The Los Angeles sales tax rate is 9.75 percent inside the City of Los Angeles as of April 1, 2025, up from 9.5 percent. The increase came from Measure A, a countywide ballot measure voters approved in November 2024 that replaced the earlier Measure H with a larger half-cent tax for homelessness services and affordable housing. The 9.75 percent figure combines California’s 7.25 percent statewide base with 2.50 percent in local district taxes, and it applies to most retail purchases of physical goods within city limits.
What the 9.75 Percent Applies To
California sales tax applies to retail sales of tangible personal property, which the Revenue and Taxation Code defines as anything that can be seen, weighed, measured, felt, or touched.1California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California Revenue and Taxation Code 6016 – Tangible Personal Property Clothing, electronics, furniture, vehicles, appliances, and building materials all fall inside that definition. Retailers collect the tax at the register and remit it to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA).2California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Sales and Use Tax in California
Services generally are not taxed. Legal advice, accounting, consulting, and other professional work that doesn’t involve transferring a physical good falls outside the sales tax base. The tax targets goods, not labor or expertise.
Online Purchases
Since October 2019, California has treated large online platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Etsy as the retailer for sales made through their marketplaces. When a third-party seller lists an item on one of those platforms, the marketplace is legally responsible for collecting and remitting California sales tax on the transaction.3California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Sales and Use Tax Law – Chapter 1.7 For most online purchases shipped to an LA address, the correct combined rate is already built into checkout.
Out-of-state sellers who do not sell through a marketplace must collect California sales tax once their gross sales of tangible personal property into the state exceed $500,000 in the current or preceding calendar year.
Digital Products
California generally does not charge sales tax on digital downloads delivered over the internet. Software, ebooks, music, mobile apps, and streaming subscriptions transmitted electronically are not treated as tangible personal property. If you buy software on a physical disc or flash drive, though, the entire sale is taxable regardless of the digital content. A separate local utility user tax may apply to some streaming services in certain cities, but that is a different tax from sales tax.
What Is Exempt
Several everyday categories are partially or fully exempt from the 9.75 percent rate.
- Groceries: Food products for human consumption bought at a store are exempt. The exemption does not cover hot prepared food, food sold for on-premises consumption, or food from heated vending machines. A cold sandwich from a deli counter is exempt; the same sandwich heated is taxable.4California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Revenue and Taxation Code 6359 – Food Products
- Prescription medicine and medical devices: Prescription drugs are exempt under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 6369, which also covers prosthetic devices, orthotic braces, artificial limbs and eyes, and programmable drug infusion devices designed to be worn on or implanted in the body. Over-the-counter vitamins and supplements are generally taxable unless prescribed for treatment of a specific disease.5Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 18 Section 1591 – Medicines and Medical Devices
- Occasional sales: If you sell personal items at a garage sale or in a one-time private transaction, you generally do not owe sales tax, provided you are not regularly engaged in selling.
Rates in Other LA County Cities
The 9.75 percent rate applies inside the City of Los Angeles. Neighboring cities set their own additional district taxes, so the rate can jump by crossing a single boundary.6California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 7200 Santa Monica and Culver City are both at 10.75 percent.7City of Santa Monica. Sales and Use Tax Long Beach, Burbank, Downey, and El Monte are at 10.50 percent.8California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California City and County Sales and Use Tax Rates A handful of cities, including Beverly Hills, Diamond Bar, and Cerritos, stay at 9.75 percent with no additional city-level district tax beyond the countywide measures.
Unincorporated areas that have not adopted their own city-level measures may carry a lower rate, though every part of the county pays the same countywide add-ons for transportation and homelessness. For a purchase, what matters is where the sale occurs or where the goods are delivered. The CDTFA publishes a current list of rates by city and county.8California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California City and County Sales and Use Tax Rates
Use Tax on Out-of-State Purchases
If you buy something from an out-of-state retailer and no sales tax is collected, you owe California use tax at the same combined rate that would have applied at home. Use tax exists specifically to prevent people from dodging local taxes by ordering from sellers in lower-rate states.9California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Applying Tax to Your Sales and Purchases You report use tax to the CDTFA, typically on your state income tax return or through the CDTFA’s online portal.
What the Measure A Change Means for Businesses
The quarter-cent bump from Measure A looks small, but it lands on every taxable transaction in the county. A retailer processing $2 million in annual taxable sales now collects an additional $5,000 compared to the pre-April 2025 rate. The business does not keep that money, but it does bear the compliance work of updating point-of-sale systems, training staff, and filing accurate returns at the new rate.
Chains and multi-location retailers also have to track different combined rates for each site. A store in the City of Los Angeles charges 9.75 percent; its sister location in Culver City charges 10.75 percent. The register has to know the difference.
Penalties for Charging the Wrong Rate
If sales or use tax is not paid on time, a flat 10 percent penalty applies to the unpaid amount.10California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Regulation 1703 Interest accrues on top of that penalty at the federal underpayment rate plus three percentage points, calculated monthly until the balance is paid.
Late filing brings its own charges. For businesses required to make quarterly prepayments, missing a prepayment triggers a 6 percent penalty on the amount due, which rises to 10 percent if the CDTFA determines the failure was due to negligence or intentional disregard of the law.10California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Regulation 1703 Audits for undercollection can reach back several years, and the most common trigger is a mismatch between reported sales and the tax actually collected. If you own a business in LA County and haven’t verified your point-of-sale tax settings since March 2025, that’s the one thing worth checking today.