Reverse Sales Tax Calculator
Calculator Use
Given the total price paid and the sales tax rate you can calculate the original net price of a sale and the amount paid in taxes. For regular calculation of State, Use and Local Taxes use State and Local Sales Tax Calculator.
How to Calculate Sales Tax and List Price from Total Amount and Tax Rate
- Find the total price and tax percentage
- Divide tax percentage by 100 to get tax rate as a decimal
- Add 1 to the tax rate to get your division factor
- Divide the total price by the division factor to get the list price
- Multiply list price by decimal tax rate to get tax amount
For example, say you purchased a new phone and your total credit card charge was $858. What was the list price? What was the amount of tax you paid? Your state sales tax rate is 7.25%.
- The total price is $858 and tax percentage is 7.25%
- Divide tax percentage by 100: 7.25 / 100 = 0.0725
- Add 1 to the tax rate: 1.0725
- Divide the total price by the division factor: $858/1.0725 = $800
- Multiply list price by decimal tax rate: $800 * 0.0725 = $58
The list price was $800 and the amount of tax you paid was $58.
For a state by state table of sales tax rates for 2023 see State and Local Sales Tax Rates, 2023. For more detail that may include local tax rates or type of purchase you need to consider see Wikipedia Tax Tables by State.
Reverse Sales Tax Calculations:
Where Sales Tax is the dollar amount of sales tax paid. Sales Tax Percent is the state sales tax as a percentage. Sales Tax Rate is the state sales tax as a decimal for calculations.
- Price before Tax = Total Price with Tax - Sales Tax
- Sales Tax Rate = Sales Tax Percent / 100
- Price before Tax = Total Price with Tax / (1 + Sales Tax Rate)
- Sales Tax = Price before Tax x Sales Tax Rate