How We Tested And Reviewed Tax Calculator Plugins For WordPress

If you have an online store, then tax calculator plugins can automate sales tax calculations for each transaction and streamline the purchase process.

These tools also ensure accurate calculations, reducing the risk of overcharging or undercharging customers. Plus, they typically comply with tax regulation laws.

We personally use the built-in tax calculation feature from Easy Digital Downloads when selling plugins across our partner websites. But we also wanted to look for other options to fit our readers’ needs.

To help you find the ideal tool for your website, we tested popular tax calculator plugins and paid attention to the following criteria:

• Ease of Use: We have included beginner-friendly plugins that do not require you to know coding or tax regulation rules for every country.
• Features: In our opinion, the ideal tax calculator plugin should have features like automated tax calculations, real-time tax rate updates, tax geolocation, compliance updates, and more.
• Performance Impact: We monitored the tax plugin’s effect on website speed and performance, ensuring it works smoothly even on high-traffic sites without affecting the user experience.
• Security: We assessed each tool’s security measures, ensuring they protect sensitive financial data and maintain compliance with necessary regulations.
• User Feedback: We considered actual user feedback and ratings to understand common experiences, strengths, and challenges faced by those who have used these plugins.
• Reliability: We have only recommended the plugins that we have tested ourselves on real websites. We also went through customer reviews.

Having said that, let’s take a look at the best tax calculator plugins for WordPress.

1. WPForms (Tax Calculator Forms)

WPForms is the best online form builder with a Calculations add-on, which you can download and use to build a powerful tax calculator form. This makes it ideal for all kinds of online businesses, especially eCommerce stores.

We’ve used WPForms across multiple websites, including WPBeginner, and it has consistently delivered great results. Its user-friendly interface and extensive collection of pre-made templates make it easy for us to create secure, visually appealing forms in just a few minutes. To learn more about our experience, check out our WPForms review.

Apart from premade templates, you can use WPForms AI to generate a custom form that fits your specific needs. Simply type in the type of tax calculator you need, hit the X button, and you’ll have a usable form in seconds.

WPForms allows for conditional logic within forms, letting you apply different tax rates based on user input, such as zip code or state selection.

You can also use WPForms’ built-in features to create a formula that calculates the tax amount based on the subtotal and the chosen tax rate.

Creating a tax calculator form with WPForms can also be a part of your lead generation strategy. It lets you provide interactive content that engages visitors and encourages them to share their contact information in exchange for a useful service.

This not only drives more traffic to your site but also helps you capture potential leads who are interested in products or services related to finance and taxation.

For details, see our tutorial on how to get more leads with free online calculators.

WPForms also offers other powerful features, such as integrations with email marketing services, file uploads, surveys and polls, Stripe integration, coupons, conversational forms, and more.

Pros

• When testing the tool, we realized that the plugin has pre-built functions for averages, rounded numbers, random numbers, and time range length.
• With WPForms, you can also create a mortgage calculator, shipping discount calculator, BMI calculator, and more.
• We love that it lets you customize and style your WordPress forms using different colors, fonts, and labels.
• The plugin has 2000+ premade templates and offers complete spam protection.

Cons

• The plugin has a free plan, but you will need the pro version to unlock the Calculations addon.

Why we recommend WPForms: Overall, WPForms is the best tax calculator plugin on the market because it offers a beginner-friendly visual builder, premade calculator templates, and conditional logic. It also allows you to create your own formula for tax calculations.

2. Formidable Forms (Complex and Dynamic Calculations)

Formidable Forms is an advanced form builder that allows you to create complex sales and income tax calculators in just a few minutes. Although it has a steeper learning curve than WPForms, it does have advanced conditional logic and other developer-friendly features if you need a more complex calculator.

During our evaluation, we discovered that it also allows you to validate user data for any form field by choosing a specific format, protecting your site from spam entries. For more information, see our Formidable Forms review.

Additionally, you can create other calculators like mortgage calculators, tip calculators, paycheck calculators, and more.

The plugin also lets users upload documents like pay stubs or W-2 forms directly through the form. This can be helpful for applications requiring income verification for tax purposes.

Once that is done, Formidable Forms helps you manage and organize tax-related data and export submissions for analysis or record-keeping.

Pros

• When we were researching, we found that Formidable Forms can integrate with numerous third-party tools, such as email marketing services. It also offers an API for custom integrations.
• We liked its ‘Formula’ field, where you can type the mathematical formula you prefer for calculating taxes.
• The plugin lets you show calculated values in various currencies with proper formatting.
• You can also add dynamic text and progress bars to make your form more user-friendly.

Cons

• Formidable Forms has a free plan, but you will need the pro version to unlock some of the templates.
• It has a lot of features, which can be intimidating and confusing for beginners.

Why we recommend Formidable Forms: If you have a small business and need a complex income tax calculator with dynamic calculations, then Formidable Forms is the best plugin.

3. Easy Digital Downloads (Show Tax Rates for Digital Products)

Easy Digital Downloads is the best eCommerce plugin for selling digital goods like music, PDFs, ebooks, and more. It also makes it super easy to collect tax from customers by showing tax rates alongside product prices.

You can display these rates right below the ‘Purchase’ button or on the checkout page to inform users about the additional price.

Over the past few years, several of our partner brands have been using EDD to sell plugins and software. They have shared with us that its tax collection features make it easy to display accurate tax amounts for customers, promoting transparency and trust during checkout.

For more details about its features, you can see our detailed Easy Digital Downloads review.

The plugin also allows you to add different tax rates for countries, provinces, and states, making it an ideal choice.

Pros

• While using the plugin, we have found Easy Digital Downloads to be beginner-friendly. It makes it super easy to create an online store for digital products.
• We really like that EDD generates sales tax reports that break down taxes collected by state, county, or other tax jurisdictions. This simplifies tax filing and record-keeping for sellers.
• Additionally, the WooCommerce Shipping and Tax plugin can integrate with popular shipping services, USPS and DHL, to display real-time shipping rates during checkout. This can improve transparency and user experience in your store.
• Our investigation revealed that the plugin has an ‘EU VAT’ extension to help shop owners comply with European tax laws.
• It can integrate with popular payment gateways like PayPal or Stripe.
• The plugin allows you to pass payment processing fees to customers.

Cons

• The tax calculations feature is available in the free plan of the plugin. However, you will need the pro version to unlock other features.
• We didn’t like that EDD only shows the tax amount that users have to pay. It does not allow users to calculate it themselves.

Why we recommend Easy Digital Downloads: If you have an online store that sells digital products, then EDD is the best way to add a tax calculation field to your product prices.

4. WooCommerce Shipping and Tax (Adding Tax Cost Field for Physical Products)

WooCommerce Shipping and Tax is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to add an automated tax field on the checkout page of your WooCommerce store.

During our testing, we also integrated it with some third-party tools for real-time tax rate updates, ensuring it complies with any changes in tax regulations.

Additionally, the WooCommerce Shipping and Tax plugin can integrate with popular shipping services like USPS and DHL to display real-time shipping rates during checkout. This can improve transparency and the user experience in your store.

Pros

• We were impressed by the plugin’s geolocation feature, which allows you to show accurate tax and shipping rates based on the customer’s location.
• The tool allows you to define package sizes and weights to ensure correct shipping cost calculations.
• It can seamlessly integrate with WooCommerce and payment gateways.
• We appreciated its beginner-friendly interface since it allows easy configuration of tax settings and shipping methods.

Cons

• The plugin performs tax calculations itself and does not show the process to customers.
• Many of the plugin’s advanced features, such as real-time tax rates, carrier-specific shipping options, and label printing capabilities, rely on integrations with third-party services.

Why we recommend WooCommerce Shipping and Tax: If you are looking for a free way to add a tax and shipping cost field to your store’s checkout page, this is the WordPress tax plugin for you.

5. WP Simple Pay (Create Payment Forms With Tax Collection Field)

WP Simple Pay is the best WordPress Stripe plugin for adding all kinds of payment forms to your website. It also lets you collect taxes from customers using two methods.

In our extensive testing, we found this plugin super easy to use, making it an ideal choice for beginners looking to sell subscriptions and want to include an option to display a tax calculation field during checkout. To learn more, see our WP Simple Pay review.

You can add a fixed rate tax calculation field and define the rate yourself. Once you do that, the field will calculate and display the tax amount to the customers filling out the form.

Additionally, you can enable the Stripe tax calculation feature, which automatically shows customers a tax amount based on their location.

Pros

• We liked that the plugin lets you choose whether to add the tax rate to the product price or show it separately for transparency.
• WP Simple Pay offers numerous premade sales templates and can also integrate with other gateways, such as Klarna, Affirm, SEPA, and more.
• If you opt for the Stripe tax calculation method, you can check if your business is approaching tax registration thresholds in new jurisdictions you sell to.

Cons

• WP Simple Pay has a free plan you can use. However, you will need a premium Stripe account to unlock the Stripe tax collection feature.
• During our testing, we concluded that the plugin would not work well for large online stores.

Why we recommend WP Simple Pay: If you sell services or just one specific product on your website, then we recommend WP Simple Pay for adding a payment form with a tax collection field.

6. TaxJar (Software for Filing Taxes)

TaxJar is a powerful software that is designed to streamline sales tax compliance for businesses of all sizes. After thorough testing, we have found it to be the best solution for filing your taxes and generating reports.

It shows real-time sales tax rates based on customer locations, defines product taxability, and generates comprehensive sales tax reports by state, county, or even product category.

The software can also automate tax filing and offers audit assistance services to help you navigate potential tax audits.

Pros

• TaxJar can easily integrate with WordPress or other eCommerce platforms using its API.
• We like its user-friendly dashboard that provides insights into your potential tax filing obligations in new jurisdictions.
• We were really impressed by its amazing customer support that can guide you through any tax-related issues.

Cons

• It does not have a free plan.
• While TaxJar offers an API for integration, setting it up might require some technical expertise or developer resources.

Why we recommend TaxJar: If you are looking for a tool to help you file taxes, generate tax reports, and keep track of tax filing obligations, then TaxJar is for you.

7. Stylish Cost Calculator (Cost Estimation Calculators)

Stylish Cost Calculator is another free tax calculator plugin for WordPress that allows you to create visually appealing cost estimation calculators for your website.

It has a clean interface, offers multiple themes, and lets you add interactive elements like progress bars or color-coded fields to guide users through the calculation process.

Plus, we like its live input previews, which allow it to dynamically update estimated tax amounts as the user enters data.

Pros

• We appreciate the plugin’s interactive tax brackets feature, which visually represents how tax rates change based on income levels.
• It offers a mobile-friendly design.
• The plugin can integrate with payment gateways and supports conditional logic.

Cons

• The plugin is ideal for simpler cost calculations but cannot handle complex formulas needed for advanced cost estimates.
• It offers limited integrations and may have compatibility issues with other plugins.

Why we recommend Stylish Cost Calculator: If you want to add simple cost estimation forms with a field for tax, then this is the best choice for you.

What Is the Best Tax Calculator Plugin for WordPress?

In our expert opinion, WPForms is the best tax calculator plugin for WordPress because it comes with different editable templates for tax calculations. You can choose from one of the pre-made tax calculator templates or even use its AI form builder to create a custom calculator.

Alternatively, if you have an eCommerce store that sells digital products, then you can use Easy Digital Downloads to add a tax collection field to the checkout page.

Similarly, if you have a store that sells physical products, then you can opt for WooCommerce Shipping and Tax.

Frequently Asked Questions About WordPress Tax Calculator Plugins

Here are some questions that our readers frequently ask about tax calculator plugins for WordPress.

1. How do I automatically calculate tax in WooCommerce?

If you want tax to be automatically calculated for different products in your WooCommerce store, then you can use the WooCommerce Shipping and Tax plugin.

Upon activation, the plugin allows you to set a tax rate that will be used to collect taxes from customers based on the product prices.

2. Are there any free tax calculator plugins available?

There are multiple free tax calculator plugins, including WP Simple Pay. It lets you add an automatic tax collection field to payment forms. Similarly, Easy Digital Downloads offers tax calculator fields in its free plan as well.

3. Do tax calculator plugins help with tax filing?

Most WordPress tax plugins do not help with filing and organizing your taxes. However, if you are looking for a solution like this, then you can go with TaxJar, which is a popular tax compliance software.

Related Guides for Tax Calculations in WordPress

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.