Sales Tax Calculator

Work out the sales tax on a purchase, the total you will pay, or the pre-tax price hidden inside a receipt total, using a state preset or your exact local rate.

How the calculation works

Enter the amount in dollars (1 to 100,000), choose a rate and pick a mode. In “Add tax on top” mode the calculator treats the amount as the pre-tax price: tax = price × rate, total = price + tax. In “Tax included in price” mode it treats the amount as the final total and backs the tax out: pre-tax price = total / (1 + rate), tax = total − pre-tax price. The results show the pre-tax price, the tax, the total and the tax's share of the total. All figures are shown to the cent, with the tax rounded to the nearest cent as at a register.

Rate presets are shortcuts: CA 7.25% (California's statewide base rate), NY state 4% (before county and city taxes), NYC 8.875% (4% state + 4.5% city + 0.375% Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District surcharge), TX 6.25% (Texas's state rate; local taxes can add up to 2%), FL 6% (Florida's state rate, before county surtax) and UK VAT 20%. You can also drag the slider anywhere from 0% to 27% in 0.125% steps. In the US, sales tax is set by states and topped up by counties, cities and special districts, so the rate at checkout often differs from the state rate.

Five states have no statewide sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon, although some Alaska localities charge their own. For the exact combined rate at an address, use the lookup tool on your state's department of revenue website, because local rates change during the year.

Worked example

A $1,000 laptop bought at California's 7.25% base rate: tax = 1,000 × 0.0725 = $72.50 and the total is $1,072.50. The calculator shows exactly $72.50 and $1,072.50, with tax making up 6.76% of the total. In New York City at 8.875%, the same laptop would carry $88.75 of tax, for a total of $1,088.75. Reversed, if $1,000 is the tax-included total at 7.25%, the pre-tax price is 1,000 / 1.0725 = $932.40 and the tax is $67.60.

Things to keep in mind

• Use the combined rate for the delivery address, not just the state rate. Local add-ons can push the total several points above the state rate.
• Many states exempt or reduce tax on groceries, prescription drugs or clothing, and some hold sales tax holidays, so a single rate may not fit every item in your cart.
• If an out-of-state seller does not collect sales tax, you may owe use tax at the same rate to your home state. Since the 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, most states require large remote sellers to collect it.
• The UK VAT preset uses the 20% standard rate. EU standard VAT rates range from 17% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary) and can be set with the slider; prices shown to consumers in the UK and EU already include VAT, so use the “included” mode to see the net price.
• Results are rounded to the cent on the whole amount. Some retailers compute tax per item and round each line, so a receipt with many items can differ by a cent or two.