Sales Tax Calculator

Adding sales tax to a price

Total = price × (1 + rate ÷ 100), and the tax is the difference. A $49.99 item at 8.25% carries $4.12 of tax — $49.99 × 0.0825 is $4.124, rounded to the cent — for a total of $54.11.

Shops normally calculate tax on the taxable subtotal of the whole receipt rather than item by item, so adding up the tax on each item separately can differ from the receipt by a cent. That is rounding, not an error.

In the US, sales tax is added at the register rather than included in the shelf price, which is why a $20 price tag rarely means $20 at the till.

Backing the tax out of a total

To find the price before tax inside a total, divide by one plus the rate: price = total ÷ (1 + rate ÷ 100). $54.11 at 8.25% is $54.11 ÷ 1.0825 = $49.99, and the tax is the $4.12 difference. Choose "Remove tax" and the calculator does this to the cent, so the price and the tax it shows always add back up to the total.

The common mistake is multiplying the total by the rate. 8.25% of $54.11 is $4.46, which overstates the tax by 34 cents, because the tax was charged on the pre-tax price, not on the total. The error grows with the rate and the amount, which matters when you are reconciling expenses or separating tax from a batch of receipts.

Why there is no single US sales tax rate

Sales tax in the United States is not federal. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia levy a statewide sales tax; Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon do not, although Alaska lets local governments charge their own. On top of the state rate, counties, cities and special districts can add local taxes, so two shops a few miles apart can charge different rates, and combined rates above 9% are found in several states.

That is why this calculator asks you for the rate rather than guessing one. Use the combined rate — state plus local — for the place where the sale happens. For goods delivered to you, most states use the rate at the delivery address. Most state revenue departments publish a lookup tool that gives the rate for a specific address, and your receipt shows the rate a shop actually charged.

What is and is not taxed

Taxable items vary from state to state. Many states exempt groceries or tax them at a reduced rate; prescription medicines are widely exempt; some states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Minnesota, exempt most clothing. Services are taxed in some states and not in others, and shipping charges are taxable in some states and not in others.

Several states also hold sales tax holidays, often before the school year, when specific items such as clothing or school supplies can be bought without tax. If an item is exempt, the right rate for it is zero, whatever the general rate is.

Online purchases are taxed too. Since the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, states can require out-of-state sellers above a sales threshold to collect sales tax. Where a seller does not collect it, many states expect buyers to pay the equivalent use tax themselves.

Sales tax is not VAT or GST

Most other countries use a value-added tax — VAT in the UK and the EU, GST in Canada, Australia, India and elsewhere — which is collected at every stage of production and is normally included in the shelf price. US sales tax is charged once, at the final retail sale, and added on top of the price.

If you need to add or remove VAT or GST, the GST and VAT calculator does the same arithmetic with presets for common rates. If you are working out a discounted price before tax, the discount calculator adds sales tax after the discount, as a US checkout does.