2024 Guide to Sales Tax in Los Angeles, California

We’ll walk you through how sales tax is calculated in Los Angeles, which taxes make up the total Los Angeles sales tax, who needs to charge sales tax, and how to register for a sales tax permit. Then, we’ll share tips for how to file sales taxes in Los Angeles – and beyond.

What is the Sales Tax in Los Angeles?

The combined sales tax rate in Los Angeles city is 9.5%.

This combined sales tax rate is made up of three different rates:

1. a state sales tax,
2. a country or district sales tax (which can range between 0.10% and 1%),
3. and a special sales tax (which are used to fund district-wide initiatives like transportation infrastructure.

While there are other cities in California like San Francisco (8.625%) and Alameda (10.75%) that have higher sales tax rates, LA’s city tax rate is relatively high compared to other localities across the state.

Who Needs to Collect Sales Tax in Los Angeles, CA?

Businesses need to collect sales tax in Los Angeles if they have sales tax nexus in California and make sales to residents of Los Angeles County either within the county itself at a physical location or online. There’s two ways to achieve sales tax nexus in the state: physical nexus or economic nexus.

What is Physical Nexus in California?

This is when a business has some kind of physical presence in California. This can be achieved by being physically located in California, however, there are a number of other situations that can trigger physical nexus.

Here are the criteria for physical nexus in California (full details):

• Physical location: If your office, distribution center, warehouse, sale room, storage place, or other place of business is in the state.
• Affiliate: If your business has relationships in the state that engage in business operations on your behalf.
• Employee: If you have a person working for you or your business, including a salesperson, agent, representative, etc.
• Rental: If you rent or lease personal property to someone in California.

What is Economic Nexus in California?

In California, economic nexus is triggered when an out-of-state remote seller makes $500,000 worth of sales in the state in a year.

Here are the criteria for economic nexus in California (full details):

• All wholesale sales of tangible personal property sold are included in the threshold calculation.
• A marketplace sellers’ sales through a qualifying marketplace provider are not included.
• The moment you exceed the threshold, your registration and collection obligation begin.

How to Get a Sales Tax Permit in Los Angeles?

Have you met the requirements for California nexus? You need to register for a California sales tax permit and start collecting sales tax immediately.

You can do so easily on the California Department of Tax and Fees website. Registration is free and you simply need to answer questions about your business. The system will identify all the permits you need and help you apply for them.

See the State of California’s Sales Tax info pages for more info.

How Do You Charge the Right Amount for Sales Tax in Los Angeles?

Given that many cities in Los Angeles County charge different amounts in sales tax, what’s the best way to stay sales tax compliant by ensuring you always charge the right amount?

Here are some options:

• Check Frequently: If you want to manage your sales taxes yourself, you might decide to manually input all the sales tax amounts for each city into your ecommerce software. However, given that sales tax increases can come during different parts of the year, you would have to check frequently for changes to local, district, and state rates to make sure you’re always charging the accurate amount.
• Use a sales tax compliant software solution: Sales tax compliance software makes managing an ecommerce business simple. Rather than having to keep track of the rates in every tax jurisdiction in which you have nexus, the software can keep track of that and automatically charge the right amount – even if there’s a change in the tax code! Software like TaxCloud helps you manage everything with confidence.

Los Angeles County Sales Tax Rate Breakdown

Wondering how much each of the taxes charge? Here’s a breakdown of the Los Angeles tax rate:

• California state tax rate: 7.25%
• Los Angeles county tax rate: 1.00%
• Special tax rate: 1.25%
• Combined Los Angeles tax rate: 9.50%

What is Los Angeles County Sales Tax?

The combined sales tax rate charged in LA County varies from city to city due to some cities charging additional city sales tax rates. However, the LA County sales tax rate is 9.5% before any additional city sales taxes.

Some cities like Temple City and Los Angeles don’t charge additional sales taxes and so their sales tax is 9.5%. However, sales tax rates in LA county can go up to 10.5% like in Santa Fe Springs.

Tax Rates in Popular Zip Codes in Los Angeles County

Here is a breakdown of all sales tax rates in the most popular zip codes in Los Angeles County.

Tax Rates by City in Los Angeles County, California

Wondering what the tax rate is in a particular city in Los Angeles County? Here’s a breakdown of all the sales tax rates in LA county.

You’ll notice that the majority of cities have tax rates that are higher than the 9.5% charged by the County of Los Angeles.

LA Sales Tax vs. other California Cities

How expensive is LA sales tax compared to other cities in California? Here are some comparisons:

• Los Angeles sales tax: 9.5%
• King City sales tax: 8.7%
• Yuba City sales tax: 7.25%
• Reedley sales tax: 9.22%
• San Pablo sales tax: 9.5%
• Richmond sales tax: 9.75%
• Fremont sales tax: 10.25%
• Hayward sales tax: 10.75%

Look up more California sales tax rates here.

How Do You File and Remit Sales Tax in LA?

Since you’re collecting city, district, and county taxes in Los Angeles, you might be wondering if you have to file separate sales tax filings for each tax jurisdiction. Luckily, that’s not required.

You can pay your Los Angeles taxes by simply filling your state-wide sales tax return with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. The state then remits the city, district, and county taxes for your to the jurisdictions in question.

Find Filing State Sales Taxes Time Consuming?

You don’t have to do it yourself! TaxCloud can file your California state sales taxes for you and ensure they’re sales tax compliant every time. Unlike other sales tax management solutions, we do everything for you when it comes to filing your taxes, we don’t just provide you the software to make doing it yourself easier.

Learn more about how TaxCloud can help you stop spending hours filing your sales taxes and allow you to get back to work on growing your business.