Sales tax calculator.

How to calculate sales tax

• Sales tax = price before tax × rate
• Total with tax = price before tax × (1 + rate)
• Price before tax (reverse sales tax) = total ÷ (1 + rate)
• Sales tax inside a total = total − price before tax

Tip. Turn the percentage into a decimal first by dividing it by 100: 8.25% becomes 0.0825 and 6% becomes 0.06.

Your combined rate: state, county and city

The rate a customer pays is usually several rates added together. A store might charge a 6% state rate, a 1% county rate and a 1.25% city rate, for a combined rate of 8.25%. Some areas add a special district rate on top. Two stores a few miles apart can charge different totals for the same item.

Many states also treat certain goods differently, taxing them at a lower rate or not at all. Your state's department of revenue publishes current rates, usually with a lookup by address, so check there for the rate that applies at your store and for any products with special rules. Rates change, so check again whenever you set up a new price list.

A worked example

A hardware store where the combined rate is 7.375% sells a gallon of paint for $36.99 and a set of brushes for $12.50.

1. Subtotal before tax: $36.99 + $12.50 = $49.49.
2. Sales tax: $49.49 × 0.07375 = $3.65, rounded to the cent.
3. Total at the register: $49.49 + $3.65 = $53.14.
4. A customer wants to spend no more than $100 including tax. The most they can spend before tax is $100 ÷ 1.07375 = $93.13, which comes to $100.00 once $6.87 of tax is added.

The reverse calculation is also how you price items sold at a round, tax-included figure, such as a $5 drink at a local event. At an 8% rate, $5 ÷ 1.08 = $4.63 before tax, with $0.37 of sales tax. How tax is rounded on each line or on the whole sale depends on your state's rules.

States with no statewide sales tax

According to the Tax Foundation's midyear 2026 sales tax rates, checked on 5 November 2026, five states have no statewide sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. Of these, only Alaska allows local sales taxes, so stores in some Alaska towns still collect one.

The other 45 states levy a state-level sales tax. The same data puts California's 7.25% as the highest state-level rate and the population-weighted national average of combined state and local rates at 7.53%. Use your own combined rate in the calculator, not an average.

Sales tax at the register

US stores usually show prices before tax and add sales tax at the cash register, so the shelf price is already the pre-tax figure. Set prices and check margins on that pre-tax amount, because the tax you collect belongs to the state, not to you. Our guide on how to calculate profit margin explains why, and the profit margin calculator does the sums.

POS2026 is point-of-sale and back-office software for small stores, with sales, payment and product reports that can be filtered and exported. It does not register you for sales tax or file sales tax returns; use your state's revenue department or an accountant for that. See POS2026 for US stores for what it does cover.