Sales Tax Deduction

I will be using receipts to calculate my state sales tax deduction (I don't pay state income tax and I made several large purchases beyond just cars). I have most of my receipts, but not all. I was wondering, if I have credit card statements or general receipts of purchase and I know the general/local sales tax rate for the items (and I know they were taxable items), can I back-calculate the sales tax and include these purchases as well or do I HAVE to have receipts that actually itemize the amount of sales tax paid? I know there is a calculator I can use to estimate the deduction, but I know I'm already over that amount just by using the itemized receipts I do have. I am just hoping to include more purchases by using my credit card statements to calculate the deduction as well.

On the same topic, can I include state sales taxes I pay to other states? For example, when making an online purchases of gifts that are sent to people out of state, the tax is paid to and calculated based on the mailing address, not the purchaser's address. Can I include those taxes in my deduction as well or does it have to be paid to my state of residence to be included in the deduction?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this topic.

If you are audited, and you don't have the actual receipts that prove your deductions, the IRS may disallow the sales tax deductions for the expenses where you don't have receipts.

Of course, this does not stop some people from taking the deduction anyway, if it is legitimate. If it ever came down to it, you could probably get copies of missing receipts from the merchant, or by ordering copies of them from your credit card company.

For your sales tax deduction, you can include sales tax that you paid to other states too, not just the sales tax paid to your home state.

I agree with maxwell. If your calculations are legitimate, then go for it. However, the IRS will require receipts if you are audited.

By the way, do you know how to calculate your taxes? Hint, it's not quite as easy as you might think.

Example...$100 charged to credit card with 7% sales tax does not mean you paid $7 in sales tax and bought $93 in goods ($93 + 7% tax = $99.51 charged).