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Free VAT Calculator Online

Add VAT, or take it back out.

Type a price and say whether it already includes VAT. The receipt shows the net amount, the tax and the gross total, with the exact sum behind each figure.

Add VATmy price is before taxRemove VATmy price already includes it

price without VAT (net)

country

UKIEDEFRESNL

rate

20%standard5%reduced0%zerocustom %

receiptUK · 20% VAT

Net£120.00you entered it

VAT 20%£24.00£120.00 × 20%

Total£144.00£120.00 + £24.00

VAT is 16.7% of the total, or 1/6 of what you paycontent_copyCopy breakdown

~/not-minus-20-percent

Taking 20% off a VAT-inclusive price gives the wrong answer.

VAT is 20% of the net price, not of the total. So to remove it you divide by 1.2, which takes off one-sixth. Knocking off 20% instead removes too much, and the error grows with the amount. Drag to see how far off it gets.

gross price£1,200.00

Correct: ÷ 1.2£1,000.00

net £1,000.00 + VAT £200.00

£1,000.00 × 1.2 = £1,200.00 ✓

Wrong: − 20%£960.00

net £960.00

£960.00 × 1.2 = £1,152.00 ✗

errorThe shortcut understates the net price by £40.00 and overstates the VAT by the same amount. That’s 3.3% of the total, every time.

~/mixed-rates

One basket, three rates. Here's how the invoice adds up.

In the UK, a shop receipt can mix standard-rated goods with reduced and zero-rated ones. An invoice must show the VAT at each rate separately. Edit the net prices or change a line's rate.

itemnetratevat

bakery_diningLoaf of bread

20%5%0%

£0.00

icecreamTub of ice cream

20%5%0%

£0.75

child_careCar seat

20%5%0%

£4.75

menu_bookPaperback

20%5%0%

£0.00

cleaning_servicesWashing-up liquid

20%5%0%

£0.32

vat summary

20% rate£1.07on £5.352 items

5% rate£4.75on £95.001 item

0% rate£0.00on £10.792 items

net£111.14vat£5.82total£116.96

~/which-rate

Same product, different rate. It depends on what it is.

UK VAT has some famously fine lines. These are real examples of how HMRC classifies everyday things. Rules change, so check GOV.UK for anything you sell.

Standard20%The default for most goods and services unless a specific relief applies.

icecreamIce cream, crisps and chocolate biscuitslocal_drinkBottled water and fizzy drinksrestaurantHot takeaway food and eating incheckroomAdult clothing and shoes

Reduced5%A small list of goods and services, often for health, safety or energy.

child_careChildren’s car seatsboltHome electricity and gasaccessibleMobility aids for people over 60smoke_freeNicotine patches and gum

Zero0%VAT applies, but at 0%. Businesses still record it and can reclaim VAT on costs.

bakery_diningMost food: bread, fruit, plain biscuitsmenu_bookBooks, newspapers and ebookschild_friendlyChildren’s clothes and shoescookieChocolate-covered cake: 0% (Jaffa Cakes are cakes)

~/the-penny-hmrc-allows

Four legal ways to round the VAT on one invoice.

HMRC Notice 700 lets a business work out VAT per line or on the invoice total, and lets lines be rounded to the nearest penny or truncated to a tenth of a penny. Retailers often work back from gross prices with the VAT fraction instead. On the same basket these give different totals. Every figure below is computed in exact tenths of a penny.

Office orderMany small linesRetail gross pricesYour own

lineqtyunit netrateLine, nearest 1pround each lineLine, truncated 0.1pthen total to 1pPer rate totalone sum per rateVAT fractionfrom gross line prices

Printer paper A420%£5.82exact 5.8198£5.820net £29.10-in 20% pool£5.82gross £34.92 × 1/6

Toner cartridge20%£23.00exact 22.9998£23.000net £115.00-in 20% pool£23.00gross £138.00 × 1/6

Desk lamp20%£5.00exact 4.9990£5.000net £25.00-in 20% pool£5.00gross £30.00 × 1/6

Children’s car seat5%£3.96exact 3.9583£3.958net £79.17-in 5% pool£3.96gross £83.13 × 1/21

Paperback manual0%£0.00exact 0.0000£0.000net £24.98-in 0% pool£0.00gross £24.98 × -

VAT on invoice£273.25£37.78matches exact£37.78matches exact£37.78matches exact£37.78matches exact

Spread on this invoiceAll four methods agree on £37.78. Try the many-small-lines preset, where per-line rounding adds up.

What HMRC allowsLine or unit VAT may be rounded to the nearest 1p or 0.5p, or truncated to 0.1p, as long as the method is used consistently. Rounding down every line to gain a penny each time is not allowed. Invoice-level VAT may be rounded to the nearest whole penny.

Retailers and the VAT fractionShops usually price gross and calculate VAT afterwards: × 1/6 at 20%, × 1/21 at 5%. Germany and most EU states require VAT to be calculated per rate on the invoice total, the third column.

~/check-digits

A VAT number checks itself before anyone looks it up.

Most VAT numbers end in check digits computed from the rest, so a typo is caught offline. Each country uses its own algorithm. Paste a number to see the calculation step by step. A valid checksum only means the number is well formed; whether it’s registered needs HMRC’s or the EU’s VIES online lookup.

UK (old series)UK (since 2010)UK with typoGermanyFranceNetherlandsIrelandItaly

check_circleChecksum validMatches the series issued since November 2009 (+55 rule).

3817461554932228

HMRC mod 97 (weights 8 to 2)GB + 9 digits

weighted sum3×8 + 1×7 + 4×6 + 1×5 + 5×4 + 9×3 + 2×2 = 111

check digits28

old series: (sum + check) mod 97139 mod 97 = 42

new series: (sum + check + 55) mod 97194 mod 97 = 0 ✓

correct check digitsold 83 · new 28

~/when-you-must-register

The UK threshold is a rolling 12 months, not a tax year.

You must register when VAT-taxable turnover over the last 12 months goes above £90,000 (from 1 April 2024), at the end of any month. Enter monthly takings to see when that happens and the deadlines that follow. Then compare the Flat Rate Scheme, which charges a fixed percentage of gross turnover instead of output minus input VAT.

Monthly taxable turnover

Steady growthSeasonalUnder

£90,000 rolling

Apr25May25Jun25Jul25Aug25Sep25Oct25Nov25Dec25Jan26Feb26Mar26Apr26May26Jun26Jul26Aug26Sep26

Bars: monthly turnover (£, edit below each). Dots: rolling 12-month total on the same scale as the dashed threshold.

registration requiredYour rolling 12-month turnover reached £90,400.00 at the end of Jun26, over the £90,000 limit.

threshold exceededend of Jun26

tell HMRC by30 Jul 2026

registered from1 Aug 2026

VAT due on sales from then£3,566.67 (1/6 of gross, if prices don’t rise)

There is also a forward-look test: you must register at once if you expect to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days alone. Exempt and out-of-scope sales don’t count towards the threshold.

Flat Rate Scheme checkannual turnover, net of VAT (£)costs with reclaimable VAT, net (£)of which goods (£)business type

standard scheme£15,200.0020% of £82,000.00 sales minus 20% of £6,000.00 costs

flat rate scheme£16,236.0016.5% of gross £98,400.00 (limited cost trader)

FRS costs more£1,036.00per year, before the 1% first-year discount

warningGoods of £900.00 are under 2% of gross turnover (£1,968.00) or under £1,000 a year, so you are a limited cost trader and must use 16.5% instead of 14.5%. At 16.5% of gross that is 19.8% of net turnover, close to charging VAT with nothing reclaimed.

~/reference

Standard rates across Europe, and the formats behind them.

Standard rates as of 2025, with the VAT on £100 net (or €/local equivalent) and the fraction to strip it back out of a gross price. Rates change by budget, so confirm against the European Commission’s database before invoicing.

ATAustria£100 → £20.00 · 1/620%

BEBelgium£100 → £21.00 · 1/5.7621%

BGBulgaria£100 → £20.00 · 1/620%

HRCroatia£100 → £25.00 · 1/525%

CYCyprus£100 → £19.00 · 1/6.2619%

CZCzechia£100 → £21.00 · 1/5.7621%

DKDenmark£100 → £25.00 · 1/525%

EEEstonia£100 → £24.00 · 1/5.1724%

FIFinland£100 → £25.50 · 1/4.9225.5%

FRFrance£100 → £20.00 · 1/620%

DEGermany£100 → £19.00 · 1/6.2619%

GRGreece£100 → £24.00 · 1/5.1724%

HUHungary£100 → £27.00 · 1/4.7027%

IEIreland£100 → £23.00 · 1/5.3523%

ITItaly£100 → £22.00 · 1/5.5522%

LVLatvia£100 → £21.00 · 1/5.7621%

LTLithuania£100 → £21.00 · 1/5.7621%

LULuxembourg£100 → £17.00 · 1/6.8817%

MTMalta£100 → £18.00 · 1/6.5618%

NLNetherlands£100 → £21.00 · 1/5.7621%

PLPoland£100 → £23.00 · 1/5.3523%

PTPortugal£100 → £23.00 · 1/5.3523%

RORomania£100 → £21.00 · 1/5.7621%

SKSlovakia£100 → £23.00 · 1/5.3523%

SISlovenia£100 → £22.00 · 1/5.5522%

ESSpain£100 → £21.00 · 1/5.7621%

SESweden£100 → £25.00 · 1/525%

GBUnited Kingdom£100 → £20.00 · 1/620%

countryformatcheck algorithmexample (valid)

UKGB + 9 digitsWeights 8-2 on digits 1-7, plus the 2 check digits, mod 97 = 0 (or +55 for numbers issued since 2009).GB314159228

N. IrelandXI + 9 digitsSame as GB; the XI prefix is used for goods trade with the EU under the Windsor Framework.XI314159228

GermanyDE + 9 digitsISO 7064 MOD 11,10 hybrid system on the first 8 digits.DE136495803

FranceFR + 2 + 92-digit key = (12 + 3 × (SIREN mod 97)) mod 97; SIREN is Luhn-valid.FR44732829320

NetherlandsNL + 9 + B + 211-test with weights 9-2 on the old numbers; ISO 7064 mod 97 on the whole string since 2020.NL123456708B01

IrelandIE + 7 + 1-2 lettersWeights 8-2, plus 9 × the second letter; mod 23 indexes WABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV.IE6388047V

ItalyIT + 11 digitsLuhn over all 11 digits; digits 8-10 are the tax office code.IT00123456782

Timeline

1954France introduces taxe sur la valeur ajoutée, designed by Maurice Lauré.

1967The First and Second VAT Directives require EEC members to adopt VAT.

1 Apr 1973UK VAT starts at 10%, replacing purchase tax as the UK joins the EEC.

1977The Sixth VAT Directive harmonises the EU VAT base.

1979UK standard rate rises to 15%.

1991UK standard rate rises to 17.5%.

1993The EU single market abolishes border tax checks; VIES is created to verify numbers.

2006Council Directive 2006/112/EC recasts EU VAT law.

Dec 2008UK cuts to 15% for 13 months during the financial crisis.

4 Jan 2011UK standard rate rises to 20%.

Apr 2019Making Tax Digital for VAT begins in the UK.

1 Apr 2024UK registration threshold rises from £85,000 to £90,000.

Primary sources

HMRC VAT Notice 700: the VAT guidewww.gov.uk HMRC: VAT registration thresholdswww.gov.uk HMRC Notice 733: Flat Rate Schemewww.gov.uk HMRC: check a UK VAT numberwww.tax.service.gov.uk European Commission: VIESec.europa.eu European Commission: VAT rates database (TEDB)ec.europa.eu Council Directive 2006/112/ECeur-lex.europa.eu Value Added Tax Act 1994www.legislation.gov.uk

~/other-calculators

More money maths.

Neighbouring calculators, with a typical result for each.

percentPercentage calculatorMark-ups, discounts and “what percent of” sums.£80 + 15%arrow_forward£92 account_balanceLoan calculatorMonthly repayments on a business or car loan.£12,000 · 4 yrsarrow_forward£283 / month savingsCompound interestGrow the money you set aside for the VAT bill.£2,000 · 4.5%arrow_forward£2,090 after a year

Sources

[1]VAT rates on goods and servicesWhich rate applies to what in the UK.GOV.UK ↗[2]VAT rates in the EUCurrent standard and reduced rates by country.European Commission ↗[3]VAT invoicesWhat a valid VAT invoice must show.GOV.UK ↗