Delaware sales tax
Delaware has no sales tax. There is no state sales tax and no local sales tax, so the price on the shelf is the price you pay. Delaware is one of five states with no general sales tax. You can still owe tax on some specific purchases, and buying from Delaware does not always exempt you from your own state's use tax, both covered below.
What is the Delaware sales tax rate in 2026?
There is no rate. Delaware levies no general sales tax at the state level, and its local governments do not levy one either. That is different from a state like Alaska, which has no state rate but where individual cities and boroughs do charge their own.
No sales or use tax of any kind on retail purchases; the state instead relies on a gross receipts tax imposed on businesses.
What is the sales tax rate in my county in Delaware?
Every one of Delaware's counties has its own page with the rate, its components, and what the rate does not cover: Delaware sales tax by county. The rate does not vary in Delaware, but the county pages carry the exemptions and the caps, which is where it gets complicated.
What is unusual about sales tax in Delaware?
No sales or use tax of any kind on retail purchases; the state instead relies on a gross receipts tax imposed on businesses.
When does a business have to collect Delaware sales tax?
It does not. With no sales tax to collect, Delaware has no seller registration requirement and no economic nexus threshold. Selling into Delaware from another state creates no Delaware sales tax obligation.
Selling from Delaware is a different question: if you ship to customers in states that do tax, their thresholds apply to you. The economic nexus checker covers those.
How do I find the exact sales tax rate for an address in Delaware?
Use the state's own lookup rather than an average. Delaware publishes an official rate finder at https://revenue.delaware.gov/, which returns the combined rate for a specific address. That is the figure that governs what you charge or what you should have been charged.
The flat truth on Delaware sales tax
Delaware does not charge sales tax, full stop. The thing that catches people out is use tax: if you live in a state that does tax and you buy in Delaware to avoid it, you generally owe use tax at home. Enforcement is uneven, the obligation is not.
See also: Delaware property tax by county and state income tax rates.
Sources
- Delaware Division of Revenue / Tax Foundation, State and Local Sales Tax Rates (Jan. 2026)
- Delaware official rate lookup
- Rates reviewed August 30, 2026. State base rates verified against each state's Department of Revenue; average local rates from the Tax Foundation and are statewide averages, not the rate at any single address. Use officialLookupUrl for an exact combined rate.