Sales Tax Calculator
The Sales Tax Calculator can compute any one of the following, given inputs for the remaining two: before-tax price, sale tax rate, and final, or after-tax price.
What is Sales Tax?
A sales tax is a consumption tax paid to a government on the sale of certain goods and services. Usually, the vendor collects the sales tax from the consumer as the consumer makes a purchase. In most countries, the sales tax is called value-added tax (VAT) or goods and services tax (GST), which is a different form of consumption tax.
In some countries, the listed prices for goods and services are the before-tax value, and a sales tax is only applied during the purchase. In other countries, the listed prices are the final after-tax values, which include the sales tax.
U.S. Sales Tax
In the United States, sales tax at the federal level does not exist. At the state level, all (including District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam) but five states do not have statewide sales tax. These are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. States that impose a sales tax have different rates, and even within states, local or city sales taxes can come into play.
Unlike VAT (which is not imposed in the U.S.), sales tax is only enforced on retail purchases; most transactions of goods or services between businesses are not subject to sales tax.
The sales tax rate ranges from 0% to 16% depending on the state and the type of good or service, and all states differ in their enforcement of sales tax. Rules and regulations regarding sales tax vary widely from state to state.
State Sales Tax Rates
| State | General State Sales Tax | Max Tax Rate with Local/City Sale Tax |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 4% | 13.50% |
| Alaska | 0% | 7% |
| Arizona | 5.60% | 10.725% |
| Arkansas | 6.50% | 11.625% |
| California | 7.25% | 10.50% |
| Colorado | 2.90% | 10% |
| Connecticut | 6.35% | 6.35% |
| Delaware | 0% | 0% |
| District of Columbia | 6% | 6% |
| Florida | 6% | 7.50% |
| Georgia | 4% | 8% |
| Hawaii | 4.166% | 4.712% |
| Idaho | 6% | 8.50% |
| Illinois | 6.25% | 10.25% |
| Indiana | 7% | 7% |
Note: This is a partial list. For complete information, please refer to your state’s department of revenue.
Value-Added Tax (VAT)
VAT is the version of sales tax commonly used outside of the U.S. in over 160 countries. VAT is an indirect tax that is imposed at different stages of the production of goods and services, whenever value is added.
Countries that impose a VAT can also impose it on imported and exported goods. All participants in a supply chain, such as wholesalers, distributors, suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers, will usually need to pay VAT, not just the end consumer, as is done with U.S. sales tax.
VAT can be calculated as the sales price minus the costs of materials or parts used that have been taxed already.
Goods and Services Tax (GST)
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is similar to VAT. It is an indirect sales tax applied to certain goods and services at multiple instances in a supply chain.
Taxations across multiple countries that impose either a “GST” or “VAT” are so vastly different that neither word can properly define them. The countries that define their “sales tax” as a GST are Spain, Greece, India, Canada, Singapore, and Malaysia.