Texas Comptroller Don Huffines signed an executive order Sept. 30 to end a tax on marketplace and platform fees that applied to online sales, food delivery, ride-hailing and similar services, according to a news release from the Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Huffines announced the order during the agency’s annual briefing, which the release said was attended by industry members, associations, tax practitioners and consultants. The agency described the tax as one that hit transactions twice: once on the platform fee a seller or provider pays, and again on the purchase itself.
According to the release, the agency’s previous leadership adopted a new interpretation in 2025 of an old tax rule on data processing services that swept in marketplace fees, the charges a business pays a platform to reach customers online. Under that reading, the release said, the state taxed fees paid by sellers on platforms such as Amazon, eBay and Etsy; by restaurants to delivery services such as DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats; and by families listing a spare bedroom as a short-term rental.
“For the past year, small business owners across this state have been getting hit by a hidden tax nobody voted for,” Huffines said. “Groceries cost more. Rent costs more. Texans are tightening their belts, and the last thing they need is their own government quietly driving up prices.”
The order directs the agency to publish a proposed amendment to Rule 3.330 that removes marketplace and platform fees from the definition of taxable data processing services. According to the release, the change would end taxes on fees tied to marketplace sellers, food and grocery delivery, short-term lodging, ride-hailing, vehicle rental or sharing, pet care, and household, personal and errand-running services.
The proposed amendment will be filed with the Texas Secretary of State and published in the Texas Register, followed by a 30-day public comment period, the agency said. Texans can submit comments to the Comptroller’s office during that window.
Earlier this month, the release said, Huffines invited small business owners to a roundtable on how the rule affected their operations. He said the owners told him the tax puts Texas sellers at a disadvantage against out-of-state competitors who do not pay it.
The agency called the order the latest step in Huffines’ Taxpayer First Project and said it will continue to review how the data processing tax is interpreted and may propose additional changes in the future.