About the Sales Tax Calculator
Sales Tax Calculator handles the three sums people do with shop prices. Add tax puts a tax rate on a price, with quantity and a discount taken off first. Take tax out starts from a total that already includes tax and gives the price before tax and the tax that was inside. Find the rate compares a price before and after tax and tells you the percentage. A second rate box lets you enter a state and a city or county rate together, and the tool shows how much of the tax belongs to each. Choose a currency symbol, read the result and copy it. It is a plain arithmetic helper for receipts, quotes and budgets, and everything happens in your browser without saving anything.
Updated September 2026
How to use the Sales Tax Calculator
- 1Choose Add tax, Take tax out or Find the rate.
- 2Type the price and the tax rate. For a total that includes tax, type that total instead.
- 3Optional: add a second rate for a local tax, a quantity or a discount before tax.
- 4Pick your currency symbol.
- 5Read the total or price before tax in the big box and check the tax amounts below it.
Three questions, one page
Most sales tax questions are one of three. You know the price and want the total you will pay, you know the total on a receipt and want to know how much was tax, or you want to work out what rate a shop actually charged. The three modes at the top match these, so you do not have to remember which way to divide or multiply.
The reverse case is where people make mistakes. Taking 8 percent off a total that already includes 8 percent tax removes too little, because the tax was worked out on the smaller price. The tool divides by 1.08 instead, which returns the exact price before tax.
Quantity, discounts and two levels of tax
- Quantity multiplies the price before anything else, so ten items at 4.99 are treated as 49.90.
- A discount is taken off that amount before tax is added, which matches most shop coupons.
- A second rate is added to the first, for example 6 percent state tax plus 2.5 percent city tax.
- The split tells you how much of the tax goes to each level, useful for expense reports.
Practical tips
Tax rates differ by state, county and city, and some goods such as groceries, clothing or medicine can be taxed at a lower rate or not at all. Look up the rate for the exact place and product before you rely on the figure, and remember that online orders are often taxed by the delivery address.
If you are budgeting a large purchase, enter the price with a slightly higher rate than expected to leave a margin. If you are checking a receipt, use Find the rate with the item price and the total to see whether the rate matches what you expect.
Related calculations
Discount Calculator works out sale prices and savings, Percentage Calculator handles any other percentage sum, and Tip Calculator adds a tip and splits a bill. For invoices with several items and a tax line, Invoice Generator builds a printable PDF. Salary Calculator turns a gross wage into take-home pay, which is a different kind of tax altogether.
Features
- Add tax to a price with quantity and pre-tax discount
- Reverse mode for prices that already include tax
- Find the tax rate from a before and after price
- Second tax rate with a split of tax by level
- Rates with decimals, such as 7.25 or 8.875
- Currency symbol picker with Indian grouping for rupees
- Copy the result in one tap
- Runs in your browser
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate sales tax on a price?
Multiply the price by the tax rate as a decimal and add the result to the price. At 8 percent, a 100 item has 8 of tax and costs 108. Using the tool, choose Add tax, enter the price and the rate, and the total appears.
How do I take sales tax out of a total?
Divide the total by 1 plus the rate as a decimal. A total of 108 with 8 percent tax is 108 ÷ 1.08 = 100 before tax, so the tax inside is 8. Do not simply subtract 8 percent of 108, which gives 99.36 and is wrong.
How do I find the tax rate from two prices?
Subtract the price before tax from the price after tax, divide by the price before tax and multiply by 100. If something costs 50 and the till shows 53.75, the tax is 3.75 and the rate is 7.5 percent. Choose Find the rate in the tool and enter both prices.
Is the discount taken off before or after tax?
In this tool it is taken off before tax, which is how store discounts and coupons normally work: the tax is charged on the reduced price. Some manufacturer coupons are treated differently in some places, so check the rules where you shop.
How does the second tax rate work?
The two rates are added together and applied to the same price, which is how most state plus local taxes work. The tool then splits the tax between the two levels in proportion to their rates. If your place stacks one tax on top of another, tax on tax, the result will differ slightly.
Why is my receipt a cent different from the result?
Shops round tax either on each item or on the whole bill, and they may round half cents in different ways. This tool rounds the tax on the whole amount to the nearest cent, so a long receipt can differ by a cent or two.
Is this the same as VAT or GST?
The arithmetic is the same, but sales tax is added at the till, while VAT and GST are usually included in the shelf price and split over the supply chain. For those, VAT Calculator adds or removes VAT and shows the tax, and it has a GST version with the Indian slabs.