Free VAT calculator to add or remove VAT in one step: get the net amount, the VAT charged, the gross price and the effective rate for any rate you enter.
The VAT calculator turns any price into a full breakdown of net amount, VAT charged and gross total. Type an amount, enter the rate that applies to your sale, and choose whether the amount you typed already includes VAT.
Value Added Tax is a consumption tax charged on the sale of most goods and services. Businesses charge it on top of their selling price, collect it from the customer and pass it to the tax authority, which is why the price a customer pays and the revenue the business keeps are two different numbers.
Those two numbers have names. The net amount, also called the taxable base, is the price excluding VAT. The gross amount is what the customer actually pays. The difference between them is the VAT itself, and the percentage that connects them is your rate.
Two directions cover almost every real task. If you know your net price and need the invoice total, choose Net amount and the calculator adds the VAT. If you have a receipt or a gross figure and need the pre-tax base - to book revenue, check a margin or prepare a return - choose Gross amount and it strips the VAT back out.
Removing VAT is the step people get wrong most often. You cannot simply subtract the rate from the gross price: 21% of 121 is not 21. VAT is a share of the net amount, so the gross figure must be divided by 1 + rate / 100 first. At 21%, dividing 121 gives a net of 100 and VAT of 21.
The result panel shows every number at once, so you can check the taxable base, the tax charged and the total. Rates such as 21%, 20%, 19% and 10% are common, but the field accepts any rate from 0% to 100%.
Divide the gross amount by 1 + rate / 100, then subtract the result from the gross amount to get the VAT. At 20%, a gross of 120 gives a net of 120 / 1.2 = 100 and VAT of 20. Do not subtract 20% of 120 (which is 24) from 120 - that leaves 96 and is wrong, because the rate applies to the net amount, not the gross. In the calculator, select Gross amount and enter the rate.
Net is the amount excluding VAT, also called the taxable base. Gross is the final price including VAT, which is what the customer pays and what appears on a receipt. Gross = net x (1 + rate / 100). A registered business collects the VAT portion on behalf of the tax authority, so only the net amount is its own revenue.
Both are taxes on consumption and both raise the price of a sale, but VAT is collected in stages across the supply chain while a sales tax is usually charged once, at the final sale to the consumer. A VAT-registered business reclaims the VAT paid on its own purchases, a mechanism a single-stage sales tax does not have. The arithmetic on one final price is identical, so this calculator also works for sales tax estimates.
It depends on the country and on the goods or services you sell. Most countries have a standard rate that applies by default, one or two reduced rates for food, books, medicine or specific services, and a zero rate for exports and a narrow list of essentials. Apply a reduced rate only when the item qualifies, and never enter a rate you have not confirmed. This calculator performs the arithmetic for whatever rate you type; it does not decide which rate is legally correct for you.