GET on an All-In Price

A lot of businesses here like a round number. A $1,000 package. A $50 class. Tax included, so nobody has to do math at the counter.

It sells well, and part of every one of those prices goes to the state.

Here's an example with made-up numbers.

A photographer in Hilo sells graduation packages for $1,000, tax included. She sells sixty a year. In her head, that's sixty $1,000 sales.

How much of the $1,000 is hers

GET is owed on almost everything a business takes in. On a $1,000 sale, that's 4.5 percent of $1,000, which is $45.

So each package is really $955 of her price and $45 of tax. Across sixty packages, $2,700 a year of what she calls sales goes to the state.

Work it the other way and you land in the same place. $955 plus 4.712 percent, the most GET she's allowed to add, comes back to $1,000.

In GET Is Not a Sales Tax, I explained why the most you can add is 4.712 percent and not 4.5.

If she wants to keep the full $1,000

She'd charge $1,047.12. That's $1,000 plus 4.712 percent. Her customer pays $47.12 more, and she keeps $1,000 on every package. Over a year, that's the $2,700 back.

She doesn't have to. Some businesses keep the round number on purpose, because it sells. That's a real choice, as long as it's made knowing that $45 of every $1,000 goes to the state.

What it changes

The price on the sign is the one everyone remembers. When you look at your own numbers, look at what's left after GET instead.

That matters most when you set prices. If a $1,000 package costs you $700 to deliver, what's left for you is $255, not $300. A $50 jump in costs then takes about a fifth of it.

It also matters when you compare yourself to someone who adds GET on top. Their $1,000 is $1,000. Yours is $955.

Try It: The All-In Check

1. I built a free calculator for this: the GET Pass-On Calculator. It runs on your own screen and collects nothing. Type in one price you quote with GET included and pick your island. The second answer shows how much of it is your price and how much is GET. A good answer is knowing, to the cent, what you keep from that price.
2. If you meant to keep the full amount, look at the first answer. It shows the most GET you can add and what to charge instead. A good answer is a new price you could put on your next quote, or a clear reason to keep the round one.
3. Add up last month's tax-included sales and multiply by 0.045. That's the GET inside them. A good answer is that this much is already set aside, the habit from GET Is Not a Sales Tax.

Every county is at the same rate through 2030. Some income is taxed at other rates, and your CPA can tell you what applies to your business.

P.S. If your invoice template was set up a while ago, check the rate it adds. Maui County's surcharge started on January 1, 2024. A template set up there before then may still add the old 4.1666 percent. On a $10,000 job, that leaves you $52.09 short.