Add or remove Arizona's Transaction Privilege Tax for any city — with correct grocery, prescription, and city-food-tax handling.
Estimate using representative 2026 rates. For the exact rate at a specific address use the official ADOT TPT rate lookup.
Arizona doesn't technically have a "sales tax." It has the Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) — a tax on the privilege of doing business in Arizona. The legal difference matters: the tax is imposed on the seller, who is liable to the state, but Arizona law lets the business pass the cost to the customer. On your receipt it looks identical to sales tax, but the legal mechanics explain quirks like why out-of-state and online rules differ.
The state TPT rate is a flat 5.6%. Every county adds a small rate, and most cities add a city privilege tax. The combined rate you pay depends entirely on where the sale takes place — from 5.6% in some unincorporated areas to over 11% in a few towns. The statewide average is roughly 8.4%.
| City | Approx. Combined Rate (2026) |
|---|---|
| Chandler / Gilbert | ~7.8% |
| Scottsdale | ~8.05% |
| Tempe / Peoria | ~8.1% |
| Mesa | ~8.3% |
| Surprise | ~8.5% |
| Phoenix | ~8.6% |
| Tucson | ~8.7% |
| Goodyear | ~8.8% |
| Flagstaff | ~9.18% |
| Glendale | ~9.2% |
Rates are approximate and change — confirm the exact rate for any address with the ADOT lookup.
This trips up almost everyone. Arizona's state TPT on groceries (food for home consumption) is 0%. But cities are allowed to levy their own privilege tax on food. Phoenix, Mesa, and Tucson do not tax groceries — but many smaller Arizona cities and towns do, usually 1.5%–3%. So whether you pay tax on groceries depends entirely on which city you shop in. Prepared food and restaurant meals are always taxable.
If an out-of-state or online seller doesn't charge Arizona TPT, you technically owe use tax at the same combined rate for items used in Arizona. Since economic-nexus rules took effect, most large online retailers collect Arizona TPT automatically, so use tax now mainly affects purchases from smaller out-of-state sellers.
Need to back the tax out of a total — say, to record the pre-tax amount from a receipt? Switch the calculator to "Remove tax from a total" and it divides the total by 1 + the combined rate to recover the original price and the tax portion.