Determine what landscaping and lawn care services are subject to Texas sales and use tax

Steps

1. Register to collect Texas sales and use tax once landscaping/lawn-care service income exceeds $5,000 in the most recent four calendar quarters (tax collection begins the first day of the following quarter).
2. Charge tax on covered services: planting/transplanting/removing plants, plant disease treatment, pruning/spraying/fertilizing/watering, mowing/trimming/edging, and tree maintenance.
3. Do not charge landscaping-service tax on excluded work — deck, retaining wall, fence, or pool construction/repair, or underground sprinkler system installation — these fall under separate new-construction/repair-of-real-property tax rules instead.
4. Exclude landscape design/architecture professional services (consultation, research, design plans) from sales tax entirely.
5. Separately state taxable vs. non-taxable charges on invoices — if the taxable portion exceeds 5% of a bundled charge and isn't separately stated, the entire charge is presumed taxable.
6. Monitor the rolling four-quarter revenue total, since dropping to $5,000 or below stops the collection obligation starting the next quarter (the threshold isn't a one-time trigger).