The Boston sales tax on most retail purchases is 6.25%, which is the Massachusetts statewide rate. Boston does not add a local surcharge on ordinary goods, so a television, a sofa, or a pair of headphones is taxed at the same rate in the city as anywhere else in the state. Meals, hotel stays, and cannabis are the notable exceptions, and each carries its own stacked rate that pushes the total well above 6.25%.
What the 6.25% Covers
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 64H imposes a 6.25% excise on retail sales of tangible personal property.1General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 64H Section 2 The rate is uniform across the state. Boston, Worcester, and a small Cape Cod town all charge the same 6.25% on general merchandise, because Massachusetts does not authorize cities to add their own retail sales tax on ordinary goods.
The tax applies to most physical products sold in a store: electronics, furniture, appliances, sporting goods, jewelry, and similar items. Services are generally not taxed unless the state specifically lists them, telecommunications being one example.
What’s Exempt
Several everyday categories are fully exempt under Chapter 64H, Section 6.2General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 64H Section 6 – Exemptions
- Groceries. Food for human consumption is tax-free as long as it isn’t a prepared meal sold by a restaurant. Raw ingredients and staples qualify; a ready-to-eat sandwich from a restaurant counter does not.
- Prescription medications, including insulin and syringes.
- Print newspapers.
Alcohol sold at a liquor store or grocery store for off-premises consumption is also exempt from the 6.25% tax. Massachusetts briefly taxed retail alcohol starting in 2009, but voters repealed that tax by referendum, with the repeal effective January 1, 2011.3General Court of Massachusetts. Acts of 2010 Chapter 426 Alcohol served at a bar or restaurant is a different matter, since it falls under the meals tax.
The Clothing Rule
Clothing has its own threshold. Any individual clothing item priced at $175 or less is completely exempt from sales tax.4Mass.gov. Sales and Use Tax When an item costs more than $175, you pay 6.25% only on the amount above the threshold. A $200 jacket is taxed on $25, coming to $1.56. A $150 pair of shoes owes nothing.
Each item is evaluated on its own. Three shirts at $100 each owe zero tax even though the bill totals $300, because no single item passes $175. Athletic gear and protective equipment designed strictly for sports or safety use are not covered by the exemption.5Massachusetts Government Budget. 3.103 Exemption for Clothing
Meals: 7% in Boston
Restaurant meals are where Boston diverges from the base state rate. The city has adopted the local option meals tax authorized under Chapter 64L, which adds 0.75% on top of the 6.25% state tax. The combined rate on a restaurant meal in Boston is 7%.6Mass.gov. TIR 09-13 – Local Option Sales Tax on Meals and Local Option Room Occupancy Excise Rate Increase
The meals tax applies to any food or drink sold for immediate consumption, whether you eat in, take it to go, or order delivery. A grocery store selling raw ingredients doesn’t charge it; a deli counter selling a prepared sandwich does. Receipts may show the 7% as one line or split it into state and local components.
Hotels and Short-Term Rentals
A Boston hotel stay carries one of the higher combined lodging rates you’ll see in a major U.S. city. Three separate charges stack:
- State room occupancy excise of 5.7%, made up of a 5% statutory base and an additional 0.7% uncodified surtax.7Mass.gov. Room Occupancy Excise Tax
- Boston local room occupancy excise of 6.5%. Most Massachusetts municipalities are capped at 6%, but Boston is authorized to go up to 6.5%.7Mass.gov. Room Occupancy Excise Tax
- A 2.75% Convention Center Financing surcharge that funds the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and applies to hotels, motels, and other lodging in the city.8Mass.gov. TIR 05-1 – Convention Center Financing Surcharges
Added together, that’s 14.95% on the nightly room rate. A $300-per-night room carries roughly $45 in taxes per night. The same rates apply to short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo listings inside the city.
Cannabis
Adult-use cannabis from a licensed retailer is taxed at multiple levels. The state imposes a 10.75% excise on retail marijuana under Chapter 64N, the standard 6.25% sales tax applies on top of that, and Boston also charges a local option tax on cannabis sales. The effective rate on recreational cannabis in the city is significantly higher than on ordinary retail goods. Medical marijuana is exempt from both the excise and the sales tax.
Cars
When you buy a car in Boston, from a dealer or a private seller, the 6.25% sales tax applies to the purchase price or the vehicle’s current market value, whichever is higher. You pay the tax when you register the vehicle with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, not at the point of sale, and registration will not be processed until the tax is paid. If you already paid sales tax to another state on the same vehicle, Massachusetts credits what you paid, but you owe the difference if the other state’s rate was lower.
The Annual Sales Tax Holiday
Massachusetts suspends the 6.25% sales tax for one weekend each year, typically in August, on most retail items priced at $2,500 or less per item. In 2025, the holiday fell on August 9 and 10.9Mass.gov. Massachusetts Sales Tax Holiday Frequently Asked Questions The 2026 dates had not been announced as of this writing; the legislature usually confirms the weekend by midsummer.
Not everything qualifies. Motor vehicles, motorboats, tobacco, cannabis, alcoholic beverages, gas, electricity, telecommunications services, meals, and any single item priced above $2,500 remain taxable during the holiday.9Mass.gov. Massachusetts Sales Tax Holiday Frequently Asked Questions On a $2,000 laptop or appliance, the savings work out to $125.
Out-of-State and Online Purchases
If you buy something online or out of state and the seller doesn’t charge Massachusetts sales tax, you owe a “use tax” at the same 6.25% rate. Most large online retailers already collect it at checkout, because platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy are classified as marketplace facilitators. Once a facilitator’s Massachusetts sales pass $100,000 in a calendar year, it must collect and remit the 6.25% tax on behalf of its third-party sellers.10Mass.gov. 830 CMR 64H.1.9 – Remote Retailers and Marketplace Facilitators Smaller vendors and purchases made while traveling can slip through.
Reporting is straightforward. You can report use tax on your Massachusetts income tax return (Form 1) using a safe harbor estimate tied to your adjusted gross income, though the safe harbor doesn’t cover individual items priced at $1,000 or more.4Mass.gov. Sales and Use Tax You can also file a standalone Individual Use Tax Return (Form ST-11) by April 15 of the following year.11Mass.gov. TIR 03-3 – Alternative Individual Use Tax Return If you paid sales tax to another state at a lower rate, you owe only the difference.