Sales Tax API + Embeddable Calculator

📡 Sales Tax API

A free public REST API returning 2026 US sales tax rates for all 50 states. Includes dated base rates, population-weighted combined averages for comparison, sourced grocery guidance and example cities. It does not provide address-level rates or calculate tax liability. The calculator uses rates entered by the user, never a statewide average.

List all 50 states

curl https://receiptedit.com/api/sales-tax

Get one state

curl https://receiptedit.com/api/sales-tax/california

Example response

{
  "state": "California",
  "state_code": "CA",
  "slug": "california",
  "nickname": "Golden State",
  "state_sales_tax_pct": 7.25,
  "avg_combined_sales_tax_pct": 9.03,
  "rate_label": "Statewide minimum rate",
  "rate_note": "The default statewide minimum includes mandatory local components. Add only tax above that minimum to avoid counting those components twice.",
  "rates_as_of": "2026-07-01",
  "grocery_tax_status": "exempt",
  "grocery_tax_note": "Qualifying grocery food is generally exempt from California state sales tax. Prepared food and other excluded products can be taxable; local treatment should be checked separately.",
  "grocery_source": "https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/sales-and-use-tax-exemptions.htm",
  "lodging_taxes": [],
  "lodging_tax_status": "address_specific_rates_not_provided",
  "lodging_tax_note": "Lodging can have separate state and local taxes, exemptions and fixed fees. This guide does not publish a single combined hotel rate. Use the property address and stay dates to check the relevant tax authority, and keep the hotel-issued folio.",
  "official_source": "https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/sales-use-tax-rates.htm",
  "rate_reference": "https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/2026-sales-tax-rates-midyear/",
  "top_cities": [
    "Sacramento",
    "Los Angeles",
    "San Diego",
    "San Francisco",
    "San Jose"
  ],
  "source": "https://receiptedit.com/sales-tax/california",
  "data_year": 2026,
  "last_updated": "2026-09-10",
  "attribution": "Data by ReceiptEdit (https://receiptedit.com). Attribution required."
}

The legacy lodging_taxes array is empty because this API does not supply verified property-specific rates; an empty array does not mean lodging is tax-free. grocery_tax_status describes the state treatment only and can be exempt, reduced, taxed, conditional or no-state-tax. Read the accompanying notes before use.

JavaScript / TypeScript

const res = await fetch('https://receiptedit.com/api/sales-tax/california');
const data = await res.json();
console.log(`California state rate: ${data.state_sales_tax_pct}%`);
console.log(`Combined avg: ${data.avg_combined_sales_tax_pct}%`);

Python

import requests

r = requests.get('https://receiptedit.com/api/sales-tax/california')
data = r.json()
print(f"California state rate: {data['state_sales_tax_pct']}%")

🧩 Embeddable Calculator Widget

Free state-specific sales tax calculator you can embed on any page. Single iframe tag, mobile-responsive, no JS dependencies on your side. Great for tax-prep blogs, SBDC resource pages, freelancer tools, and educational sites.

How to embed (paste 1 line)

<iframe
  src="https://receiptedit.com/api/embed/sales-tax/california"
  width="380"
  height="540"
  style="border:0;max-width:100%"
  loading="lazy"
  title="California Sales Tax Calculator">
</iframe>

Live preview

Available states (50)

Swap the state slug in the URL: /api/embed/sales-tax/[slug]

📜 License & Attribution

Free for all uses including commercial. The only requirement is attribution: include a visible link back to ReceiptEdit on the page where you use the API or widget. The widget already includes this automatically. For API responses, the attribution field is part of every response — display it or link it.

🤝 Use Cases

• Tax-preparation blogs adding state-by-state calculators to articles
• SBDC and small-business resource pages giving practical tax tools to clients
• Freelancer tools offering calculations with manually verified local rates
• Educational comparisons of state reference rates
• Educational sites teaching state tax differences

🚀 Rate Limits & Reliability

No hard rate limit. Please cache responses for 24+ hours (the API sends Cache-Control: max-age=86400 headers). For high-volume use (> 10K requests/day), please reach out at hello@receiptedit.com so we can plan capacity.