How to use it
- Choose “Sale price” to apply a discount, or “Original price” to find the price before a discount.
- Enter the price and the discount percentage. Optionally add a second discount and a sales tax rate.
- Read the final price, the amount saved and the total discount, with the formula used.
How it works
A discount of d% multiplies the price by (1 − d/100). 25% off 80 is 80 × 0.75 = 60, a saving of 20.
Stacked discounts are applied one after the other, so they multiply rather than add. 20% off and then an extra 10% off is 0.8 × 0.9 = 0.72 of the original price: a total discount of 28%, not 30%. The total discount shown is 1 − (1 − d1/100) × (1 − d2/100).
Sales tax, when entered, is added to the discounted price, which is how most shops charge it. In places where the shelf price already includes tax (such as VAT in many countries), leave the tax field empty.
The reverse calculation finds the price before the discount: original = sale price ÷ (1 − d/100). A shirt sold for 60 after 25% off was 60 ÷ 0.75 = 80. Adding 25% to 60 would give 75, which is wrong. Money amounts are rounded to the cent at each step, which can make the last digit differ by 0.01 from a calculation without rounding.
Examples
Sale with an extra coupon
A jacket costs 120. It is 30% off, and a coupon takes another 10% off the sale price: 120 × 0.7 = 84, then 84 × 0.9 = 75.60. You save 44.40, a total discount of 37%.
Discount plus sales tax
A 50.00 item at 30% off costs 35.00. With 8.25% sales tax added afterwards, tax is 2.89 and the total is 37.89.
What was the original price?
A label says 72.00 after 28% off. The original price was 72 ÷ 0.72 = 100.00, so the saving is 28.00.
Frequently asked questions
Is 20% off plus 10% off the same as 30% off?
No. The second discount is taken from the already reduced price, so the total is 28% off. Only a single 30% discount gives 30% off.
Does the order of two discounts matter?
No. Multiplication gives the same result in any order: 0.8 × 0.9 = 0.9 × 0.8. Only rounding to cents can differ by 0.01.
Should tax be applied before or after the discount?
In most places sales tax is charged on the price you actually pay, after discounts, which is what this calculator does. Check local rules for coupons that are reimbursed by a manufacturer.
How do I calculate the discount percentage from two prices?
Use the Percentage Calculator's “percentage change” mode: from 80 to 60 is a decrease of 25%, so the discount is 25%.
Privacy
Everything is calculated in your browser. Prices you enter are not sent or stored.