VAT Calculator
Runs in your browser — your text is not sent anywhere to use this tool.
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Add VAT to a price, or take it back out of one — the sum people get wrong.
- Type the price you have
- Say whether that price already includes VAT
- Set the rate — the common ones are in the list
About this tool
Adding VAT is easy. Taking it back out is where nearly everybody goes wrong, and the error is always in the same direction. At 25%, a price of 125 is 100 plus 25 of VAT. To get back to the 100 you divide by 1.25. Take 25% off 125 instead — which is what feels right — and you get 93.75, wrong by more than six per cent, and wrong in the direction that under-reports what you owe. That single asymmetry is why this is its own tool rather than a mode of the percentage calculator. The mistake is not in the arithmetic anybody does, it is in which arithmetic they think they are doing. So the direction is named, the divisor appears in the working, and both halves of the price come back every time: net, VAT, gross. The rate is yours to set. VAT is 25% in Denmark, 20% in the UK, 19% in Germany, and several countries charge less on food or books — a default that happens to be wrong for you is worse than no default at all. It runs in your browser and nothing about your invoice is sent anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
How do I remove VAT from a price?
Divide by 1 plus the rate, not by subtracting the percentage. At 25% that means dividing by 1.25. Subtracting 25% instead gives an answer about six per cent too low, which is the single most common VAT mistake and the reason the working here shows the divisor.
What VAT rate should I use?
Whatever applies to what you are selling, where you are selling it. 25% in Denmark, 20% in the UK, 19% in Germany, 21% in the Netherlands — and many countries charge a reduced rate on food, books or transport. The tool does not guess, because a wrong default is invisible.
Is this the same as sales tax?
The arithmetic is the same, so yes for this purpose. The difference is in how the two are administered: sales tax is usually added at the till and quoted separately, while VAT is normally already inside the price you see — which is exactly why removing it comes up so often.
Why can't I use a rate of 100% or more?
Because you cannot remove 100% of a gross price and have anything left — the net would be zero or negative. No real VAT rate comes close, so the tool refuses rather than returning a number that cannot mean anything.
Does it handle several items?
Not in one go. VAT is worked out on a total, so add your line items up first and put the total in. If you need the split per line, run it once per line — the arithmetic is the same either way.
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