When finding the tax on an item, do you round the number of cents?

This question can be interpreted in two ways. If you mean “Do you round the cost of the item to the nearest dollar, and then compute the tax?”, then: No. The tax applies to the actual cost of the item, not a more-convient-estimate of the item’s cost.

If you mean “Do you compute the tax and then round the tax-included total to the nearest cent?” then: Yes – no merchant is going to charge you a fraction of cents.

So if your item cost $10.62, and tax in your state is 5%, the tax is 10.62 * 0.05 = 0.531. The total cost is therefore $10.62 + $0.53 = $11.15

OK. Thank you. That’s what I thought, I just wanted to make sure.

Tax is always rounded up! Your friendly government entity always wants what’s theirs and then some.

@Yetanotheruser false. Just completely, 100% false. Tax, after being computed, is rounded to the nearest cent.

@MrItty That’s what I meant. After computation, it is rounded up to the nearest cent.

@Yetanotheruser…no… rounded to the nearest cent. If it’s .5 or greater, it’s rounded up. If it’s .4 or less, it’s rounded down. Do we all remember 4th grade mathematics?

@Yetanotheruser No, it is just ”rounded to the nearest cent”. e.g. .532 > .53 while .536> .54. If it was to be truncated then .532—> .53 and also .536—> .53, as well.

@Yetanotheruser Yes. I know what you meant. And you are, as I said, 100% wrong. It gets rounded to the NEAREST cent. Not the next-highest cent.

Interesting difference of opinion. My gut feeling is that the tax is rounded to the nearest cent, because in that way the percent tax that the business receives on all sales should come pretty close to the required percent.

@LostInParadise This is not an opinion. It is not a guess. It is a fact. Look at your reciepts next time you make a purchase. It is rounded to the nearest penny.