VAT Calculator: Add or Remove Sales Tax
Add VAT to a net price or remove it from a gross price. Cited rates for Germany, France, Spain, the UK, Poland, Russia, Korea, or your own.
VAT and Sales Tax Calculator
Results
$83.33 net plus $16.67 tax makes $100.00 gross.
Documentation
VAT and Sales Tax Calculator
Value added tax (VAT) is a tax added to the price of goods and services. A VAT calculator splits a price into three parts: the net amount before tax, the tax itself, and the gross amount the customer pays. This calculator works in both directions, using either a published national rate or a rate the user types in.
What the calculator does
The tool has two modes.
- Extract tax from a gross amount. The price already includes tax. The calculator finds the net price and the tax hidden inside it. This is sometimes called reverse VAT.
- Add tax to a net amount. The price excludes tax. The calculator finds the tax and the gross price.
The user also picks a rate set (one of seven countries, or a custom rate) and a currency. Choosing a country switches the currency to the one that country charges in, and the currency menu can change it back.
Amounts run from 0 up to 1,000,000,000,000. A custom rate runs from 0% to 100% and may carry at most six decimal places. Both limits are checked in the code, not just in the input box, so a pasted rate of 500 produces no result rather than a wrong one.
VAT formula
Write the rate as a decimal fraction. A 20% rate is 0.20, so 1 + rate is 1.20.
Adding tax: gross = net × (1 + rate), then tax = gross − net
Extracting tax: net = gross ÷ (1 + rate), then tax = gross − net
In both directions the tax is the difference between the two amounts after rounding. Net plus tax therefore always equals the gross shown.
Example: extracting tax from a gross price
A shop price of £120.00 includes UK VAT at the standard rate of 20%.
- net = 120.00 ÷ 1.20 = £100.00
- tax = 120.00 − 100.00 = £20.00
The calculator returns £100.00 net, £20.00 tax, £120.00 gross.
A German example uses the 19% rate. A gross price of 119.00 euros gives 119.00 ÷ 1.19 = 100.00 euros net and 19.00 euros of tax.
Example: adding tax to a net price
A German trade price of 19.99 euros needs VAT at 19% added.
- gross = 19.99 × 1.19 = 23.7881, rounded to 23.79 euros
- tax = 23.79 − 19.99 = 3.80 euros
The tax is read off the rounded gross, not rounded on its own. That keeps 19.99 + 3.80 = 23.79 exact.
Why the tax is not the gross price times the rate
A common mistake is to multiply a tax-inclusive price by the rate. That applies the rate to a figure the tax is already part of, so it overstates the tax.
Take a gross price of 100.00 at 20%. Multiplying gives 20.00, but the real answer is 100.00 ÷ 1.20 = 83.33 net, so the tax is 16.67. The share of a gross price that is tax equals rate ÷ (1 + rate). At 20% that is 0.2 ÷ 1.2, or exactly one sixth.
Rates used, and where they come from
Each rate below was read from the official text of the law on 5 September 2026. The calculator names the provision on the page and links to that text, so the figure can be checked instead of trusted. A tax rate written into a program goes out of date, so every rate here can be replaced with the custom rate.
| Country | Standard | Reduced | Provision that sets it | Standard rate in force since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 19% | 7% | Umsatzsteuergesetz (UStG) § 12 Abs. 1 and Abs. 2 | 1 January 2007 |
| France | 20% | 10% | Code général des impôts, art. 278 and art. 278 bis | 1 January 2014 |
| Spain | 21% | 10% | Ley 37/1992 del IVA, art. 90 and art. 91 | 1 September 2012 |
| United Kingdom | 20% | 5% | Value Added Tax Act 1994, s.2 and s.29A | 4 January 2011 |
| Poland | 23% | 8% | Ustawa o podatku od towarów i usług, art. 146ef ust. 1 | 1 January 2011 |
| Russia | 22% | 10% | Tax Code of the Russian Federation, art. 164(3) and art. 164(2) | 1 January 2026 |
| South Korea | 10% | none | Value-Added Tax Act, art. 30 | 1 July 1977 |
Four entries need a note.
- The UK reduced rate of 5% is set by section 29A of the Value Added Tax Act 1994. Schedule 7A only lists which supplies qualify for it.
- Poland's 23% has applied without a break since 1 January 2011, although the provision carrying it has changed. Art. 41 of the VAT Act still holds the older 22% and 7% figures. A chain of temporary provisions raises them: art. 146a from 2011, then art. 146aa, and now art. 146ef. Art. 146ef names only the current period, not the date the rate began.
- Russia's standard rate rose from 20% to 22% under Federal Law No. 425-FZ of 28 November 2025, with effect from 1 January 2026. The 10% band in art. 164(2) was left alone.
- South Korea has no positive reduced rate. Some supplies are zero-rated or exempt instead, so the calculator offers no rate choice for it.
The calculator carries one standard and one reduced rate per country. Several countries publish further bands for particular goods, and those go in as a custom rate. The United States has no national sales tax, so it is not offered as a preset; a US user enters a combined state and local rate as a custom rate.
How the results are rounded
Amounts are rounded to the smallest unit the currency is really charged in: cents for the euro, pound, dollar, złoty and ruble, and whole units for the South Korean won, which has no sub-unit.
The rounding happens once, at the end, and half a unit rounds up. Getting that right needs care, because computers store decimals as binary fractions. A net price of 7.50 at 19% is 8.9250 exactly, which is charged as 8.93, but an ordinary computer multiplication lands just below it and would round down to 8.92. The calculator keeps the arithmetic in whole numbers until the final step, so it returns 8.93.
Running the two directions one after the other can still differ by one unit. A gross price of 10.05 at 20% extracts to 8.38 net. Adding 20% back to 8.38 gives 10.06. Two separate roundings cannot always meet in the middle, which is why real invoices sometimes show the same one-cent gap.
Frequently asked questions
How do you remove VAT from a price? Divide the gross price by 1 plus the rate. At 20%, divide by 1.20. The tax is the gross price minus that answer.
Why is the VAT inside a £120 price £20 and not £24? Because £120 already contains the tax. The net price is £100 and the tax on £100 at 20% is £20. Multiplying £120 by 20% charges tax on tax.
Which rate applies to a particular sale? The standard rate applies unless the law puts the goods or service in a reduced band. The lists of qualifying supplies are set by national law, and the calculator does not decide which band a product falls into. It applies the rate the user chooses.
Are the built-in rates current? Each was read from the official text on 5 September 2026, and the page shows the date the standard rate took effect along with a link to the law. Rates change by legislation, so the source is worth checking before relying on a figure. Any rate can be replaced using the custom rate option.
Does this work for US sales tax? Yes, through the custom rate. The United States has no national rate; sales tax is set by states and localities. The user enters the combined rate for the address, and the arithmetic is the same.
Why do the results differ by one cent from another calculator? Most differences come from rounding. This calculator rounds once at the end, half a unit up, and takes the tax as the difference between the rounded net and gross figures, so net plus tax always matches the gross shown.