What is Sales Tax Calculator?

Sales Tax Calculator computes the tax amount and total price for any purchase given a subtotal and tax rate. It supports both adding tax to a price and extracting tax from a tax-inclusive amount.

Two modes cover the common cases: tax-exclusive (you have the pre-tax price and need the total) and tax-inclusive (you have the receipt total and need to pull the tax back out). Enter any percentage, integer or fractional, like 5, 7.25, or 19.99, and the breakdown updates instantly with subtotal, tax, and total.

How to use

1. Step 1 — Enter the item price or subtotal amount.
2. Step 2 — Enter the tax rate as a percentage (e.g., 8.25 for 8.25%).
3. Step 3 — View the tax amount and final total. Toggle between tax-exclusive and tax-inclusive modes.

When to use

• Quoting a price with VAT or sales tax included for a customer abroad.
• Splitting a receipt into pre-tax and tax columns for an expense report.
• Pricing items in a checkout flow when the system stores subtotals and adds tax later.

Result

A shopper enters a $249.99 laptop price with a 7.5% tax rate. The calculator shows $18.75 in tax and a total of $268.74.

FAQ

What's the difference between tax-exclusive and tax-inclusive modes?

Tax-exclusive starts from the pre-tax price and adds tax on top to give a total. Tax-inclusive starts from a final price that already includes tax and works backwards to find the original subtotal and the tax portion. Use whichever matches the number you have on hand.

Can I use this for VAT or GST in non-US countries?

Yes. VAT (Europe), GST (Australia, Canada, India, Singapore), and US sales tax all use the same percentage math. Enter your local rate, 20 for UK VAT, 5 for Indian GST on essentials, 10 for Australian GST, and the result lines up with how the tax authority computes it.

How do I handle two stacked taxes, like state plus city?

Add the rates together if both apply to the same base. A 6% state tax plus a 2% city tax equals 8% total. If the city tax applies after state tax (rare), run the calc twice: subtotal first with state tax, then use that total as the new subtotal for city tax.

Why does my number disagree with the store receipt by a cent?

Stores often round each line item separately before totalling, so several rounding errors stack. This calculator rounds once at the end, giving a mathematically clean answer. The receipt is what the customer pays; the calculator is what's owed in theory.

What if my tax rate has more than two decimals?

Enter the full number, the calculator handles any decimal precision. A rate like 8.875 (NYC combined sales tax) returns an exact result. Rounding only happens on the displayed dollar amounts, not internally.

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