U.S. Sales Tax Calculator

What Is Sales Tax?

Sales tax is a consumption tax levied on consumers of goods and services. Businesses with a sales tax nexus are responsible for collecting sales tax from customers and remitting it to the appropriate authority. Sales tax provides a major source of revenue for the government at the state and local levels.

In the United States, sales tax rates are determined at the state level and tend to vary across states. States may authorize the local governments to levy additional taxes.

Five states—New Hampshire, Oregon, Montana, Arkansas, and Delaware—do not collect sales tax at the state level. However, local governments in these states may still levy taxes, creating further variations.

Types of Sales Tax

Besides the retail sales tax discussed in this article, there are other types of sales tax such as:

Manufacturer sales tax: Levied on manufacturers of certain goods Wholesale sales tax: Applied to wholesale distributors Use tax: Paid by customers who purchased the product without paying sales tax Value added tax: Imposed by certain governments on the sale of goods