🧾 VAT Calculator
Calculate VAT instantly. Add tax to net prices or remove tax from gross prices. Supports UK 20%, EU 15–27%, and any custom rate. Free online breakdown.
What VAT Calculator Does
Value-added tax and goods-and-services tax are the same mechanism under two names: a percentage added at the point of sale, collected by the seller, and remitted to a tax authority. The arithmetic is one line either way you use it. Adding tax to a net price multiplies it by (1 + rate). Removing tax from a price that already includes it divides by (1 + rate) — you cannot subtract the percentage directly, because the rate is defined against the net amount, not the gross one, and dividing is how you undo a multiplication.
That second case is the one people get wrong by hand. A price of $120 that already includes 20% VAT is not $120 minus 20% ($96) — it is $120 ÷ 1.20 = $100 net, with $20 of tax inside it. The error of subtracting instead of dividing overstates the true tax by exactly the rate applied to the rate, which is small at low percentages and meaningfully wrong at the 20–27% rates most of Europe charges.
This tool does both directions and ships with the standard rate for 19 tax jurisdictions plus a custom-rate field, because there is no single number that is "VAT" worldwide — every country sets its own, and in federal systems like Canada even the country does not have one number.
How to Use VAT Calculator
- Choose whether to add VAT to a net price or remove VAT from a gross price
- Enter the amount
- Select a country rate or enter a custom percentage
- Read the net, VAT and gross amounts with the arithmetic shown
Formula Used by VAT Calculator
Adding VAT to a net price
gross = net × (1 + rate/100)
- net
- The price before tax
- rate
- The VAT/GST percentage that applies
- gross
- The price the buyer actually pays
Worked example
A UK invoice for a net amount of $850.00 at the standard rate of 20%.
- VAT = 850.00 × (20 ÷ 100) = 170.00
- Gross = 850.00 + 170.00 = 1,020.00
Result: VAT due is $170.00; the customer pays $1,020.00.
Removing VAT from a tax-inclusive price
net = gross ÷ (1 + rate/100)
- gross
- The tax-inclusive price actually charged
- rate
- The VAT/GST percentage already folded into that price
- net
- The price before tax was added
Worked example
A Swiss receipt showing a tax-inclusive total of $108.10 at the normal Swiss rate of 8.1%.
- Net = 108.10 ÷ (1 + 8.1 ÷ 100) = 108.10 ÷ 1.081 = 100.00
- VAT = 108.10 − 100.00 = 8.10
Result: The pre-tax price was $100.00, and $8.10 of the $108.10 total was tax.
Standard VAT/GST Rates This Tool Ships With
The rate that applies to most goods and services in each jurisdiction. Reduced rates exist for specific categories in nearly all of these and are not shown here.
| Jurisdiction | Standard rate | Note |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 20% | Reduced rate 5% applies to items like home energy and children's car seats |
| Germany | 19% | |
| France | 20% | |
| Ireland | 23% | |
| Switzerland | 8.1% | Lowest standard rate in Western Europe; reduced rate is 2.6% |
| Finland | 25.5% | Raised from 24% in September 2024 |
| Hungary | 27% | The highest standard VAT rate in the EU |
| Luxembourg | 17% | The lowest standard VAT rate the EU permits a member state to set |
| India (GST) | 5% / 12% / 18% / 28% | Four-slab system; the rate depends on the category of goods or service |
| Australia (GST) | 10% | |
| Canada — federal GST only | 5% | Alberta and the three territories charge nothing beyond this; every other province adds provincial or harmonized tax on top |
Canada: Why "5% GST" Is Not the Real Number in Most Provinces
Combined sales tax by province, current federal data.
| Province | GST/HST | Separate PST |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta | 5% | none |
| Ontario | 13% (HST — combined) | none |
| Nova Scotia | 14% (HST — combined) | none |
| New Brunswick / Newfoundland & Labrador / PEI | 15% (HST — combined) | none |
| British Columbia | 5% | 7% PST, charged separately |
| Quebec | 5% | 9.975% QST, charged separately |
Source: Canada Revenue Agency — Charge and collect the GST/HST
How to Read Your Result
The "Custom" rate exists because most real transactions need it
The dropdown list is a starting point, not a complete tax code. A business selling into Ontario should enter 13, not select "Canada — 5%", because Ontario merged its provincial tax into HST at 13%. A business selling into British Columbia should compute GST and PST as two separate line items, since BC never harmonized — this tool calculates one rate at a time, so a BC transaction needs two passes: one at 5% for GST, one at 7% for PST, applied to the same net price rather than compounded on each other.
A rate label is a snapshot, not a guarantee
Standard VAT rates change with national budgets — Finland raised its standard rate from 24% to 25.5% in September 2024, and Switzerland's 8.1% only took effect on 1 January 2024, up from 7.7%. A rate that was correct when this page was written can be superseded by the next budget. For an invoice with real legal or tax consequences, confirm the current rate with the relevant tax authority rather than trusting any calculator, including this one.
VAT and sales tax are not interchangeable, even though this tool treats the arithmetic the same
A US state sales tax is charged once, at the final retail sale, and is not itself taxed at each stage of production the way VAT is. The formula for adding or removing a flat percentage is identical, which is why this tool works for both, but a US business should not describe state sales tax as "VAT" on an invoice — the terms mean different things to a tax authority even when the arithmetic matches.
Limitations & Accuracy Notes
- This tool applies one flat percentage. It does not know about reduced rates, zero-rated categories, or exemptions that apply to specific goods — the correct rate for a specific product in a specific country is a lookup this tool does not perform.
- It does not handle two-tax systems like British Columbia (GST + PST) or Quebec (GST + QST) in a single pass; those need two separate calculations at two separate rates.
- It does not store, transmit, or validate a tax rate against any live government database. Every rate in the dropdown is a value entered into this page at one point in time and can go stale the next time a government changes its budget.
- It is an arithmetic aid, not a filing tool. It does not calculate what a business owes a tax authority after input VAT credits, thresholds, or exemptions are applied — only the tax on a single transaction.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I add VAT to a price?
How do I remove VAT from a price?
What is the current UK VAT rate?
Is VAT the same as sales tax?
Can I use this for GST?
Why does subtracting 20% give the wrong answer?
References & Further Reading
- UK Government — VAT rates — Confirms the UK standard rate of 20% and reduced rate of 5%
- Swiss Federal Tax Administration — VAT rates — Confirms the current Swiss normal rate of 8.1%, reduced rate 2.6%, special rate 3.8%
- Canada Revenue Agency — Charge and collect the GST/HST — Confirms provincial GST/HST/PST rates, including Ontario 13% HST and BC's separate 5% GST + 7% PST
- Wikipedia — European Union value added tax — Confirms EU standard rates range from 17% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary), with no single EU-wide rate