# How to round to 2 decimal places in Excel

Use ROUND with 2 as the number of digits: `=ROUND(B2*$F$1,2)` rounds the calculated tax to the cent.

**Excel:** `=ROUND(B2*$F$1,2)` (Every current version)

**Google Sheets:** the same formula works.

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B | C | D | E | F |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Item | Price | Tax |  | Tax rate | 0.08875 |
| Desk chair | 249.99 |  |  |  |  |
| Monitor arm | 89.5 |  |  |  |  |
| Keyboard | 74.95 |  |  |  |  |
| Webcam | 59.99 |  |  |  |  |
| Cable kit | 18.4 |  |  |  |  |

Formula in C2, filled to C6: `=ROUND(B2*$F$1,2)`

Result: $22.19; $7.94; $6.65; $5.32; $1.63

## How it works

249.99 × 8.875% is 22.1866125. ROUND's second argument is the number of decimal places to keep, so 2 rounds it to the cent: 22.19. Rounding inside the formula makes the stored value match what is shown, so a total of the tax column adds up exactly.

## Other ways

- `=ROUNDUP(B2*$F$1,2)`: For rules that always round fractions of a cent up. (Rounds every line up: 22.19, 7.95, 6.66, 5.33, 1.64.)

## Common mistakes

- Formatting a cell to show 2 decimals doesn't change the value. Sums of formatted cells can be off by a cent from the numbers you see.
- Without `$` on F1, filling down multiplies by the empty cells below it and every tax after the first is 0.

## Questions

**How do I round to a whole number?**

Use 0 digits: `=ROUND(B2,0)`.

**How do I round the total instead of each line?**

Round once at the end: `=ROUND(SUM(B2:B6)*F1,2)`. The two methods can differ by a cent; follow your tax rules.

Every formula and result on this page was checked by running it in the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine on 2026-10-30.

Source: https://spreadsheetpractice.com/formulas/round-to-2-decimal-places