Add sales tax to a price, or work backward from a total to find the pre-tax price and the tax amount.
Sales tax is a percentage added to the price of most goods and services at the point of sale. To add tax to a price, multiply the price by the tax rate and add that to the original price. To find the pre-tax price from a total that already includes tax, divide the total by 1 plus the tax rate as a decimal.
Unlike a national VAT, sales tax in the US is set by state and often stacked with county and city rates, so the actual rate at checkout can differ block to block. A handful of states charge no state sales tax at all, while some combined local rates climb past 9-10%. Always check your local combined rate rather than assuming a single national figure — this calculator just does the math once you know that number.
This tool doesn't account for tax-exempt categories (groceries and prescription medication are commonly exempt in many states), tax holidays, or origin-based versus destination-based sourcing rules for online purchases. It's a straightforward percentage calculator, not a tax-compliance tool.