VAT calculator
| Country | Standard | Reduced | VAT fraction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 21% | 9% | 21/121 |
| Belgium | 21% | 6% / 12% | 21/121 |
| Germany | 19% | 7% | 19/119 |
| France | 20% | 5.5% / 10% | 1/6 |
| United Kingdom | 20% | 5% | 1/6 |
| Ireland | 23% | 9% / 13.5% | 23/123 |
| Spain | 21% | 10% | 21/121 |
| Italy | 22% | 5% / 10% | 22/122 |
Rates change and reduced rates depend on what is being sold. Check the current rate with the tax authority for the country in question.
To add VAT, multiply the net by one plus the rate: 100 at 20% becomes 120. To remove it, divide the gross by the same figure, so 240 ÷ 1.2 gives 200 net and 40 VAT. Subtracting 20% from the gross gives 192 and is wrong by eight. The rate is a field: 21% for the Netherlands, 23% for Ireland, 19% for Germany.
How to calculate VAT
The reason subtraction fails in the gross-to-net direction is that the percentage was applied to the smaller number. Twenty per cent of 200 is 40, but 20% of 240 is 48, so subtracting removes tax on the tax. The VAT fraction sidesteps the arithmetic entirely: multiply the gross by the fraction and you have the tax directly, and at the UK 20% rate it simplifies to a memorable 1/6, which is why British bookkeepers divide receipts by six in their heads. At 21% it is 21/121 and at 19% 19/119, neither of which anybody does in their head. Which rate to apply depends on what is being sold and where the customer is, not on where you are: digital services to consumers in another EU country carry that country rate, which is what the One Stop Shop scheme exists to administer, while cross-border business-to-business sales are usually reverse-charged so no VAT is added at all. On the pricing side, consumer law across the EU and UK requires the inclusive figure to be the prominent one, and rounding to a nice inclusive price quietly moves the net: at 20%, choosing 59.95 rather than 59.90 lifts the net from 49.92 to 49.96, trivial per unit but enough to put a price list and an accounting figure out of step. The discipline that matters most is using ex-VAT figures on both sides of any margin calculation — comparing a VAT-inclusive selling price against an ex-VAT cost inflates the apparent margin by the whole rate.
What people use it for
- Producing an invoice with the right VAT line
- Checking a supplier invoice adds up
- Working out the VAT contained in an expense receipt
- Extracting VAT from a till receipt
- Setting retail prices for a consumer shop
- Preparing a price list for a webshop
- Converting a shelf price to an ex-VAT cost
- Working out true revenue from till takings
- Preparing a VAT return
- Comparing a consumer price with a trade quote
- Recording an expense claim with the VAT split out
- Turning a trade price list into retail tickets
- Checking a gross quote against a budget that was set net
- Putting a competitor price on a like-for-like basis
Questions
Multiply the net by one plus the rate. At 20%, multiply by 1.2, so 100 becomes 120; at 21%, multiply by 1.21.
Divide by one plus the rate. At 20%, divide by 1.2. Do not subtract 20%, which gives a different and wrong answer. Working backwards out of a gross figure like this is the direction most people get wrong.
The share of a gross price that is VAT. At 20% it is 1/6, at 21% it is 21/121, at 19% it is 19/119.
40, leaving a net of 200. At the Dutch 21% rate, 242 gross contains 42 of VAT on the same 200 net.
Because the tax was calculated on the net, not the gross. Subtracting removes tax on the tax as well.
It depends entirely on the country: 20% in the UK and France, 23% in Ireland, 21% in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, 19% in Germany. Reduced rates for food, books, medicines and some services vary just as widely. Dutch invoices call it btw and the arithmetic is identical whichever name is on them.
For B2B within the EU, usually reverse charge and no VAT. For B2C digital services, the customer country rate via the One Stop Shop.
After. VAT applies to the amount actually charged, so discount first and add VAT to the discounted figure.
No. Reverse charge is a cross-border mechanism where the customer accounts for the tax. This is arithmetic.
To consumers in the EU and UK, yes; the inclusive price must be the prominent one. Business-to-business price lists may show net. If you sell to both, show both figures, with the gross prominent for consumers and the net clearly labelled as excluding VAT.
Pick the inclusive figure first, then divide by one plus the rate to see the net it leaves.
Usually yes, at the rate of the goods being shipped. Mixed baskets apportion it.
Either the price changes or your margin does. A rate rise absorbed rather than passed on comes straight out of the net.
The ex-VAT one. VAT collected is a liability owed to the tax authority, not income.
Almost always because the selling price includes VAT and the cost does not. Strip VAT from both before comparing.
In this context yes; both mean the amount before VAT is added.
Turnover for the threshold is the VAT-exclusive value of taxable supplies. Check the local rule, as definitions differ.