Sales Tax Calculator

Adds tax to a pre-tax price, or backs the tax out of a total, using a state average or your own rate.

Pre-tax amount

State (average combined rate)

This is a statewide average. Actual rates vary by locality within the same state, so look up the rate for the delivery address with the state tax authority before putting one on an invoice.

Tax rate (%)

The state options are population-weighted statewide averages (Tax Foundation, State and Local Sales Tax Rates, Midyear 2026, published July 6, 2026), not the rate charged at any one address: California averages 9.03% while actual combined rates run roughly 7.25%–10.75%. Alaska has no state sales tax at all — 1.82% is an average of local rates, and Anchorage charges 0%. Hawaii's 4.5% is a General Excise Tax on the seller rather than a sales tax on the buyer. For a real invoice, look the rate up for the delivery address with your state's own rate lookup and enter it as a custom rate. This is an estimate; confirm with the state revenue department.

Sales tax calculator

Adds sales tax to a price, or removes it from a total.

Pick a US state average rate or type your own, then convert in either direction. Adding tax multiplies by (1 + rate); removing it divides by (1 + rate), which is not the same as subtracting the rate.

Adding tax: multiply the pre-tax price by the rate and add it on.E.g. $100.00 at 8.25% (Texas's statutory maximum combined rate) → $8.25 tax, $108.25 total.
Removing tax: divide the total by 1 plus the rate. Subtracting the rate gives the wrong answer.E.g. a $108.20 total at 8.20% → $108.20 ÷ 1.082 = $100.00 pre-tax. Subtracting 8.20% instead gives $99.33.
The state figures are averages published for comparing states, not rates in force anywhere.E.g. California shows 9.03%, but the statewide base is 7.25% and district taxes push real combined rates to about 10.75% in places. The national population-weighted average is 7.53%.
Alaska is the trap: there is no state sales tax, only local ones.E.g. the listed 1.82% is an average of borough and city rates. Anchorage, about 40% of the state's population, charges 0%; Juneau charges 5%.
Four states levy no sales tax at all, though other taxes can still apply.E.g. Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon are all 0.00%. Delaware still imposes a gross receipts tax on sellers, and Oregon taxes new vehicles bought out of state.
Hawaii's tax is legally the seller's, and the amount visibly passed on is capped.E.g. 4% GET plus the 0.5% Oahu surcharge, but the maximum a business may show a customer is 4.712% on Oahu (4.5 ÷ 95.5) and 4.166% elsewhere.

Sales tax: A tax collected once, at the retail sale, from the final consumer. In the US it is set by states and by counties, cities and special districts, so the rate depends on the address of the sale or delivery rather than on a single national rate.
VAT (value-added tax): A tax collected at every stage of production, with each business deducting the tax it paid on inputs. Korea charges a single 10% rate and Japan 10% with an 8% reduced rate. A US combined rate and a VAT rate are not comparable numbers even when they look similar.
Combined rate: The state rate plus local rates that apply at the same location. Published statewide combined rates are usually population-weighted averages of local rates, which is why New Jersey shows 6.60% against a uniform statutory 6.625% — the difference comes from Urban Enterprise Zones taxed at half rate, 3.3125%.
Tax-inclusive price: A price that already contains the tax. To recover the base, divide by 1 plus the rate rather than subtracting the rate: the error from subtracting equals the total times rate squared over one plus rate, which is about 0.63% of a total at an 8.25% rate.
General Excise Tax (GET): Hawaii's tax on a business's gross income rather than on the buyer's purchase. Passing it on to customers is optional and capped, and charging more than the maximum pass-on rate violates Hawaii consumer protection law. New Mexico's gross receipts tax works on a similar principle.