Sales tax on landscaping in South Dakota
How is landscaping taxed in South Dakota?
Lawn and tree services owe sales tax
Lawn, garden and tree services performed apart from realty improvement contracts are subject to sales tax: the 4.2% state rate plus the municipal tax of the city where the service is performed.
The Department's list is long and plain. Mowing and trimming, fertilizing, aerating, dethatching, seeding, sod laying, mulching, raking and power raking, spraying, weed and pest killing, landscape design, diagnosing lawn conditions, hydro seeding, snow removal, tilling and soil preparation are all taxable services.
A crew on a weekly mowing route is charging sales tax on every invoice. The service is performed at the customer's lawn, so that city's rate rides on the ticket, whichever town the shop sits in.
4.2% + municipalSouth Dakota lawn, garden and tree services performed apart from realty improvement contracts owe state sales tax plus municipal tax where the service is performed. — South Dakota Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29
South Dakota's taxable landscaping services include mowing and trimming, fertilizing, aerating, dethatching, seeding, sod laying, mulching, spraying, landscape design and snow removal. — South Dakota Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29
When the job becomes excise-taxed
The split point is the realty improvement. Construction services and realty improvements subject to the 2% contractor's excise tax are not subject to sales or use tax, and a landscaper doing that work needs a contractor's excise tax license and reports those receipts on the excise return.
The tree side of the trade shows the line. Tree trimming for utility lines is on the Department's sales-taxable list, while installing an irrigation system or building a retaining wall is construction, taxed as a realty improvement instead.
Electrical contractors live on the far side of the same line, with almost every job excise-taxed rather than sales-taxed. The electrical page works that trade's version of the split, and the mechanism is identical here: prime contractor, gross receipts, 2%.
2%South Dakota construction services and realty improvements subject to contractor's excise tax are not subject to sales or use tax, and that work needs a contractor's excise tax license. — South Dakota Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29
Tree trimming for utility lines is a sales-taxable landscaping service in South Dakota. — South Dakota Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29
Materials, supplies and the contractor's purchases
Excise-taxed jobs still tax what you buy. Materials, supplies and services purchased for the contract are subject to sales or use tax, so fertilizer for a taxable lawn program and gravel for an excise-taxed wall are both purchases the business settles tax on.
The reverse trap is the resale certificate. Products you hand to the customer as part of the job, bought without tax, owe use tax when they are used rather than resold. Split purchases at the counter and tell the supplier which lane each is in.
Snow removal sits on the sales-tax side of the trade, so a winter route keeps the sales tax license busy while the build season runs the excise return. Both licenses cost nothing, and a business doing both kinds of work commonly holds both.
Materials, supplies and services purchased for a South Dakota construction contract subject to contractor's excise tax are subject to sales or use tax. — South Dakota Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29
Snow removal is a sales-taxable lawn, garden and tree service in South Dakota, and there is no fee for either a sales tax or a contractor's excise tax license. — South Dakota Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29
Ornamental work, sod and the gray edges
The Department's list keeps the gray edges short. Ornamental plants, trees and shrubs are taxable services for planting, pruning, bracing, removal, surgery and stump removal, and turf installation is taxable except artificial turf.
Installing decorative rock and weed control fabric is on the sales-taxable list. Preparing dirt to lay sod is taxable, and sod laying itself is too. Watering is taxable.
What is not on the list is the work that builds: walls, patios, irrigation systems, permanent fixtures. That is construction, and the excise chapter takes it. The Department's own wording is that the service list applies when the work is performed apart from other contracts involving realty improvements, so a quote that bundles a mowing route with a build is a contract to ask the Department about before you price it one way.
South Dakota taxes ornamental plant, tree and shrub planting, pruning, bracing, removal and stump removal, turf installation except artificial turf, decorative rock installation and watering. — South Dakota Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29
The paperwork route through the season
Two licenses, two returns, one trade. The sales tax license covers the route work and the excise license covers the build work, and both are filed on the Department's calendar, with returns due every period even in the frozen months.
Before the season starts, the license guide covers the application and the multi-location rules. The rates page holds both rates a landscaping invoice can carry, and the collecting guide covers where each customer's job is taxed.
And when the bids factor the excise tax in, use the 2.041% factor the Department publishes for preparing a bid, against the straight 2% computed on the return.
| Job | Tax | Where it is charged |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly mowing and trimming | 4.2% + municipal sales tax | Where the lawn is |
| Fertilizing and weed spraying | 4.2% + municipal sales tax | Where the lawn is |
| Tree removal and stump grinding | 4.2% + municipal sales tax | Where the tree is |
| Snow removal route | 4.2% + municipal sales tax | Where the property is |
| Irrigation system installation | 2% contractor's excise tax | On gross receipts |
| Materials bought for any contract | Sales or use tax on the purchase | Where bought |
2.041%A South Dakota contractor preparing a bid may use a 2.041% factor to compute the contractor's excise tax due, while the straight 2% rate is used when calculating the tax on the return. — South Dakota Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-29
Questions
Is snow removal really taxable in South Dakota?
Yes. Snow removal is on the Department's list of sales-taxable lawn, garden and tree services, charged at 4.2% plus the municipal rate where the service is performed.
Do I charge sales tax on a retaining wall?
A retaining wall is a realty improvement, so the work falls under the contractor's excise tax at 2% on gross receipts rather than sales tax. That work needs the contractor's excise license and reports on the excise return.
What if one quote covers mowing and an irrigation install?
The two halves are taxed under different chapters, sales tax on the service half and excise tax on the realty improvement half. Bid them as separate work, each under its own chapter, rather than one blended contract.
Can I buy my fertilizer without tax?
Only with an exemption certificate, and only for the lane it belongs to. Products resold to the customer as part of a taxable job can be bought for resale; supplies you use to deliver your own service leave you owing use tax if bought without tax.