New Hampshire Sales Tax Calculator (2026) — Add or Reverse Tax
New Hampshire's combined sales tax rate is 0.00% (0.00% state). Use the calculator below to add New Hampshire sales tax to a price, or reverse a tax-included total to find the pre-tax price and exact tax amount.
How to use this calculator:
- Adding tax — enter a pre-tax price, pick "Add tax to price," and the calculator applies the New Hampshire rate to show the tax amount and final total.
- Reversing (extracting) tax — enter a total that already includes tax, pick "Extract tax from total," and the calculator divides by 1 + the rate to isolate the pre-tax price and the exact tax paid.
- Pick the rate that matches your situation: the average combined rate is a good statewide estimate, but the state-only or maximum-local rate is more precise if you know the exact city or county.
Understanding New Hampshire Sales Tax
New Hampshire's state sales tax rate is 0.00%, with no additional local sales tax in most of the state.
New Hampshire has neither a general sales tax nor a wage income tax, but it does levy an 8.5% tax on prepared meals, hotel rooms, and rental cars.
New Hampshire has no state income tax, which shapes how much the state relies on sales tax revenue relative to other funding sources.
Groceries
Exempt from New Hampshire state sales tax.
Largest city
Manchester
State income tax
No
Why Reverse Sales Tax Calculation Matters
Receipts, invoices, and marketplace payouts usually show only the tax-included total — not the pre-tax price. Reversing the calculation matters for bookkeeping (separating revenue from tax collected), expense reports (reimbursing only the pre-tax cost), and price comparisons (checking what an item actually costs before New Hampshire's tax is applied). Because dividing by (1 + rate) is not the same as simply subtracting the rate from the total, doing this by hand is a common source of errors — the calculator above handles it exactly.
History & Rate Breakdown
New Hampshire has never enacted a general sales tax, instead relying on a narrow, targeted Meals and Rooms Tax first created decades ago to capture revenue from tourism and hospitality rather than everyday retail purchases. The rate was last cut from 9% to 8.5% effective October 1, 2021.
There is no general sales tax rate anywhere in New Hampshire. The 8.5% Meals and Rooms Tax applies narrowly to restaurant meals, hotel and short-term rental stays, and motor vehicle rentals — including some prepared grocery-store foods like sandwiches and party platters — but not to general retail goods.
Where the Money Goes
Without a general sales tax or wage income tax, New Hampshire leans on targeted taxes like the Meals and Rooms Tax (largely paid by tourists and visitors) plus property taxes to fund state and local government — a structure that has made the state a magnet for cross-border retail shopping from neighboring Massachusetts and Maine.
Business Use Case: Registering & Collecting New Hampshire Sales Tax
A New Hampshire restaurant charges the 8.5% Meals and Rooms Tax on every dine-in check, but a clothing retailer next door charges no sales tax at all on the same street — a distinction that matters for any multi-concept business operating both a retail and food-service line in the state.
Sales Tax Terms Glossary
Combined rate
The state sales tax rate plus any applicable local (city, county, or special district) rates — the actual rate charged at checkout in a given location.
Reverse sales tax
The process of working backward from a tax-included total to find the pre-tax price and the exact tax amount, using total ÷ (1 + rate) = pre-tax price.
Economic nexus
A sales threshold (in dollars, transaction count, or both) that obligates an out-of-state seller to collect and remit sales tax even without a physical presence in the state.
Marketplace facilitator
A platform (e.g. Amazon, Etsy, eBay) that collects and remits sales tax on behalf of third-party sellers under most states’ marketplace facilitator laws.
Real-World Example
A $500.00 purchase in New Hampshire at the average combined rate of 0.00%:
- Tax amount: $500.00 × 0.00% = $0.00
- Total price: $500.00 + $0.00 = $500.00
New Hampshire Sales Tax Compliance for Sellers
New Hampshire has no general state sales tax, so there is no economic nexus threshold to track for state-level sales tax purposes. Sellers should still confirm whether any local jurisdiction-level tax applies.
Frequently Asked Questions — New Hampshire Sales Tax
What is the sales tax rate in New Hampshire?▾
Does New Hampshire tax groceries?▾
Does New Hampshire have a state income tax?▾
When do online sellers need to collect New Hampshire sales tax?▾
How do I calculate New Hampshire sales tax on a purchase?▾
How do I reverse New Hampshire sales tax to find the price before tax?▾
What is the formula to back out sales tax from a receipt in New Hampshire?▾
References & Sources
Rates last verified January 2026. New Hampshire sales tax rates and thresholds can change — always confirm current figures with the New Hampshire Department of Revenue before filing or invoicing. This tool is for estimation and educational purposes only and is not tax, legal, or accounting advice.
Jordan Hayes
Verified AuthorLead Content Editor & Personal Finance Specialist
Jordan Hayes is a personal finance content strategist with 9+ years building educational finance and health resources. He has written and fact-checked over 200 personal finance guides covering mortgage amortization, retirement planning, tax strategy, and budgeting. His work applies IRS publications, Federal Reserve data, and peer-reviewed research to make complex calculations accessible.