Sales Tax Calculator

How to calculate sales tax

To add sales tax, multiply the price by the tax rate as a decimal: a $100 item at 7.25% has $7.25 in tax, for a total of $107.25. Equivalently, total = price × (1 + rate). This calculator handles that instantly for any price and rate.

Removing tax from a total

If you only know the total paid, choose "Including tax." The calculator divides by (1 + rate) to find the original price: $107.25 ÷ 1.0725 = $100. A common mistake is to subtract the rate from the total directly ($107.25 × 0.9275 = $99.47), which gives the wrong answer because the tax was calculated on the smaller pre-tax price.

Sales tax in the United States

The U.S. has no national sales tax. Instead, most states set a state rate, and many counties and cities add local taxes, so the combined rate depends on exactly where the sale happens. Combined rates range from zero to over 10% in some cities. A handful of states, including Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon, have no statewide sales tax, while Alaska has no state tax but allows local ones.

Many states exempt or reduce tax on groceries, prescription medicine, or clothing, and some hold sales tax holidays before the school year. Online purchases are generally taxed based on the delivery address.

Sales tax vs. VAT

Many other countries use a value-added tax (VAT) or goods and services tax (GST) instead. These are usually already included in the shelf price, so use the "Including tax" option to see how much of a price is VAT. For example, a €120 item with 20% VAT contains €20 of tax.

Budgeting tip

When planning a big purchase like a car, appliance or furniture, add your local sales tax to the budget up front. On a $30,000 car, an 8% rate adds $2,400.