Type a price and a tax rate to see the tax and the total, or type a total that already includes tax to find the price before tax and how much of it was tax. You enter the rate yourself, so it works for any state, province or country and never goes out of date.
Sales tax is charged as a percent of the pre-tax price, so the total is the price times one plus the rate. A 7% tax on $50 gives $50 x 1.07 = $53.50. That multiplier is also the shortcut for working out a shelf price with tax in your head: for an 8% tax multiply by 1.08, for 20% multiply by 1.2.
Going backwards is where mistakes happen. If you only know the tax-inclusive total, divide by the same multiplier instead of subtracting a percent. This matters for receipts, for expense claims where you need the net amount, and for checking whether a price on a sign already includes tax.
Tax rates differ between places and can differ between products in the same shop. Because of that, the safest practice is to take the rate from a current official source and type it in, which is how this tool works. Do not rely on a rate you remember from a different state or an earlier year.
If you run a business, keep the pre-tax price, the tax and the total as separate lines on every invoice. It makes returns, reports and audits much easier, and the three numbers shown here are exactly the three lines you need.
Multiply the price by the tax rate divided by 100 to get the tax, then add it to the price. For example, a $100 item at 8.25% tax has $8.25 of tax, so the total is $108.25.
Divide the total by 1 plus the rate as a decimal. A total of $108.25 at 8.25% tax is $108.25 / 1.0825 = $100.00 before tax, so $8.25 of the total was tax.
Because the tax was added on top of the smaller pre-tax price. Taking 8.25% off $108.25 gives $99.32, not $100.00. Dividing by 1.0825 is the correct way to reverse it.
Enter the rate that applies to your sale in your location. This calculator has no rate table on purpose, since rates change and depend on place and product, so check your local tax authority.
It is a quick estimate. For filings, invoices or anything legal, follow your tax authority's rules or ask an accountant.
Related: Profit margin calculator, Markup calculator, Invoice generator.
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