How to Create a Tax Calculator

If you have the Microsoft Office Suite with Excel, then you should be able to easily create a tax calculator. The Excel program was created to make calculations of all types a simple process.  Essential for businesses and helpful in personal circumstances, a tax calculator is easy to create in Microsoft Excel.

1. Open the Microsoft Excel program and start a new document. 


2. Type the first category in cell A:2, the second category will be in A:3, the third category in A:4 and so forth.  Categories are listed in column A; Labels are listed in row 1. Rows are horizontal and columns are vertical.


3. Type the word “Sales” in the B:1 cell.


4. Type the word “Taxes” in the C:1 cell.


5. Click on the B:2 cell and hold the left mouse button.  Drag the mouse down the column to highlight the cells you will be using.


6. Right click on the highlighted cells.


7. Choose the “Format Cells” option from the pop up menu.


8. Select “Percentage” under “Category.” Click the “OK” button.  By selecting “percentage,” all of the calculations in this column will be calculated as a percent.  If you put a 10 in this cell, it will be calculated as 10 percent.


9. Put the mouse cursor on the small box, located in the lower right corner of the first percentage cell.  Click on this square and drag it down to the end of your table.  This will automatically insert the same percentage for each row.  If you typed 10 for the first row and it appeared as 10 percent, then the other rows will be identical.


10. Click on the C:2 cell below the column labeled “Taxes.”  In the white label box, located at the top of the chart, type “=A:2*B:2.”


11. Click and drag the lower right square of this cell to the last cell on the chart.  This will automatically insert the calculation for each row.


12. Insert data in order to calculate the taxes.