Sales Tax Calculator
Sales tax is quoted one way at the shelf and charged another way at the register, which is why the number in your head rarely matches the receipt. This does it in both directions: add tax to a price, or take a total you have already paid and find the tax hidden inside it.
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The rate you pay is almost never the rate on the sign
Most Americans live under two or three sales taxes stacked on top of each other: a state rate, a county rate, and often a city or special-district rate on top of that. Only the state figure is widely published, so a state advertising six percent can easily charge nine and a quarter at a particular register. If you are checking a receipt, add every layer that applies to that address, not the one for the state as a whole.
This is also why online orders surprise people. Since states began taxing remote sellers, the rate applied is the one where the parcel is delivered. Ordering from another state does not avoid the tax, and shipping to a friend can change the total.
Working backwards is not the same as taking the percentage off
The most common arithmetic error in daily life is stripping tax from a total by subtracting the rate. If a total is $107.50 and the rate is 7.5 percent, subtracting 7.5 percent gives $99.44, and that is wrong. The tax was charged on the smaller pre-tax figure, so you have to divide rather than subtract: $107.50 ÷ 1.075 = $100.00. The gap is small on a lunch and substantial on a laptop, and it is the reason the reverse mode above exists.
What is not taxed
Exemptions do more work than rates in most household budgets. Groceries, prescription medicine and clothing below a threshold are untaxed or taxed at a lower rate in many states, which is why a $200 supermarket run and a $200 restaurant meal produce very different receipts in the same town. Services are treated inconsistently as well — a haircut is taxable in some states and not in others. If a total looks lower than you expected, an exemption rather than an error is usually the reason.
Tax holidays and thresholds
Several states suspend sales tax for a weekend before the school year, usually on clothing and supplies under a per-item cap. The cap matters more than the holiday: a $120 jacket in a state with a $100 threshold is often taxed in full rather than on the excess. Buying two cheaper items instead of one expensive one can genuinely cost less.
Use tax, briefly
If you buy something untaxed and bring it into a state that would have taxed it, most states expect you to pay the difference yourself. It is widely ignored on small purchases and enforced on cars, boats and anything that has to be registered. Buying a vehicle in a low-tax state and registering it at home does not usually work.
Frequently asked questions
How do I remove sales tax from a total?
Divide the total by one plus the rate. At 8 percent, divide by 1.08. Do not subtract 8 percent from the total, which is a different and slightly smaller number.
Which rate applies to an online order?
The rate at the delivery address, including any local add-on. That is why the checkout total can move when you change the shipping address.
Is sales tax charged on shipping?
It depends on the state, and it is genuinely inconsistent. Roughly half tax delivery charges when the goods are taxable; the rest do not. Check the line items on the receipt rather than assuming.
Do any states have no sales tax?
Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have no statewide sales tax, though Alaska allows local ones, so a town there can still charge you.
Why is the tax on my receipt a cent off?
Registers usually calculate tax on the whole basket and round once, while doing it item by item rounds several times. Both are legal and they disagree by a cent or two.