Supporting the Growth and Success of Dawson County Businesses and Residents

From personal property taxes to Nebraska income taxes, the information you need is below:

Corporate Income Tax Rates

A sales-only formula is used to calculate corporate income tax liability.

Property Tax

Dawson County utilizes tax increment financing (TIF) as an incentive tool for new and expanding businesses. TIF is designed to finance the public costs associated with a private development project. Essentially, the property tax increases resulting from a development are targeted to repay the public investment required by a project.

TIF provides a means of encouraging private investment in deteriorating areas by allowing city governments to devote all property tax revenue increases to repay the public investment needed to attract development.

Property tax payments are determined on a county-assessed value at the completion of a project. All real property is subject to tax at market value. Manufacturing machinery used for fabricated metal products used in trade is depreciable on a seven-year recovery period. Agricultural land is valued at 75 percent of its actual value. Personal property that is used in a trade or business and is depreciable is subject to tax at its “net book value.” All other personal property is exempt from taxation. The local property tax levy is broken down as follows:

Real Property Tax Rates ($ per $100 of actual value):

For 2014-2015

  • Lexington - $2.042805
  • Cozad - $2.042054
  • Gothenburg - $1.915316
Use and Sales Tax

Cities in Dawson County impose a 1.5 percent city sales tax in addition to the Nebraska sales tax of 5.5 percent.

  • No sales tax on raw materials when used as ingredients or component parts in manufacturing operations.
  • No sales tax on manufacturing equipment.
  • No sales tax on sales of energy or water used for manufacturing and processing.
  • Sales and use tax refunds available on qualifying air and water pollution control equipment.
  • Manufacturing machinery, equipment and related services are exempt from local sales tax.
  • Under the Nebraska Advantage Program, credits are issued to companies that have wages that are at least 60 percent of the Nebraska average. These credits can be used toward obligations of Nebraska sales tax, income tax and Nebraska employee withholding.

Manufacturing machinery and equipment is defined to include: equipment for transporting raw materials or components; molds and dies for forming cast or injected products or its packaging materials; machinery to maintain the integrity of the product or environmental conditions; testing equipment for quality control; computers that control a manufacturing process; machinery used to produce steam, electricity, catalysts and solutions, and/or repair or replacement parts; and all installation, repair and maintenance service performed on such equipment.

Inventory Tax Rates

Business inventories are exempt from property and inventory taxes.