Texas Sales Tax Calculator

How the Texas rate is built: 6.25 percent plus local

Texas charges a 6.25 percent state sales and use tax on most retail sales, leases and rentals of goods, and on a long list of services. Cities, counties, transit authorities and special purpose districts may add up to 2 percent on top. The Texas Comptroller's sales tax pages state the 8.25 percent combined ceiling.

So the rate on your receipt is a stack, not a single number. Total tax is the price times the combined rate. On a $100 item sold where the local rate is at the cap, 100 x 0.0825 = 8.25 dollars of tax, so the total is 108.25 dollars. In an area with no local tax at all, 100 x 0.0625 = 6.25 dollars, and the total is 106.25 dollars.

Local rates are set jurisdiction by jurisdiction and take effect on quarterly dates, so a chain store can charge 8.25 percent at one location and 7.75 percent at a store two towns over. The state share never moves; only the local piece does.

Worked example: a $249.99 cart in Austin

Austin collects at the cap, so the combined rate is 8.25 percent. On a 249.99 dollar cart the tax is 249.99 x 0.0825 = 20.62 dollars and the total is 249.99 + 20.62 = 270.61 dollars.

Splitting the tax into its two parts is the check that keeps the math honest. The state share is 249.99 x 0.0625 = 15.62 dollars. The local share is 249.99 x 0.02 = 5.00 dollars. Add them and 15.62 + 5.00 = 20.62 dollars, which matches the total tax.

Now run it backwards, which is what you do when a receipt shows only the total. If the amount charged was 270.61 dollars and the rate was 8.25 percent, the pre-tax price is 270.61 / 1.0825 = 249.99 dollars. The calculator's second mode does this in one step, and it is the faster way to check a restaurant bill or a contractor invoice that lists a single number.

The local piece is worth noticing on bigger purchases. Two percentage points on a 1,000 dollar laptop is 1,000 x 0.02 = 20 dollars, which is the entire difference between buying in a capped city and buying where only the state tax applies.

What the tax adds at common prices

The table shows both ends of the range: the 6.25 percent state rate alone, and the 8.25 percent maximum. Most Texas addresses fall at or near the top row of that range, since large cities and transit authorities tend to use the full 2 percent.

Rounding explains most of the odd cents on a receipt. Stores usually compute tax on the taxable subtotal, not on each item, so a cart of small items can come out a cent or two away from adding up line by line. A single item priced at 4.99 dollars at 8.25 percent carries 0.41 dollars of tax, and ten of them in one transaction carry 4.12 dollars.

What Texas does not tax, and the August holiday

Food and food products for home consumption are exempt, so a grocery run for staples carries no sales tax. The exemptions stop at prepared food, candy and soft drinks, which are taxable. Prescription drugs are exempt; over the counter medicines are taxable. Most agricultural items, newspapers and certain medical devices also come off the list.

Clothing is taxed in Texas, with one exception. The state runs a sales tax holiday each August: in 2026 it falls on August 7 to 9, and it covers most clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks priced under 100 dollars per item. The Comptroller's 2026 holiday announcement puts the saving at about 8 dollars on every 100 dollars spent, with 142.5 million dollars in expected savings statewide.

The holiday applies to online, phone and mail orders too, as long as the sale takes place during those three days, and layaway purchases qualify. Computers, software, textbooks, jewelry and handbags do not qualify, and neither does anything priced at 100 dollars or more. A 120 dollar pair of boots is fully taxable; a 99 dollar pair is not.

Online orders, marketplace sellers and the $500,000 line

An out of state seller with no physical presence in Texas still has to collect if it has economic nexus. The Comptroller sets a safe harbor: a remote seller with less than 500,000 dollars of total Texas revenue in the preceding twelve calendar months is not required to hold a permit or collect. Cross that line and collection starts by the first day of the fourth month after the month the seller exceeded it.

Marketplaces work differently. A seller who only sells through a marketplace provider that collects on its behalf does not need a Texas permit, and the marketplace charges the rate at the delivery address. That is why an eBay or Amazon order shows Texas tax even when the seller is in another state.

Remote sellers also have a shortcut for the local piece. Instead of the destination rate, a remote seller may elect a single local use tax rate, which the Comptroller currently sets at 1.75 percent. In that case a 200 dollar order carries 200 x 0.0175 = 3.50 dollars of local tax instead of whatever the city charges. Sellers inside Texas cannot use that shortcut.

Use tax when the seller charges nothing

Buy something taxable from a seller who does not collect Texas tax and the tax does not disappear. It becomes use tax, owed by the buyer, at the same rates: 6.25 percent to the state plus up to 2 percent to the local jurisdiction where the item is used.

The Comptroller's own example makes the local piece concrete. You live in a city with a 2 percent local tax, travel somewhere with no local tax, and buy a 200 dollar coffee table. The seller collects only the 6.25 percent state rate, so on returning home you owe 200 x 0.02 = 4 dollars of local use tax.

Reporting is simple at small amounts. A purchaser who owes under 1,000 dollars of use tax in a calendar year can file Form 01-156 and pay by January 20 of the following year. Cross 1,000 dollars and the payment is due by the 20th of the month after the month the threshold was reached. Texas also allows a credit for sales tax paid to another state on the same item, so you are not taxed twice on the full amount.

Getting the exact rate for one address

Guessing at the local rate is the main source of error in a Texas tax estimate. The Comptroller's Sales Tax Rate Locator returns the combined rate for a street address, including transit and special district layers that a city name alone will not show.

Rates move on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1. A rate you looked up last year may be half a point off now, which on a 2,500 dollar purchase is 2,500 x 0.005 = 12.50 dollars. For a one off purchase that is small; for a contractor pricing a job it is the difference between a winning bid and a losing one.

For a quick estimate, pick the closest of the four common cases: 6.25 percent for an address outside any taxing jurisdiction, 7.75 percent for a city with a 1.5 percent local rate, 8.00 percent where the local layers add 1.75 percent, and 8.25 percent for the many cities and transit areas that use the full 2 percent. Then confirm with the locator before you quote a number to anyone.