Sales Tax Calculator
Add tax to a price, or back it out of a tax-inclusive total.
Free sales tax calculator with a pre/post-tax toggle: add tax to a sticker price or work out how much tax is already included in a total.
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About Sales Tax Calculator
Sales tax is simple in concept and fiddly in practice, because the rate on your receipt is rarely one number. State, county, city, and special-district taxes stack into a combined rate that varies by exact address, cross a street and the rate can change. This calculator handles the arithmetic both ways: give it a sticker price and your rate to see the total you'll pay, or give it a tax-included total to work backward to the pre-tax price and the tax buried inside it.
The reverse direction, extracting tax from a total, is the one most calculators skip, and it's the useful one for receipt-checking and expense reports. Dividing the total by one plus the rate recovers the pre-tax price; the difference is the tax. That two-second check settles “how much of this was tax?” for reimbursements, bookkeeping, and the perennial debate about whether the store charged the right rate.
This tool doesn't know your local rate, and honestly it shouldn't pretend to, rates change with legislation and vary down to the ZIP code. Your receipt, your state's revenue department site, or a quick look at a recent purchase from the same store are the reliable sources. Enter the rate yourself and the math here will be exact to the penny.
How to use Sales Tax Calculator
- Enter the price and your tax rate.
- Choose whether the price is before tax or already includes tax.
- Read the tax amount and total instantly.
Why use this tool?
- Works both directions: add tax or extract it
- Handles any tax rate you enter
- Free with no signup
Tips for best results
- Your real rate is usually a stack, state + county + city + special district, so add the components rather than guessing one number.
- Use the reverse mode to audit receipts: extract the tax from the total and confirm the store charged your area's rate.
- When comparison shopping online, check whether the seller charges your local rate; marketplace rules vary by state.
- Rounding happens per line item on some receipts, so a penny of difference versus the total-based math is normal, not an error.
- Keep a note of your combined rate on your phone, you'll use it constantly once you have it.