Price before tax, tax, and total — forwards or backwards, at any combined rate.
Sales tax is charged once, at the final retail sale, as a percentage of the selling price — unlike VAT, there is no input-credit chain. The rate you charge is the combined rate at the point of sale: a state base rate plus county, city and special-district add-ons. That is why “the sales tax rate” in one city can be 6% and 10.25% a few miles away. Five states (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon) levy no state sales tax at all, though some Alaskan localities charge their own.
Whether you must collect sales tax depends on nexus — a sufficient connection to a state, created by physical presence or by crossing economic thresholds (commonly $100,000 in sales into the state, following the Wayfair decision). Most US states do not tax most professional services, but many tax digital goods and some tax specific services — classification matters more than arithmetic. When you do charge it, show the tax as its own line: the invoice generator lets you name the tax (“Sales Tax”), set your combined rate, and prints price, tax and total separately.
A photographer in Austin (8.25% combined) sells prints for $400. Tax $33.00, total $433.00. If a client hands over a flat $500 “including tax”, the reverse mode shows the taxable sale as $461.89 and the tax as $38.11 — the numbers that go on the return.
Divide the total by (1 + rate/100) to get the pre-tax price; the remainder is the tax. Use the “Back out tax” mode above.
The combined state + local rate at the point of sale (or the destination, for remote sales into most states). Look up the exact locality — rates vary block by block in some metros.
In most states, most professional services are not taxable — but digital products often are, and a few states tax broad service categories. Check your state’s rules for your specific offering.
Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have no statewide sales tax (local taxes can still apply in Alaska).