Form C/OH explained: the Texas campaign finance report

If you raise or spend money to run for local office in Texas, you will file a Form C/OH — the *Candidate/Officeholder Campaign Finance Report*. It's the public ledger of your campaign: every dollar in, every dollar out, who gave it, and what you bought with it. First-time candidates tend to treat it as an afterthought until a deadline looms. It shouldn't be. The report is searchable, your opponent reads it, and a late or sloppy filing is the kind of self-inflicted wound that ends otherwise winnable races. This guide breaks down what Form C/OH actually is, the schedules attached to it, what counts as a reportable contribution or expenditure, and when it's due.

What is Form C/OH, exactly?

Form C/OH is the cover sheet and summary of your campaign's money for a defined reporting period. The cover page carries your totals — total contributions, total expenditures, and cash on hand. Behind the cover sheet sit the schedules, which itemize the individual transactions that make up those totals. Think of the cover sheet as the headline and the schedules as the receipts. You file the whole package together with your filing authority by the deadline for that period.

Most local candidates in Collin County file the C/OH with their local filing authority — the city secretary for a city council or mayoral race, or the school district for an ISD trustee race. The Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) publishes the form, sets the rules, and is the filing authority for state offices. Knowing which authority is *yours* is the first thing to nail down; our Texas Ethics Commission filing guide walks through how to find out.

What are the schedules on a Form C/OH?

The schedules are where the detail lives. You only attach the ones you actually used in the period. The most common ones for a local campaign are:

Schedule names and the exact itemization thresholds can change, so always pull the current form and instructions from your filing authority rather than relying on a prior year's packet. The principle holds steady: contributions go on the A schedules, expenditures on the F schedules, and loans and personal-fund spending get their own lines so the public can trace every dollar.

What counts as a contribution or an expenditure?

This is where well-meaning candidates get tripped up, because the definitions are broader than people expect.

A contribution isn't just a check. It's anything of value given to your campaign — cash, a credit-card donation, or an in-kind gift like a supporter buying your yard signs, hosting a paid event, or donating professional design work. In-kind contributions have to be reported at fair market value on Schedule A2, even though no money touched your account.

An expenditure is any payment to influence the election or in connection with the office — printing, mailers, digital ads, consultants, the direct mail you send, the P2P texting you run. If you itemize an expenditure, you generally report the payee, the amount, the date, and the purpose. Vague purposes ('campaign expense') are a red flag to reviewers — be specific.

When is Form C/OH due?

There are several reporting deadlines across an election cycle, and missing one is entirely avoidable. Mapped to the Saturday, May 1, 2027 uniform election date, the reports most local candidates deal with are:

• 30-day pre-election report — covers activity through a cutoff roughly 30 days before the election. This is your first big public report of the cycle.
• 8-day pre-election report — the one that matters most, filed about 8 days out, when voters and opponents are paying closest attention.
• Semiannual reports — the January and July filings that catch any periods not covered by a pre-election report.
• Special pre-election reports — required in some situations for large late contributions; check whether they apply to you.

Exact dates shift with each cycle, so confirm them against the official calendar and your filing authority. For the full mapped-out schedule, see our Texas campaign finance report deadlines for 2027.

The bottom line

Form C/OH isn't bureaucracy for its own sake — it's the public proof that your campaign is clean, and it's the document your opponents will comb through for a mistake. Appoint your treasurer first, log every contribution and expenditure as it happens, attach the right schedules, and never miss the 30-day or 8-day deadline. Do that, and the report becomes a non-event. To avoid the traps entirely, read 7 campaign finance mistakes that sink local candidates or explore how Mandate keeps your filings ready year-round.