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United States Sales Tax Calculator

Add US sales tax to a pre-tax price or strip it back out of a receipt total. Enter your own combined state, county and city rate — 7% is just a placeholder.

Runs in your browser — files never leave your device

Net
$100
Sales Tax
$7
Gross
$107

How it works

In the United States sales tax is charged at the register rather than built into the shelf price, so the calculation almost everyone needs here is the forward one: start from a pre-tax amount and work out what the total will be. With the inclusive checkbox clear, that is exactly what this page does — it multiplies your amount by the rate to get the tax, then adds the two together. Tick the box and it runs in reverse, splitting a total that already contains tax back into the pre-tax price and the tax charged on it.

The formulas are short. Adding tax: tax = amount × rate ÷ 100, then gross = amount + tax. Extracting tax: net = total ÷ (1 + rate ÷ 100), then tax = total − net. Net, tax and gross are each rounded to the cent.

Worked example, using the 7% placeholder this page loads. A pre-tax price of $249.99 gives tax = 249.99 × 0.07 = $17.50, so the register total is $267.49. Change the rate to a combined 8.25% and the same price carries $20.62 of tax for a $270.61 total. That $3.12 swing on a single item is why the rate box deserves more attention than the amount box.

There is no federal sales tax. Each state sets its own rate, and counties, cities and special districts stack their own percentages on top, so two addresses inside one state can owe different totals — the rate that applies is the one for the point of sale or the delivery address, not your billing address. What is taxable varies just as much: many states exempt groceries and prescription drugs outright, so a supermarket basket can need a mix of taxed and untaxed lines rather than one rate applied across the whole total.

Two pitfalls catch people out. First, never work backwards by multiplying a total by the rate: 267.49 × 7% comes to $18.72, not the $17.50 that was actually charged, because the tax was levied on $249.99 and not on the total — tick the inclusive box and let the division handle it. Second, if you sell across state lines, economic-nexus rules decide when an out-of-state business has to register, collect and remit in a state where it has no physical presence. This calculator gives you the amount to collect; it cannot tell you whether you are obliged to collect it.

These figures are estimates — confirm your combined rate and which items are taxable with your state revenue department or your accountant before you file or invoice.

Other regions: United Kingdom, Canada, Australia.

Frequently asked questions

What sales tax rate should I enter?
Use the combined rate for the address where the sale happens: the state rate plus any county, city and special-district add-ons. The 7% this page preloads is a round placeholder, not the real rate anywhere in particular. Your most recent receipt from that location, or your state revenue department’s rate lookup, will give you the exact figure.
Why do two addresses in the same state charge different amounts of tax?
Because the state rate is only the base. Counties, cities and transit or stadium districts layer their own percentages on top, so crossing a city line can change the total on an identical purchase. For shipped orders the rate normally follows the destination address rather than where the seller sits, which is why online carts recalculate tax after you enter a delivery ZIP code.
Are groceries and prescription drugs taxed?
It depends on the state — many exempt groceries and prescription drugs entirely, while others tax them at a reduced rate or in full. That means a single mixed basket can contain both taxable and exempt lines, and running one rate over the whole total will overstate the tax. Split the exempt items out and calculate only the taxable subtotal.
How do I find the pre-tax price from a receipt total?
Tick the inclusive checkbox and enter the total: the tool divides by (1 + rate) instead of multiplying. A $267.49 total at 7% resolves to $249.99 pre-tax with $17.50 of tax. Do not simply multiply the total by the rate — that gives $18.72, overstating the tax by more than a dollar, because the tax was calculated on the pre-tax price.
Do I have to collect sales tax on out-of-state online sales?
Possibly, and that is a legal question rather than an arithmetic one. Economic-nexus rules let a state require registration, collection and remittance from sellers with no physical presence there once their sales into that state pass a set level. This calculator works out how much tax an amount carries at a given rate; whether you are required to collect and remit it is something to confirm with each state or with a tax professional.
Does it round the way a register does?
Net, tax and gross are each rounded to the nearest cent, computed from a single subtotal. Point-of-sale systems sometimes round tax line by line instead, so a long receipt can differ from this calculation by a cent or two. For a single item the two approaches agree.
Is anything I type sent to a server?
No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser and nothing you enter leaves your device.

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