| name | ziptax-sales-tax |
| description | Look up U.S. sales tax rates using the ZipTax API. Use when the user asks about sales tax rates, tax calculations for a U.S. address/ZIP code/coordinates, freight or service taxability, jurisdiction-level tax breakdowns, use tax vs sales tax, or needs to integrate sales tax data into an application. Also handles account usage metrics and product taxability codes (TIC). Supports address-level (door-level), lat/lng, and postal code lookups across 12,000+ jurisdictions.
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ZipTax Sales Tax Lookup
Setup
Set ZIPTAX_API_KEY env variable with your API key from https://platform.zip.tax (DEVELOP > API Keys).
Free tier gives 100 calls/month. Never share your API key publicly.
Quick Start
Address Lookup (most accurate)
curl -s "https://api.zip-tax.com/request/v60?address=200+Spectrum+Center+Drive+Irvine+CA+92618" \
-H "X-API-KEY: $ZIPTAX_API_KEY"
Postal Code Lookup
curl -s "https://api.zip-tax.com/request/v60?postalcode=92618" \
-H "X-API-KEY: $ZIPTAX_API_KEY"
Lat/Lng Lookup
curl -s "https://api.zip-tax.com/request/v60?lat=33.6525&lng=-117.7479" \
-H "X-API-KEY: $ZIPTAX_API_KEY"
Workflow
- Determine lookup type: address (best), lat/lng, or postal code
- Use v60 (latest) for full jurisdiction breakdowns; use v10 for simple combined rate
- Make GET request to
https://api.zip-tax.com/request/v60 with auth header
- Check
metadata.response.code — 100 means success
- Read
taxSummaries[0].rate for total sales tax rate
- Read
baseRates array for state/county/city/district breakdown
- Check
service.taxable and shipping.taxable for service/freight taxability
Key Points
- Address > Postal code: Address gives one exact result; postal code returns all rates in that ZIP
- Auth: Header
X-API-KEY or query param key
- Rate format: Decimal (0.0775 = 7.75%)
- Response code 100 = success; check
metadata.response.code
- Metrics endpoint (
/account/metrics) does not count against quota
Bundled Resources
scripts/lookup.sh — CLI wrapper for quick lookups. Run with --address, --lat/--lng, --postalcode, or --metricsreferences/api-reference.md — Full API reference with all endpoints, response schemas, code samples, response codes, and SDK links. Read when you need endpoint details or response field definitions.
