Calculate sales tax or VAT on any purchase. Add tax to a price or reverse-calculate the pre-tax amount from a tax-inclusive total. Supports any tax rate worldwide.
Enter the price and tax rate. Choose whether to add tax to the price or reverse-calculate the pre-tax price from a tax-inclusive total.
Press Calculate. All results appear instantly in your browser with no data sent to any server.
See your complete breakdown with all key figures and percentages. Use Copy or Download to save results for your records.
Multiply the pre-tax price by the tax rate as a decimal to find the tax amount, then add to the original price. Example: a $100 item with 8.5% tax: $100 x 0.085 = $8.50 tax, total = $108.50. Our calculator does this instantly and also handles the reverse calculation (removing tax from a tax-inclusive total).
VAT (Value Added Tax) is used in the UK, EU and many other countries. Unlike US sales tax collected only at the final point of sale, VAT is collected at each stage of the supply chain. The standard UK VAT rate is 20%, the reduced rate is 5%, and 0% applies to food and essential items. UK prices are usually displayed VAT-inclusive, whereas US prices are typically displayed before tax.
Divide the tax-inclusive total by (1 + tax rate as decimal). For a 20% VAT-inclusive price of 120 pounds: pre-tax price = 120 / 1.20 = 100 pounds. The VAT amount is 120 - 100 = 20 pounds. Our calculator performs this reverse calculation automatically when you select the remove tax from total option.
Five US states have no state-level sales tax: Oregon, Montana, New Hampshire, Delaware and Alaska (though Alaska allows local sales taxes). Even in states with sales tax, many items are commonly exempt — food, prescription drugs and clothing are exempt in various states. Combined state and local rates range from 0% to over 10% depending on location.
Yes — following the 2018 Supreme Court ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair, online sellers must collect sales tax in states where they have significant economic nexus. Most major e-commerce platforms now collect and remit sales tax automatically. This ended the era of untaxed online shopping that existed before 2018.
The standard UK VAT rate remains 20% for most goods and services. The reduced rate is 5% for domestic energy and certain other items. The zero rate applies to most food, books, newspapers, children clothing and public transport. Some services are VAT-exempt entirely, including financial services, insurance and education.
Tax-exclusive pricing shows the pre-tax price — tax is added at the point of sale, common in the US. Tax-inclusive pricing shows the total including tax — common in UK retail. If a UK item is priced at 120 pounds (VAT-inclusive at 20%), the net price is 100 pounds and VAT is 20 pounds. Always clarify which basis is being used when comparing prices.
VAT-registered businesses must charge VAT on sales, collect it and pay it to HMRC quarterly. They can reclaim VAT paid on business purchases (input tax). The business acts as a tax collector — the final consumer bears the full VAT burden. Businesses below the 90,000 pound registration threshold may voluntarily register to reclaim input VAT on purchases.
