The calculation tools of Excel spreadsheets make them well-suited to calculating financial transactions and reports. With an Excel spreadsheet, you can even work out sales tax on a transaction, as well as the total cost of the transaction after tax. To use these features, you'll need to enter the correct formulas in the appropriate spreadsheet cells.
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Launch Excel and create a new document.
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Click Cell A1 and enter a name to describe the purchase price before tax, like "Sales Price."
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Click Cell B1 and enter a name to describe the tax rate in decimal form, like "Sales Tax Rate."
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Click Cell C1 and enter a name reflecting the actual tax cost, like "Sales Tax."
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Click Cell D1 and enter a name reflecting the total cost, like "Total."
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Click Cell A2 and enter the purchase price before tax. For example, 100.
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Click Cell B2 and enter the tax rate as a decimal. For example, for 10-percent sales tax, enter 0.10.
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Click Cell C2 and enter the following formula:
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\=A2*B2
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Click Cell D2 and enter the following formula:
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\=A2+C2
