VAT calculator

The tool has three fields and two modes.

1. Amount: your starting figure, with or without VAT. 2. VAT rate (%): type any rate from 0 to 50. Common ones: 20 % (United Kingdom and France), 19 % (Germany), 21 % (Spain, Netherlands, Belgium), 27 % (Hungary, the EU's highest). 3. Does the amount already include VAT?: leave it unchecked to add VAT on top of a net price; check it to pull the tax out of a gross, VAT-inclusive figure.

The formulas are the standard ones used across every VAT system:

• Adding VAT: tax = net × (rate / 100), gross = net + tax.
• Removing VAT: net = gross / (1 + rate / 100), tax = gross − net.

Worked example: you invoice a London client $2,500 net at the UK standard rate of 20 %. Tax = 2,500 × 0.20 = $500, so the gross invoice is $3,000. Going the other way, a £3,000 VAT-inclusive total at 20 % breaks down as net = 3,000 / 1.20 = £2,500 and tax = £500. Note the asymmetry: removing VAT means dividing by 1.20, never subtracting 20 %.

Five situations a US business or traveler actually runs into:

The Berlin hotel receipt shows why direction matters: €238 ÷ 1.19 = €200 net, so the recoverable VAT is €38 — not 19 % of €238 (which would be €45.22). On the Paris purchase, the €90 of embedded VAT is what a tourist refund scheme would target (minus the operator's fee). And the e-book line uses France's reduced 5.5 % rate for books, a reminder that the right rate depends on both the country and the product category.

The United States is the only OECD country without a value-added tax. Instead, 45 states plus the District of Columbia levy retail sales taxes, while five states — Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon — charge no statewide sales tax at all (some Alaska localities add their own). Combined state and local rates range from under 2 % to roughly 10 %; New York City shoppers pay 8.875 %, and Louisiana and Tennessee average above 9.5 %. Two practical differences matter:

1. Sales tax is added at the register, never embedded in the shelf price, and it applies only to the final retail sale. There is nothing to 'extract' from a US price tag. 2. VAT is collected at every stage of the supply chain and is already inside the displayed price in virtually every other developed market.

Where Americans meet VAT in practice:

• Selling digital products or SaaS to European consumers: the EU requires non-EU sellers to register (the One-Stop Shop scheme) from the first sale — there is no minimum threshold — and to charge the customer's local rate: 19 % in Germany, 20 % in France, 21 % in Spain, up to 27 % in Hungary.
• Selling to the UK: the standard rate is 20 %; UK-established businesses register above the £90,000 turnover threshold, but overseas sellers of digital services have no threshold at all.
• Traveling: VAT refund schemes let non-EU visitors reclaim part of the embedded tax on goods they take home — though refund operators' commissions mean you rarely get the full amount back.
• Importing: goods entering the EU or UK are charged import VAT on top of any customs duty.

This calculator accepts any rate from 0 to 50 %, so it also covers GST systems (Canada 5 % federal, Australia 10 %, New Zealand 15 %) and any sales-tax scenario you need to price.

1. Subtracting the percentage instead of dividing. The classic: $1,200 − 20 % = $960, but the true net is $1,000. Removing VAT means dividing by 1.20; subtracting 20 % overshoots because the tax was charged on the smaller net figure, not on the gross. 2. Treating US sales tax like VAT. A US shelf price never contains sales tax — it is added at the register — so there is nothing to extract from a $49.99 price tag. Use this tool's 'remove' mode only for genuinely tax-inclusive prices, which is the norm in Europe and most of the world. 3. Charging your domestic rate on cross-border digital sales. If you sell SaaS or downloads to EU consumers, the applicable rate is the customer's country rate (19 % Germany, 20 % France, 21 % Spain), not one flat rate — and OSS registration starts from the first euro for non-EU sellers. 4. Assuming one rate per country. Most VAT systems have two to four rates. UK books are zero-rated while UK software is 20 %; French restaurant food is 10 % while the wine on the same table is 20 %. Always match the rate to the product category. 5. Rounding line by line. On multi-line invoices, rounding each line's VAT separately can drift a few cents from computing VAT on the invoice total. Pick one convention and apply it consistently.

This calculator is educational. Its results are not tax advice — for registrations, filings or cross-border edge cases, consult the relevant tax authority or a qualified tax professional.

That gap trips up plenty of Americans: e-commerce sellers shipping to Europe, SaaS founders invoicing UK clients at the 20 % standard rate, travelers trying to claim a refund on a Paris shopping spree. This VAT calculator handles both directions of the math. Enter an amount, set the rate (20 % for the UK, 19 % for Germany, 21 % for Spain, or any rate from 0 to 50 %), and tell it whether the figure already includes VAT. If it does not, the tool adds VAT on top: a $1,000 net invoice at 20 % becomes $1,200. If it does, the tool backs the tax out: a €238 receipt from Berlin at 19 % breaks down into a €200 net price and €38 of VAT. You get the net amount, the tax and the gross figure side by side — no spreadsheet formulas, no guessing whether to multiply or divide.