Question 1

How do I add VAT to a price?

Accepted Answer

Multiply the price without tax by the rate and add the result: VAT = net × rate ÷ 100, and the price with VAT (gross) = net + VAT, which is the same as net × (1 + rate ÷ 100). At a 20% rate, 100.00 without tax carries 20.00 of VAT and costs 120.00 with tax. With several lines at different rates, work out each line and add them up: lines of 100.00 at 20%, 50.00 at 5% and 30.00 at 0% add up to 180.00 without tax, 22.50 of VAT and 202.50 with tax. The calculator does this for every line you add and also shows the VAT for each rate, which is what a VAT return usually asks for. The 20% and 5% here are only examples; type your own rate or pick one from the dated list below.

Question 2

How do I remove VAT from a price that already includes it?

Accepted Answer

Divide the price with tax by (1 + rate ÷ 100): net = gross ÷ (1 + rate ÷ 100), and the VAT is the difference, gross × rate ÷ (100 + rate). At 20%, 120.00 with tax is 100.00 without tax and 20.00 of it is VAT, which is one sixth of the price. The common mistake is to take the rate off the total: 20% off 120.00 gives 96.00, not 100.00, because the VAT is 20% of the net price, not of the price with VAT. At a 10% rate the VAT in a price is one eleventh of it: 110.00 contains 10.00 of tax. The Australian Taxation Office uses that 1/11 fraction when it describes GST on tax invoices.

Question 3

How do I find the VAT rate from the net and gross price?

Accepted Answer

Divide the price with tax by the price without tax, subtract 1 and multiply by 100: rate = (gross ÷ net − 1) × 100. Net 100.00 and gross 120.00 give 20%. Real prices are rounded to the cent, so the answer is only approximate: a price of 8.33 without tax and 10.00 with tax gives 20.05%, but if each price may be off by half a cent the true rate could be anywhere from 19.92% to 20.18%, and the calculator shows that range. The smaller the amounts, the wider the range, so use the largest amounts you have. When the range includes one of the standard rates in the dated list below, the calculator names the countries; the rate may also be a reduced rate, which the list does not contain.

Question 4

How should VAT be rounded on an invoice with several lines?

Accepted Answer

You can round the VAT of each line and add the rounded amounts, or add the exact VAT of all lines and round once. They sometimes differ by a cent. Three lines of 0.33 at 20% show it: rounding each line gives 0.07 × 3 = 0.21 of VAT and 1.20 in all, while rounding the total (0.99 × 20% = 0.198) gives 0.20 and 1.19. The rule is set by the tax authority, not by arithmetic. The Australian Taxation Office describes two methods for an invoice with more than one taxable sale — the total invoice rule and the taxable sale rule — and says you and your customer need not use the same one; in the UK, HMRC's manual says VAT below half a penny rounds down and half a penny or more rounds up, and that it will consider another method that gives a fair and reasonable result. Choose the option in the calculator that matches the rule you must follow.

Question 5

Which VAT and GST rates does the calculator know?

Accepted Answer

Only standard rates that were read on an official page, with the date. Checked on October 27, 2026: the United Kingdom 20% (GOV.UK, VAT rates; page changed September 30, 2026); Australia GST 10% (Australian Taxation Office, How GST works; updated September 14, 2026); New Zealand GST 15% (Inland Revenue; updated April 1, 2026); Canada GST 5% and the HST rates of Ontario 13%, Nova Scotia 14%, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island 15% (Canada Revenue Agency table dated April 1, 2025); and the standard rate of each of the 27 EU member states from the table on the European Commission's Your Europe portal, last checked by the Commission on July 13, 2026 (Hungary 27% is the highest and Luxembourg 17% the lowest). Rates change; the EU's Taxes in Europe Database (TEDB) is the place to confirm a rate and to find reduced rates and regional exceptions. For anything not on the list, choose “Your own rate”.

Question 6

Is there VAT in the United States?

Accepted Answer

No. A Congressional Research Service note from June 2025 says most countries have VATs and the United States is an exception: individual states generally impose a consumption tax in the form of a retail sales tax, which is collected on the final sale to consumers, whereas a VAT is collected at each stage of production. So an American price has no VAT in it, and the tax added at the register depends on the state and locality; use the sales tax calculator for that. This page is for prices in countries that do use VAT or GST, or for an American business selling there.

Question 7

What does this calculator not cover?

Accepted Answer

It treats every line as taxable at one rate that you choose, so it does not decide which goods get a reduced, zero or exempt rate; exempt and zero-rated are different things (the EU's Your Europe portal notes that with a zero rate the seller still has the right to deduct the VAT paid on related purchases), and the rules differ by country. It also does not model registration thresholds (the Australian Taxation Office, for example, requires registration at a GST turnover of AUD 75,000 or more), reverse charge for cross-border business sales, the recovery of VAT you paid on purchases, partial exemption, special schemes, or the separate provincial sales taxes in Canada (PST in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, QST in Quebec). Enter a combined rate yourself if you want to see one. Your tax authority's rules and your accountant decide what to charge and report.

VAT calculator