Sales Tax Calculator

Checked 15 October 2026. What was checked. How these pages are maintained.

Sales tax math

To add tax: total = price × (1 + rate). To remove tax: pre-tax = total ÷ (1 + rate). Tax = total − pre-tax. A $50 item at 7% is $53.50. If a receipt shows $53.50 including 7%, the pre-tax price is $50.

US rates are set by state and often city or county. Look up the combined rate for the ZIP code if you are invoicing. This page does not pick a jurisdiction for you.

Worked example

A $50 item at 8% tax is $54. To find the pre-tax price from a $54 receipt, divide by 1.08 to get $50.

This is a generic rate you type. For Canadian GST/HST by province, use the GST/HST page, which already has the 2026 provincial presets.

A rate you type

This page does not know a province. An $86 item at 6.5 percent is 86 × 0.065 = $5.59 tax and a total of $91.59. To recover the pre-tax price from a $91.59 receipt, divide by 1.065, which returns $86. Subtracting 6.5 percent from $91.59 gives about $85.64 and leaves the tax slightly wrong. The direction box is the difference: add tax multiplies, remove tax divides by (1 + rate).

Use a combined rate only when every part of the tax applies to the same pre-tax price. A jurisdiction that charges one tax on the price and a second tax on the price-plus-first-tax will not match a single percent. Type the rate from the receipt you are checking, not a rate you remember from another year.

When to leave this page

Canadian GST and HST are already preset by province on the GST/HST calculator, including 5 percent, 13 percent, 15 percent, and the Quebec combined figure of 14.975 percent. This generic page is for a US state, a city add-on, or a rate that is not in that list. It will not tell you whether a category of goods is exempt. A grocery item and a prepared meal can carry different rates in the same store. The calculator only multiplies the amount you decided was taxable.

Common questions