Sales tax in the US is determined by a variety of factors, including state, county, and local district regulations. Because rates change based on where your customer lives, Printful calculates tax based on the delivery address zip code provided at checkout. You can check specific rates using TaxJar.
General formula
In most cases, sales tax is calculated like this:
(Printful product price + shipping + services) × tax rate = sales tax
- Printful product price is what we charge for the item and its fulfillment.
- Shipping is the delivery cost.
- Services include additional charges like digitization fees (when applicable).
- You can find the list of states where Printful charges sales tax here.
In some states that don’t tax shipping, the formula is:
(Printful product price + services) × tax rate = sales tax
State-specific exceptions
Some states require different calculations:
- Alaska, California, and Massachusetts: We use your retail price (what you charge your customer): retail price × tax rate = sales tax
- Connecticut: Tax is based on your retail price plus retail shipping: (retail price + retail shipping) × tax rate = sales tax
If your retail price isn’t available, we use the Printful price, except in California, where we add 10% to the Printful price to estimate the retail price.
New York’s item-based rules
In New York, sales tax is calculated per item:
- Items over USD 110 (Printful price) and non-apparel items are taxed at the standard rate.
- Clothing and footwear items under USD 110 per item or pair may qualify for reduced rates, depending on the destination county. Check current rates here.
States where shipping isn’t taxed
These states don’t include shipping when calculating sales tax:
Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.
For those states, the formula is: (Printful product price + services) × tax rate = sales tax
Retail delivery fees: Colorado and Minnesota
Some states charge additional delivery fees on top of sales tax. These are separate from the sales tax but apply under similar conditions:
- Colorado charges a retail delivery fee on most orders delivered by motor vehicle.
- Minnesota adds a USD 0.50 fee to qualifying orders over USD 100 delivered by motor vehicle to a Minnesota address.
These fees may still apply even if the order contains tax-exempt products like clothing. However, if you submit a valid resale certificate or nonprofit exemption, the fee may be waived.
Learn more about the fees in Colorado and Minnesota.
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