EXAMPLE
A $45 item with 8.25% tax comes to $48.71.
Enter a price to see results.
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How this calculator works
Sales tax rates vary by state and city, and doing the math to add tax to a price — or work backward from a total that already includes tax — is easy to get wrong by hand. This calculator does both directions: add tax to a price, or pull tax back out of a tax-included total.
THE MATH BEHIND IT
Adding tax: Total = Price × (1 + Tax % ÷ 100)
Reversing tax: Price before tax = Total ÷ (1 + Tax % ÷ 100)
Tax amount: the difference between the two
A real example
A $45 item in an area with 8.25% sales tax:
Tax amount
$45 × 0.0825 =$3.71
Total with tax
$45 + $3.71 =$48.71
Common questions
This is a difference in local convention and regulation. In the US, sales tax varies by state and city, so most retailers show pre-tax prices and add tax at checkout rather than printing a tax-inclusive price on the shelf tag.
They produce a similar effect but work differently. Sales tax is applied once, at the final sale to the consumer. VAT is collected at multiple stages of production, though the end price impact to a shopper looks similar.
Many states exempt certain categories — groceries and prescription medication are common examples — from sales tax entirely, or tax them at a reduced rate.