Sales tax calculator & receipts

How it works

1. 1 Type your tax’s name and rate, and a second one if you charge two on the same price. Then type an amount. You’ll see the tax added on top, and the tax taken out of a price that already includes it, with the sum that gets there.
2. 2 Fill in the receipt: your business, your tax number if you have one, and what you sold, a line at a time, with which tax each pays. It adds up as you go.
3. 3 Download it to print or email, on US Letter or A4. Working away from a printer? Print a blank receipt book instead: numbered, three to a page, with a stub to keep.

Free, with no account. The sums are worked out on this device, and nothing you type is sent anywhere until you download. If you ask it to, this device remembers your business and your tax for next time. Nothing is kept on ours.

Good to know

Is this tax advice?

No. It’s a calculator and a receipt maker. It has no rates built in, so it works wherever you sell, but it can’t tell you which rate is yours or what it covers. Rates differ from place to place and change over time, and so do the rules about what’s taxed. Check with your tax office, and if a lot rides on it, ask your accountant.

Why doesn’t taking 10% off give the price before tax?

Because the 10% was worked out on the smaller price, before tax. Taking 10% off $110.00 leaves $99.00; the price was $100.00. To take tax out, divide by 1 plus the rate: $110.00 ÷ 1.10 = $100.00. The tax inside is 10/110 of the total, which is the fraction the calculator shows.

What’s the second tax for?

For places where two taxes land on the same price, like a state tax and a city or county one, or a national tax and a regional one. Each is worked out on the price, not on the other tax, and each gets its own line on the receipt. If one is worked out on top of the other where you are, add them up and use one rate.

Some of what I sell isn’t taxed.

Mark that line Not taxed, or with two taxes, have it pay only the one that applies. When lines are taxed differently, the receipt puts a letter beside each one and says what the letters mean.

Do I have to charge tax?

It depends where you are. Many places let small sellers stay unregistered until their sales pass a line, and some don’t tax services at all. If you aren’t registered, don’t charge it: pick “I don’t charge tax” and the receipt says “No tax charged.”

What does a receipt need to show?

Most places ask for your business’s name, the date, what was sold, the total, and the tax on its own line with its rate. Many also want your tax number, and on larger sales or sales to a business, the customer’s name. The checklist beside the receipt shows what this one has. What yours asks can differ, so check the rule where you work.

How long should I keep receipts?

Often five to seven years, though it differs by place. Keep a copy of every receipt you give: the download, or the stub in the receipt book.

How do I print?

At 100% or “Actual size”, on the paper you picked. The receipt book prints three to a page: cut along the dashes, staple a stack on the left, and tear each receipt off along the dotted line, keeping the stub.