Sales Tax Calculator - Add or Remove Tax Instantly

How to use this tool

1. Enter the amount or amounts. For Add tax, enter a pre-tax unit price and optional quantity. For Remove tax, enter the tax-included total. For Find rate, enter the pre-tax amount and tax-included total.
2. Enter or find the rate. For Add tax or Remove tax, enter a statewide or manual rate and optionally add a local rate. Use the state and DC lookup as a dated reference. Find rate calculates the implied rate from the two amounts.
3. Choose a direction. Select Add tax, Remove tax, or Find rate according to the information you have.
4. Read the results. Review the pre-tax amount, tax, total, and combined or implied rate. Copy a result or create a share link when you want to keep the calculation.

How the sales tax calculator works

Choose Add tax to apply a rate to a pre-tax unit price, or choose Remove tax to extract the pre-tax amount from a tax-included total. The optional quantity multiplies the unit price before tax. An additional local rate can be added to a statewide rate or to a rate you enter manually. The calculator rounds the tax amount to cents, so a receipt can differ by a cent if its point-of-sale system rounds each item or line differently.

For example, a $50 item at 8% tax has $4 tax and costs $54 before any quantity is applied. To remove that tax from $54, divide $54 by 1.08 to get $50 before tax. Choose Find rate when you know both the pre-tax amount and total: ($108.25 − $100) ÷ $100 × 100 gives an implied rate of 8.25%. The find-rate mode requires a pre-tax amount greater than zero and a total that is at least as large as that amount.

Statewide sales tax rate reference

The lookup and table use the Tax Foundation's state rate figures dated July 1, 2026. Those figures include mandatory statewide local additions in California, Utah, and Virginia. They are not address-specific combined rates: many cities and counties add local tax, and the optional local field lets you include a further rate when you know it. New Mexico calls its statewide levy a gross receipts tax, and tax treatment can depend on the transaction. The figures are a reference for estimates, not a substitute for a receipt or current local rate. View the source and methodology.

What the rate table does not tell you

A statewide figure may be lower than the amount charged at checkout because local rates vary by city, county, and special district. Alaska has no statewide sales tax but some localities levy one. The lookup includes District of Columbia alongside the states; it does not include territories or calculate rates from a ZIP code. If you do not know your local rate, leave the additional local field at zero and treat the result as a statewide estimate.

Sales tax is generally added to a listed pre-tax price at the point of sale. Value-added tax (VAT) is commonly included in displayed consumer prices and collected at multiple production stages. These systems differ, so an international price comparison may need a separate VAT calculation. Product exemptions also vary: states may treat groceries, prescription drugs, and clothing differently. Check the applicable revenue department before relying on an estimate for a specific item.