On this page we are describing the sales taxes in the State of Pennsylvania, we aim to educate you on the differences that occur throughout the state so you get a better understanding of it in regards to whether you may have:

  • Have taken a Pennsylvania job in the are
  • Applied for a Pennsylvania school
  • Opened a Pennsylvania bank account in the state of Pennsylvania
  • People who may be unable to find their Social Security Card or have lost it.

What is the lowest and highest sales tax in Pennsylvania?

In the map of Pennsylvania is pictured below there are a total of 69 countries that are within the state. You can go directly to the page and see which area has the highest and lowest sales tax in your county of choice.

Adams Allegheny Armstrong Beaver Bedford Berks Blair Bradford Bucks Butler Cambria Cameron Carbon Centre Chester Clarion Clearfield Clinton Columbia Crawford Cumberland Dauphin Delaware Elk Erie Fayette Forest Franklin Fulton Greene Huntingdon Indiana Jefferson Juniata Lackawanna Lancaster Lawrence Lebanon Lehigh Luzerne Lycoming McKean Mercer Mifflin Monroe Montgomery Montour Northampton Northumberland Perry Philadelphia Pike Potter Schuylkill Snyder Somerset Sullivan Susquehanna Tioga Union Venango Warren Washington Wayne Westmoreland Wyoming York
The state sales tax for businesses and so forth is a standard rate of 6% which allows the local government to be able to collect up to another 2% on top of this:

  • the average sales tax for the entirety of Pennsylvania is 6.122%,
  • the highest is within the Philadelphia County that consists of Philadelphia and this equates to 8% sales tax,
  • In all other counties, sales tax is 6% except Allegheny County and the sales tax in these area total to 7%

This is a brief overview, and we suggest that you go directly to the page if you wish to get a clearer image of the different ranges of sale tax in a particular county. Please note that the ones that have an asterisk means they are below the usual county level of sales tax.

How to calculate your own sales tax in the state of Pennsylvania.

So, what does this mean for you, if you are looking into how much sales tax you are going to charged dependant on what sort of county you are residing or working out of. You can go ahead and use a sales tax calculator which will give you a section that is exampled below.

 

$
-or- Specify Sales Tax Rate
-or- Specify ZIP Code
%

 

You do need to know the purchase ZIP code and purchase amount in order to get an accurate figure. For an example we will use the amount of $700 and see what the ranges could be from the highest area to the lowest.

In Philadelphia, PA with the highest sales tax of 8% would mean that your $700 purchase would incur a $56 sales tax, taking the total amount to $756.

Whereas in Reading, PA the sales tax is only 6% and a $700 purchase would equate to $42 tax, taking the total to $742.

The sales tax calculator makes it as easy as it can be to find out what sort of sales tax you will be charged by simply adding the amount and the ZIP code. Though there might be some purchases that are exempt from sales taxes or have some special leniency which do need to be taken into consideration.

City Sales Tax Rate Zip-code Population
Philadelphia 8.00% 19099, 19101, 19102, 19103, 19104, 19105, 19106, 19107, 19108, 19109, 19110, 19111, 19112, 19114, 19115, 19116, 19118, 19119, 19120, 19121, 19122, 19123, 19124, 19125, 19126, 19127, 19128, 19129, 19130, 19131, 19132, 19133, 19134, 19135, 19136, 19137, 19138, 19139, 19140, 19141, 19142, 19143, 19144, 19145, 19146, 19147, 19148, 19149, 19150, 19151, 19152, 19153, 19154, 19160, 19172, 19176, 19179, 19181, 19183, 19192, 19194, 19244 1019495
Pittsburgh 7.00% 15201, 15203, 15204, 15206, 15207, 15208, 15210, 15211, 15212, 15213, 15214, 15217, 15219, 15222, 15224, 15225, 15226, 15229, 15230, 15232, 15233, 15237, 15258, 15259, 15260, 15262, 15267, 15272, 15279, 15281, 15282, 15283, 15289, 15290 236216
Reading 6.00% 19601, 19602, 19603, 19604, 19605, 19606, 19607, 19608, 19609, 19610, 19611, 19612 172362
Erie 6.00% 16501, 16502, 16503, 16504, 16505, 16506, 16507, 16508, 16509, 16510, 16511, 16512, 16514, 16515, 16522, 16530, 16531, 16534, 16538, 16541, 16544, 16546, 16550, 16553, 16563, 16565 145021
York 6.00% 17401, 17402, 17403, 17404, 17405, 17406, 17407, 17408 143405
Harrisburg 6.00% 17101, 17102, 17103, 17104, 17105, 17106, 17107, 17108, 17109, 17110, 17111, 17112, 17113, 17120, 17121, 17122, 17123, 17124, 17125, 17126, 17127, 17128, 17129, 17130, 17177 138527
Allentown 6.00% 18101, 18102, 18103, 18104, 18105, 18106, 18109, 18195 135251
Lancaster 6.00% 17601, 17602, 17603, 17604, 17605, 17608, 17622, 17699 135113
West Chester 6.00% 19380, 19381, 19382, 19383 84731
Bethlehem 6.00% 18015, 18016, 18017, 18020 74250
Scranton 6.00% 18501, 18503, 18504, 18505, 18508, 18509, 18510, 18512, 18515, 18519, 18540, 18577 73621
Easton 6.00% 18040, 18042, 18043, 18044, 18045 69054
Norristown 6.00% 19401, 19403, 19404 67391
Mechanicsburg 6.00% 17050, 17055 61054
Lebanon 6.00% 17042, 17046 56599
Johnstown 6.00% 15901, 15902, 15904, 15905, 15906, 15907, 15909, 15915 56588
Wilkes Barre 6.00% 18701, 18702, 18703, 18705, 18706, 18710, 18711, 18762, 18764, 18765, 18766, 18769 56458
Levittown 6.00% 19054, 19055, 19056, 19057, 19058 55361

Greensburg

6.00% 15601, 15606 49297

Altoona

6.00% 16601, 16602, 16603 48911

Butler

6.00% 16001, 16002, 16003 48146

Lansdale

6.00% 19446 47793

Chambersburg

6.00% 17201, 17202 47394

Bensalem

6.00% 19020 47276

Morrisville

6.00% 19067 47005

Carlisle

6.00% 17013, 17015 46817

Hanover

6.00% 17331, 17334 45273

New Castle

6.00% 16101, 16102, 16105, 16108 43779

Downingtown

6.00% 19335 42233

Doylestown

6.00% 18901, 18902 41680

Williamsport

6.00% 17701, 17702, 17703, 17705 41473

Irwin

6.00% 15642 41036

Coatesville

6.00% 19320 41003

Washington

6.00% 15301 40254

Pottstown

6.00% 19464 39012

Lititz

6.00% 17543 37403

Warminster

6.00% 18974 37329

State College

6.00% 16801, 16803, 16804 36823

Southampton

6.00% 18966 36515

Coraopolis

7.00% 15108 33662

New Kensington

6.00% 15068 33539

Canonsburg

6.00% 15317 33096

East Stroudsburg

6.00% 18301, 18302 32951

Phoenixville

6.00% 19460 32622

Havertown

6.00% 19083 32532

Collegeville

6.00% 19426 31088

Media

6.00% 19063, 19091 31040

Upper Darby

6.00% 19082 30828

Langhorne

6.00% 19047 30760

Pittston

6.00% 18640, 18641, 18643 30627

Why do I need to collect sales tax in Pennsylvania?

You will need to collect sales tax if you have any sort of nexus there, and what this means is that if you have assets that are physical or economic then you need to do this.

Physical meaning having a tangible activity or some sort of presence in any of the states of Pennsylvania, economic nexus is simply passing the states’ economic threshold for total revenue, or the maximum number of transactions that can occur in the period of time within the state.

Two easy ways to see if you have either a physical or economic nexus in any of the counties is the following:
Physical:

  • Tangible personal property
  • Business assets or property
  • Own, renting properties
  • Made more than $500,000 in a service or content delivery in the state

Economic:

  • Made more than $100,000 in sales annually
  • More than 200 transactions in the last calendar year

How do I get a sales tax permit?

The main way to go about this is to register online at the Pennsylvania Business Gateway. Follow the steps that are presented to you and ensure that you have the following to hand to use as information:

  • Business identification information
  • Business entity
  • Location/s that you will be conducting this from
  • Date you will start collecting Pennsylvania sales tax from a business/property
  • NAICS Code (North American Industry Classification System.)

What is the best way to file sales taxes?

Before you think of doing anything else there are three things that we recommend that you do in order to make this process as easy and smooth as possible.

First of all, find out how much tax you owe (remember the sales tax calculator we mentioned before) so that you know how much you need to pay the state at the end. Second is get onto the Pennsylvania Department Of Taxation ready to submit them, and third have the money ready so you can make the payment straight away.

There are two main options as well to filing and paying your Pennsylvania sales tax, these are:

  • Filing online. This is where merchants are required to file all of their sales taxes through the department of taxation in the state of Pennsylvania, you can also pay your taxes on this platform, so it is one to keep close to you for future reference.
  • Filing by mail. Simply fill out the form UST-1, but this is not the recommended way of filing your taxes due to the possibilities of them getting lost in the post and then it could mean that you are subject to late fees if they are not filed within the allotted time.

We hope this document was able to allow you to feel more confident when it comes to sales tax in the state of Pennsylvania depending on where you operate out of.