City and Provo, 7.57% in Sandy and West Valley City, and 6.57% in Orem and Lehi.
(2) Except as provided in Subsection (4), the legislative body may by ordinance: (a) provide for the licensing of businesses within the unincorporated areas of the county for the purpose of regulation; and (b) impose fees on businesses to recover the county's costs of regulation.
That is the same statute for both counties, and it reaches only the unincorporated areas. Inside a city, Utah Code 10-1-203 lets the city license the business, so in Salt Lake County and Utah County alike the licence comes from the city where the business operates. What differs is who handles the unincorporated areas and how the licence year runs.
Licensing outside the cities, from each county's licensing office.
Two rules are identical by statute. A home-based business owes no licence fee in a city or in a county unless its offsite impact materially exceeds the home's own, and neither a city nor a county may require a licence for a business run only occasionally by someone under 19. Utah County also warns that its licence is not approval from the health department, the Department of Commerce, DOPL or the IRS. The county business licence page walks through the application.
One consequence Excite Tax flags for new owners: a licence tells the county assessor the business exists. A city must pass each approved application to the county assessor within 60 days, and so must the county's own licensing agency. The assessor may then ask for a personal property statement from the first year.
(b) For a county of the first class, a person shall file the signed statement described in Subsection (1) on or before the later of: (i) 60 days after the day on which the county assessor requests the statement; or (ii) May 15 of the year the county assessor requests the statement described in Subsection (1) if, by resolution, the county legislative body of that county adopts the deadline described in Subsection (2)(a).
This is the only filing rule the statute sets differently for the two counties, and it turns on population. Utah Code 17-60-104 makes a county of 1,150,000 or more first class and a county of 260,000 up to that line second class. On the 2020 Census counts, Salt Lake County (1,185,238) is first class and Utah County (659,359) is second class. So a Salt Lake County business has 60 days from the assessor's request, unless the county adopts May 15, while a Utah County business files on or before May 15 of the year it is asked. The personal property filing page covers the exemption and what to list.
Excite Tax's reading: for a business in one city, the county it sits in barely changes the bookkeeping. For a business with locations on both sides of the Point of the Mountain, the rate table and the two property deadlines are the work.
The sales-tax rate does not: Sandy is 7.45% and so is Lehi. The licence does, because each city licenses businesses within its own limits, so Lehi issues a new one. The personal property statement moves to the Utah County assessor, whose default deadline is May 15.
Usually yes, but often without a fee. Neither a city nor a county may charge a fee for a home-based business unless its offsite impact materially exceeds the home's own. In unincorporated Utah County, some home occupations may be exempt altogether; ask the city first if the home is inside one.
Hand the books over when keeping them costs more hours than the business can spare, or when they stop agreeing with the bank.
Excite Tax keeps these books; the return they feed is reviewed and signed by a licensed CPA at TBD CPA LLC.
Ranked and explained on the sources page.