Reverse Sales Tax Calculator

Divide the tax-inclusive total by 1 plus the tax rate expressed as a decimal. Pre-tax price = total / (1 + rate). The tax is then the remainder: total - pre-tax price. For a $107.25 total at California's 7.25% state rate, $107.25 / 1.0725 = $100.00 pre-tax, leaving $7.25 of tax.

Because the rate was applied to the SMALLER pre-tax figure, not to the total. Multiplying $107.25 by 92.75% gives $99.47 — that is $0.53 off the correct $100.00. The error grows with both the rate and the amount, so it matters most on the large purchases where people are most likely to check.

The state dropdown applies the STATE base rate only. 38 states let cities, counties, and transit districts stack their own sales tax on top, so a real receipt from Chicago (10.25%) or Seattle (10.35%) carries a much higher combined rate than the state figure. Switch the calculator to "Rate from my receipt" and enter the combined rate printed on the receipt — that is the only way to reproduce the exact split.

If the receipt shows both the total and the tax, you can derive the rate yourself: rate = tax / (total - tax). A receipt showing $107.25 total with $7.25 tax implies $7.25 / $100.00 = 7.25%. If the receipt shows neither, use the state rate here as a floor and expect the true figure to be higher wherever local taxes apply.

They do here. Rounding the price and the tax independently can leave them a cent short of the total, which is exactly the kind of discrepancy that makes an expense report or a bookkeeping entry fail reconciliation. This calculator rounds the pre-tax price and then derives the tax as the remainder, so the two figures always sum to the amount you entered.

Yes. Most states exempt unprepared groceries entirely, in which case there is no tax to back out and the total is the pre-tax price. A handful tax groceries at a reduced rate — Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia — and five tax them at the full state rate: Alabama, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, and South Dakota. Set the grocery toggle and the calculator applies the correct reduced or full rate for the state you picked.

Only as an input, not as the answer. Itemizers may elect to deduct state and local SALES tax instead of state INCOME tax on Schedule A under IRC §164(b)(5)(A), but the deductible amount is not simply the tax on your receipts — the IRS computes a baseline from your state, AGI, and household size using its Sales Tax Deduction Calculator, and you add documented big-ticket purchases (vehicles, boats, major renovation materials) on top. Backing the tax out of a car purchase total is a legitimate way to establish that add-on figure.

The arithmetic is identical — divide by 1 plus the rate — but the tax is not. US sales tax is a single-stage retail tax collected only at the final consumer sale, whereas VAT is collected at each stage of production with credits for tax already paid. If you are reconciling a non-US invoice, the formula here still works, but the rate and the recovery rules are governed by that country's VAT system.