Tax

Tax at CVS

This information is way more detail than most people need! This is advanced couponing. The tax on your receipt is affected both by non-taxable items and by coupons. But if you ever have a question about how your tax was calculated, here it is…

Quick reference

Formula where X is all taXable items on your receipt added up; T is Total items added on your receipt; C is total tax-reducing Coupons, like $xx/xx and other store-coupons. Scroll to bottom of page for examples.

S = X – C * (X / T)
multiply “S” by your local sales tax

Will reduce tax: $/$$ coupons, CVS coupons from RIB, other CVS coupons that are not manufacturer’s coupons, manually printed ECBs, and all CRTs. On your receipt “CVS Coupon” Add these all together to determine your “C” value.

Will not reduce tax: Manufacturer’s coupons (any coupon that starts with 5 or 9), regular ECBs. On your receipt “Coupon” or “CVS MFR Coupon”

Add all items on your receipt with a letter T notation, these are all taxable. This determines your “X” value.

Add all items on your receipt total. This determines your “T” value. (Do not add items rung up as “FREE”)

On your receipt, F is non-taxable and T is taxable, denoted next to item cost.

Tax Pre-coupon

In the state of California, tax is charged pre-manufacturer’s coupon but after store coupons. For example, when stores have “club card” sales Product is $2.99 but you can pay only $2.49 with your shopping card, you will only pay tax on $2.49. If you use a manufacturer’s $1 off coupon, you will pay $1.49 for the Product but your tax will be charged on the pre-coupon price of $2.49.

In the case of CVS, “club” sales also include their own coupons, so if you use a coupon clipped from the CVS magazine Reinventing Beauty, it will reduce the taxable amount. A $/$$ coupon will also reduce the taxable amount, ie $4/$20 on a $20 transaction, you will pay sales tax on $16. ECBs are excluded and treated like manufacturer’s coupons, so they will not reduce your taxable amount. When tax is reduced, it is reduced proportionately to the non-taxable and taxable total.

Taxable Items

Generally speaking, everything except food, water, and prescriptions are taxed. Any beverage is also subject to CRV, California Redemption Value, which at the time of this publication is $.05 for beverage less than 24 oz and $.10 for beverages larger. Exceptions to CRV are milk, wine, and 100% fruit or vegetable juice. This amount changes often. A 12 pack of soda cans will add $.60 CRV to your subtotal (which is also taxable!).  The CRV is a refundable deposit and you can cash your bottles and cans in at certain facilities.

At CVS when it comes to overage, anything before the subtotal including CRV can be used to absorb overage. If the subtotal is negative, the negative amount will apply towards tax. If your total is still negative, you will need to add a filler item to proceed with the transaction.

Examples

Formula where X is all taXable items on your receipt added up; T is Total items added on your receipt; C is total tax-reducing Coupons, like $xx/xx and other store-coupons. Scroll to bottom of page for examples.

S = X – C * (X / T)
multiply “S” by your local sales tax

To find your X for taXable amount, add each taxable item on your receipt. Order Total for T can be found by adding each item, both taxable and nontaxable without coupons. C is the sum of all coupons that reduce tax, namely CVS coupons and $/$$ coupons.

Example - who remembers their PEMDAS?
Order total – $26.76
Taxable total – $24.78
Coupon total that reduced tax – $5

24.78 – 5 * (24.78 / 26.76)
24.78 – 5 * (.926)
24.78 – 4.63 = 20.15

So $20.15 is the amount that tax is charged on. My tax rate at this store is 9.25%

20.15 * .0925 = $1.86 tax

Notice in this example there is a BOGO CVS promo. The free item is not figured into the equation.

I’ve noticed my outcome can be $.01 off, I suspect this is due to rounding or truncating.

If you don’t have anything non-taxable, you can just deduct your CVS coupons from your subtotal and multiple by sales tax.