Cost of goods sold calculator

Beginning inventory, plus what you bought, minus what is left. Type in your figures for the year, a quarter or a month, and get your cost of goods sold, your gross margin and how fast your stock turns.

The period

What period are these figures for?

Inventory and what came in

All at what they cost you, never what they will sell for.

$

Schedule C line 35.

$

Line 36.

$

Line 39: getting stock to you.

$

Line 38: what went into things you made.

$

Line 41: your count on the last day.

Sales (optional)

$

Leave at 0 to skip gross profit.

How it is worked out

Cost of goods sold is worked out from the stock rather than from the sales, because the stock is what you can count:

Inventory at the start + stock bought + freight in + materials − inventory at the end = cost of goods sold.

Everything you had available during the period either sold, was lost, or is still on the shelf. Count what is still on the shelf, at what it cost you, and the rest is the cost of what left. That is also the order Schedule C Part III asks for it in, line by line, ending on line 42. Gross profit is your sales less that cost, and gross margin is gross profit as a share of sales.

Turnover divides cost of goods sold by the average of your starting and ending inventory, and days to sell divides the period by turnover. They are rough with only two counts to average, but they say quickly whether stock is moving.

The weak point of the formula is the ending count: it has to be at cost, and every miss moves profit between years. That is the part Intakes removes, since it already knows what every item you hold cost — more on COGS for makers. This calculator is arithmetic, not tax advice.

Questions people ask

What is the formula for cost of goods sold?
Beginning inventory, plus purchases and the other costs of getting stock ready to sell (freight in, materials), minus ending inventory. What you had available, less what is still on the shelf, is what left the shelf — and its cost is your cost of goods sold for the period.
Where does COGS go on Schedule C?
Part III. Line 35 is inventory at the beginning of the year, 36 purchases, 37 labor, 38 materials and supplies, 39 other costs such as freight in, 40 their total, 41 inventory at the end of the year, and 42 is cost of goods sold — line 40 minus line 41. It then carries to line 4 on the front of the form.
What counts as inventory?
Goods you hold to sell, and the materials and packaging that go into what you sell, valued at what they cost you — not what they will sell for. Supplies you use to run the business (printer ink, a shelf) are expenses, not inventory.
Why does my ending inventory matter so much?
Because it is the one figure that comes from counting. Every dollar of stock left out of the ending count becomes a dollar of cost of goods sold, which lowers this year’s profit and moves it into next year. That is why the count has to be at cost, and at the last day of the period.
What is inventory turnover?
Cost of goods sold divided by your average inventory over the period: how many times your stock sold through. Turnover of 4 in a year means the average item sat about three months before it sold. Low turnover is money sitting on shelves.

Your COGS, checked two ways.

Intakes knows the cost of every item you hold and every item you sold, so it states your inventory on any day and works out cost of goods sold from your stock and from your sales — and shows you where the two differ.

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