Texas sales and use tax rates and rules for 2026

Estimate the sales tax on a purchase in Texas

Enter a purchase amount to estimate the sales tax at Texas's rates. The local rate defaults to the state average; enter your own for an exact figure, or use the official lookup below. See the full sales tax calculator to compare any state.

Texas state rate verified against its Department of Revenue; average local rate from the Tax Foundation (2026). The local portion depends on the delivery address, so this is an estimate; use the official lookup for the exact combined rate.

What is the Texas sales tax rate?

The Texas state sales and use tax rate is 6.25%, and it applies to nearly all retail sales, leases, and rentals of goods, plus a specific list of taxable services. On top of that, local taxing jurisdictions (cities, counties, transit authorities, and special purpose districts) can each add their own sales and use tax, but the combined local add-on cannot exceed 2%. That puts the ceiling on any single transaction at 8.25%, no matter how many local jurisdictions overlap at an address.

Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, "Sales and Use Tax."

What's the sales tax in Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio?

All four of Texas's largest cities charge the full 8.25% combined rate. According to the Comptroller's city sales and use tax rate data, Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio each stack their city tax with a transit authority tax (their local bus and rail systems) to reach the 2% local cap on top of the 6.25% state rate. That is not a coincidence: most incorporated Texas cities of any size have already adopted a city sales tax plus joined a transit authority, which together use up the full 2% allowance. A handful of unincorporated areas and small towns without a city or transit tax charge less, sometimes just the 6.25% state rate on its own. Because rates are set address by address, the Comptroller's Sales Tax Rate Locator is the way to confirm the exact rate at a specific location rather than assuming every Texas address is at 8.25%.

What's taxed under Texas sales tax?

Texas taxes the sale, lease, or rental of most tangible personal property (physical goods you can see, weigh, or touch), plus a specific list of enumerated taxable services such as data processing, cable and satellite TV, and repair or remodeling of most property. If an item or service isn't specifically exempted by law, the default assumption is that it's taxable.

What's exempt from Texas sales tax?

Two categories carry the biggest everyday exemptions: unprepared grocery food and most drugs and supplements. Beyond those, a mix of specific carve-outs apply. The table below separates common taxable and exempt items, based on the Comptroller's published guidance for grocery and convenience stores and healthcare items.

Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Publication 96-280 ("Grocery and Convenience Stores") and Publication 94-155 ("Sales Tax Exemptions for Healthcare Items").

A drug or medicine only qualifies for the over-the-counter exemption if it carries an FDA-mandated Drug Facts label. If a product treats a disease or condition but has no Drug Facts label, it still qualifies for the exemption if a physician prescribes or dispenses it. That is how both prescription and non-prescription drugs end up exempt through two different routes.

What is use tax, and why is "use" in the name?

Use tax exists to close the gap left when a seller doesn't collect Texas sales tax on a taxable purchase. It's called "use" tax because it isn't triggered by the sale itself; it's triggered by storing, using, or otherwise consuming a taxable item in Texas, regardless of where you bought it. The Comptroller describes use tax as "nonrecurring" and "complementary to sales tax": you never owe both on the same purchase, but you owe one or the other. The rate is identical to the sales tax rate at your location: 6.25% state, plus up to 2% local, for the same 8.25% ceiling.

The Comptroller's own example shows how this plays out: if you live somewhere that charges 2% local tax, then drive to an area with no local tax and buy a $200 coffee table, the seller only collects the 6.25% state rate. When you bring the table home, you owe the extra 2% local use tax, $4 in that example, because that is where the item is actually being used.

When do you actually owe Texas use tax?

The most common trigger is buying from an out-of-state or online seller that doesn't charge Texas sales tax, then having the item shipped to, stored in, or used in Texas. If the seller collects Texas tax at checkout, you're covered and owe nothing further. If they don't (because they have no Texas nexus, see below), the purchaser is on the hook for use tax at the rate that applies where the item ends up.

Worked example: say you order a $1,200 espresso machine from an out-of-state retailer that has no Texas presence and charges no sales tax, and have it shipped to an Austin address where the combined rate is 8.25%. You owe use tax of $1,200 x 8.25% = $99, whether or not the retailer ever collects it. A Texas purchaser who already holds a sales and use tax permit reports it as a taxable purchase on their regular return. Someone without a permit owes less than $1,000 in use tax for the year files and pays by January 20 of the following year on Form 01-156; if the running total hits $1,000 or more, it's due by the 20th of the month after the threshold was crossed.

When must a seller collect Texas sales tax?

A seller has to collect Texas sales tax once it has "nexus," meaning a legally sufficient connection to the state. There are two ways to trigger it. Physical nexus is the traditional route: a business location, employees, salespeople, or other representatives operating in Texas. Economic nexus is newer, dating to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, which let states tax sellers based on sales volume alone, with no physical footprint required.

Under Texas's economic nexus rule, a "remote seller" (an out-of-state seller whose only activity here is remote solicitation, such as online, phone, or catalog sales) must get a Texas permit and start collecting once its total Texas revenue passes $500,000 in the preceding 12 months. That figure counts all gross revenue from taxable and nontaxable sales into Texas, including shipping and handling fees, and even sales for resale or to exempt buyers. Below that threshold, a safe harbor applies and the remote seller has no obligation to register or collect. If you're setting up a business that will sell taxable goods or services into Texas, our guide on whether you need a sales tax permit walks through how to tell if you've crossed a nexus threshold in any state, not just Texas.

How do remote sellers get the local rate right?

Remote sellers that do have Texas nexus still owe the correct local tax, which technically depends on the exact delivery address. Texas offers a shortcut: instead of tracking the specific local rate for every Texas destination, a remote seller can elect to collect a single flat local use tax rate, currently 1.75%, published annually by the Comptroller. Combined with the 6.25% state rate, that works out to 8%, slightly under the 8.25% cap that applies to in-state deliveries at the maximum local rate. Businesses physically located in Texas can't use this shortcut, and marketplace providers collecting on behalf of other sellers aren't eligible for it either.

The flat truth: budget for 8.25%, not 6.25%

The number most people remember, 6.25%, is only the state's share. In practice, almost every populated part of Texas layers on the full 2% local add-on, so the rate a shopper actually pays at checkout in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and most other cities is the 8.25% maximum, not the bare state rate. Texas also has no state income tax, which is part of why it leans harder on sales tax revenue than many states with an income tax of their own. If you're buying from an out-of-state seller who doesn't charge you tax, that obligation doesn't vanish, it converts into a use tax you owe directly. And if you're selling into Texas from out of state, the $500,000 revenue threshold is the number to track, because crossing it turns a tax-free sale into a collection obligation overnight. For the rest of what you owe at tax time, see our taxes hub.