Tax requirements vary from state to state, and from city to city. Some municipalities and local areas charge different tax rates than others, and are required to do so by state governments. An eat in tax is basically just sales tax that a restaurant must charge, and varies from restaurant to restaurant based on geographic location.

Fast Food The eat in tax is mainly found in fast food restaurants and restaurants that allow you to order your food to go or to eat in the restaurant. When you go to a restaurant like this and place your order, the person taking your order will ask if you want the food to go or if you will eat in the restaurant. If you stay at the restaurant, you will notice the "eat in tax" amount listed on your receipt, if the restaurant is located in a place where the government requires the establishment to collect a sales tax.

Dine In vs. To Go If you take your food to go, you do not pay an eat in tax, but you still have to pay sales tax on the food. Instead of an eat in tax, your receipt will list a "take out tax," or something similar. This is the sales tax for the purchase, just as the eat in tax is the sales tax the restaurant is required to charge. The eat in tax and take out tax may be different, as some municipalities require different sales tax rates for the two, but they also might be the same, depending on where the restaurant is located.

Sales Tax Rates Sales tax rates vary from one place to the next. Some states, like New Hampshire and Montana, do not have sales tax at all. Other sales tax rates vary from 4 percent to 9 percent. According to the STC website, parts of Tennessee have one of the highest sales tax rates in the country at 9.4 percent. Other states, like Alabama, have areas where sales tax is only 4 percent. These rates are applied to your food order at certain restaurants and notated on your receipt as the eat in tax.

Considerations The eat in tax has confused many restaurant customers, as is evident by the number of posts, blogs and online complaints or requests for explanations found on a variety of websites. Restaurants call it an "eat in tax" as opposed to just listing "sales tax" because of the varying tax rates for eating in purchases versus take out purchases. Some diners have suggested a way to avoid the eat in tax is to order your food to go, then just eat it in the restaurant. However, you will still pay sales tax on the order.

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