Services are roughly organized into 4 categories:
Business services – These include services for businesses such as advertising, computer services, human resources services, lobby and consulting and payroll services.
Personal services – These include services such as dry cleaning, hair care, and tanning salons.
Professional services – These include services provided by accountants, architects, attorneys, and doctors.
Maintenance and repair services – These include services that are provided to tangible personal property (i.e. cars, your house) or improvements to buildings and land (i.e. landscaping).
While services are not subject to sales tax in all states, It’s important to note that exclusions are not absolute. It all depends on the state.
5 U.S. states (New Hampshire, Oregon, Montana, Alaska, Delaware) don’t impose any general, statewide sales tax on goods and services.
4 U.S. states (Hawaii, South Dakota, New Mexico, West Virginia) tax services by default, with exceptions only for services specifically exempted in the law.
In the rest of the 41 states and the District of Columbia, services are not taxed by default, but services specified by the state may be taxed.
If you do business in more than one state, that means that you need to understand how each state treats each of your particular products or services.