Sales Tax Calculator

Add sales tax to a price, take the tax back out of a total you paid, or work out the tax rate from a receipt. Enter the combined rate for where you buy. Your inputs stay in your browser.

Your purchase

What do you want to work out?

The amount paid, including sales tax.

The combined rate where you buy: state plus any county and city rates.

$268.13 with $18.13 tax. See full results

Example: a $250.00 purchase at a 7.25% combined sales tax rate (an illustrative rate). Enter your price and your local rate to update.

Your sales tax

Total with tax
$268.13
$250.00 + $18.13 tax
Sales tax
$18.13
7.25% of $250.00

Tax before rounding: $18.1250.

How to calculate sales tax

  1. Turn the rate into a decimal by dividing by 100: 7.25% → 0.0725.
  2. Multiply the price by it: $250.00 × 0.0725 = $18.125, which rounds to $18.13 of tax.
  3. Add the tax to the price: $250.00 + $18.13 = $268.13.

Total = price × (1 + rate ÷ 100)

How to take sales tax out of a total

Divide the total by 1 plus the rate as a decimal: $268.13 ÷ 1.0725 = $250.00 before tax, so $18.13 of the total was tax.

A common mistake is to take 7.25% of the total instead: $268.13 × 0.0725 = $19.44, which overstates the tax by $1.31, because the tax was charged on the price, not on the total.

How to find the sales tax rate from a receipt

Divide the tax by the price before tax and multiply by 100: $18.13 ÷ $250.00 × 100 = 7.252%. Tax on a receipt is rounded to the cent, so the answer is only exact to within that rounding; the calculator shows the range of rates that fit.

Sales tax on common amounts

Sales tax by purchase amount and rate

Price5%6%7%8%9%10%
$10.00 $0.50$0.60$0.70$0.80$0.90$1.00
$20.00 $1.00$1.20$1.40$1.60$1.80$2.00
$50.00 $2.50$3.00$3.50$4.00$4.50$5.00
$100.00 $5.00$6.00$7.00$8.00$9.00$10.00
$250.00 $12.50$15.00$17.50$20.00$22.50$25.00
$500.00 $25.00$30.00$35.00$40.00$45.00$50.00
$1,000.00 $50.00$60.00$70.00$80.00$90.00$100.00

Which rate to use

Sales tax is set by states and, in many places, by counties, cities and special districts as well, so the rate you pay is usually a combined rate that depends on where you buy or take delivery. What is taxed differs too: some states exempt or reduce the rate on items such as groceries or medicine, and a few states have no statewide sales tax. Your state's department of revenue publishes its rates and rules, and a receipt shows the rate a store charged.

For a car, the price the tax is charged on can depend on state rules for trade-ins, rebates and fees; check with your state before relying on an estimate.

Sales tax on your federal tax return

If you itemize deductions, you can choose to deduct the state and local general sales taxes you paid instead of state and local income taxes, but not both. You can use your actual receipts or the IRS's optional sales tax tables, and big purchases such as a car can matter (IRS: Topic no. 503, deductible taxes). Keep receipts that show the tax; the calculator's “find the rate” and “take tax out” modes help when a receipt shows only the total.

Assumptions and limits

  • One rate applies to the whole amount. Mixed baskets with exempt or reduced-rate items need each part calculated separately.
  • Tax is rounded to the nearest cent, half up. Sellers may round per item or per receipt, so results can differ by a cent.
  • This is an estimate of the tax on a purchase, not tax advice.

Methodology and testing

Tax = price × rate; price = total ÷ (1 + rate); rate = tax ÷ price. Automated tests check hand-worked examples, rounding at half a cent, that adding tax and taking it back out returns the original price for thousands of random amounts and rates, and that the rate range always contains the true rate. How we build and test calculators.

Sources

  • Topic no. 503, Deductible taxes, Internal Revenue Service. A general sales tax is imposed at one rate on retail sales of a broad range of items; taxpayers who itemize can elect to deduct state and local general sales taxes instead of state and local income taxes, using actual receipts or the optional tables.
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