Editorial library · 15 guides
Sales Tax Guides
Practical, statute-aware explanations of the questions that come up on real receipts and invoices. Each guide links to the state calculators so you can put the rule to work immediately, and each one is reviewed alongside the quarterly rate refresh.
Guide library
How to Back Out Sales Tax From Receipts
Reverse the tax from a total using the state's combined rate, with worked receipts and cent-rounding rules for bookkeepers.
Economic Nexus Thresholds by State
How the post-Wayfair sales and transaction thresholds work, which states count transactions, and when marketplace sales count.
Buying a Car Out of State: Sales Tax
Registration-state tax, trade-in credits, reciprocal credits, and the states that collect vehicle tax at the DMV instead.
Grocery & Clothing Tax Exemptions by State
Which states exempt food or apparel, which use reduced rates or per-item caps, and how prepared food is classified.
Origin vs. Destination Sales Tax States
How sourcing rules decide whether the seller's location or the buyer's address sets the local rate on a sale.
SaaS & Digital Goods Sales Tax by State
State-by-state treatment of downloads, streaming, cloud software, and bundled digital products.
Resale Certificates & Tax-Exempt Purchases
Who can buy inventory tax-free, what a valid certificate contains, and how resale and exemption certificates differ.
Contractor Sales Tax: Materials vs. Labor
Why contractors are treated as consumers in some states and retailers in others, and how that changes the invoice.
Sales Tax Holidays by State: 2026 Schedule
The states with recurring back-to-school, disaster-preparedness, and appliance holidays, plus per-item caps.
Use Tax vs. Sales Tax for Businesses
The complementary tax that applies when no sales tax was collected, and how businesses accrue and report it.
Marketplace Facilitator Tax: Amazon, Etsy, Shopify
Which party collects when a marketplace facilitates the sale, and what third-party sellers still owe.
Restaurant & Prepared Food Sales Tax by State
How prepared food, alcohol, delivery, and tips are taxed differently from grocery food in each state.
Shipping & Handling Sales Tax Rules by State
When delivery charges join the taxable base, when they stay separate, and how mixed carts allocate shipping.
Nonprofit & Government Sales Tax Exemptions
Why nonprofit status alone is not an exemption, which purchases qualify, and how government entities document tax-free buys.
Local, County & Special District Sales Taxes
How county, city, transit, school, and special-district layers stack into the combined rate at checkout.
How to use these guides with the calculator
Start with the combined rate for the destination address, then check whether the product category changes the answer. A grocery exemption, a clothing cap, a resale certificate, or a marketplace facilitator rule can matter more than a few hundredths of a percentage point of local rate. The state pages show the exact statutory and local layers, the methodology pagedocuments how the numbers are verified, and theopen JSON datasetis available for spreadsheet and API use.