When you actually need this
If you only sell on marketplaces, you mostly don't. eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, and TikTok Shop are all "marketplace facilitators," which means they charge the buyer sales tax at checkout and send it to the state for you. It never touches your payout.
You need to handle tax yourself when you sell through your own channel, like a Shopify store, a local pickup sale, or wholesale to a store that doesn't give you a resale certificate. That's where this calculator helps: checking what Shopify charged, quoting a price with tax included, or estimating what you'll owe on a sales tax return. The full picture, including registering and nexus, is in the sales tax guide for online sellers.
Average combined rate by state
| State | Avg. combined rate | State | Avg. combined rate |
|---|
Backing tax out of a total
If a customer paid $32.55 in New York and you need to know how much of that was tax, don't multiply $32.55 by 8.53%. The tax was calculated on the pre-tax price, so divide instead:
price before tax = total ÷ (1 + rate)
$32.55 ÷ 1.0853 = $29.99, so tax = $2.56
Switch "This amount is" to "Tax included" and the calculator does this for you.
Questions people ask
Do I collect sales tax on eBay, Amazon, or Walmart sales?
Usually not. Every state with a sales tax has a marketplace facilitator law, so the marketplace calculates, collects, and pays the tax on your behalf. You still report those sales on your state return in many states, but you don't remit the tax.
Do I have to collect sales tax on my Shopify store?
In your home state, yes, if you're registered to collect there. In other states, only once you pass that state's economic nexus threshold, which is usually $100,000 in sales into the state per year. Shopify can calculate it, but you're responsible for registering and filing.
Which states have no sales tax?
Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon have no statewide sales tax. Alaska has no state tax but lets local governments charge one.
Why an average instead of my exact rate?
Rates are set by state, county, city, and special districts, so they can change from one street to the next. The averages are good for estimates. For filing, use the exact rate for the delivery address from your state's tax lookup.
Rates last checked October 2026. Read how we check our numbers.