VAT / Sales Tax Calculator

What is a VAT / sales tax calculator?

A VAT / sales tax calculator converts between the price before tax (the net amount) and the price with tax (the gross amount), and shows the tax itself as a separate line. That separation is the whole point: invoices, expense claims and bookkeeping all need the tax broken out, and "20% off" of a gross total is not the same as the tax that was actually charged — for the discount side of that maths, the Discount Calculator works out sale prices and savings.

The tool above works both ways. In add mode you enter a net price and a rate to get the gross. In remove mode you enter a gross (tax-inclusive) price and back the tax out to reveal the net. Common rates are one tap away — 19% (Germany), 20% (UK), 21% (much of the EU) and 7% (a typical reduced rate) — or you can type any custom percentage. The labels say "VAT (EU) / Sales Tax (US)" because the maths is identical; only the naming and where the tax appears differ.

Everything recomputes live, the figures never leave your browser, and there is no sign-up — useful when the numbers in question are a salary, a client invoice or anything you would rather not hand to a server.

How to use it

1. Choose a mode. Add tax starts from a net price; Remove tax starts from a gross price.
2. Enter the amount. The field label tells you which kind of price the current mode expects.
3. Set the rate. Tap a preset for a common rate, or type your own.
4. Read all three figures. The headline shows the price the mode produces; the cards below always show net, tax and gross together so nothing is ambiguous.
5. Copy the full breakdown with one click for an invoice, a spreadsheet or a quick note.

Gross vs net, in plain words

These two words trip people up, so it is worth nailing them down:

• Net is the price before tax — what the seller keeps.
• Tax is the VAT or sales tax charged on the net.
• Gross is net plus tax — the total the customer actually pays.

A common source of confusion is that the tax is always a percentage of the net, never of the gross — if you just need to work a percentage on its own, the Percentage Calculator handles that directly. That asymmetry is exactly why removing tax needs division, not subtraction.

Adding tax: the formula

To add tax to a net price:

tax   = net × (rate ÷ 100)
gross = net + tax = net × (1 + rate ÷ 100)

A net price of 100 at 19% gives tax of 100 × 0.19 = 19, so the gross is 119. At 20% the gross would be 120; at 7% it would be 107. The multiplier form — net × 1.19 — is the quickest way to do it in your head.

Removing tax: the /(1 + rate) formula

This is where most manual calculations go wrong. To back the tax out of a gross price, divide:

net = gross ÷ (1 + rate ÷ 100)
tax = gross − net

Take a gross price of 120 that includes 20% tax. The right answer is 120 ÷ 1.20 = 100 net, with 20 in tax. The tempting wrong move is to subtract 20% of 120 (which is 24), giving a "net" of 96 — but that treats the tax as a percentage of the gross, which it never was. Because the tax was 20% of the smaller net figure, you must undo the multiplication, not subtract from the larger number. The gap between 100 and 96 is the error this formula prevents.

A worked example

A consultant quotes a client a net fee of €2,000 and needs to show VAT at 21% on the invoice:

• Tax: 2,000 × 0.21 = €420
• Gross: 2,000 + 420 = €2,420

Later, the same consultant receives a receipt for a gross €242 that includes 21% VAT and needs the net for their books:

• Net: 242 ÷ 1.21 = €200
• Tax: 242 − 200 = €42

Both directions, same rate — and the tax line is always explicit, which is what an accountant will ask for.

VAT vs US sales tax: what actually differs

The calculation is the same; the experience is not.

• Where it appears. In the EU and UK, prices on the shelf and online almost always include VAT — the gross is the price you see. In the US, sales tax is typically added at checkout, so the shelf price is the net and the total is higher than advertised.
• How it is collected. VAT is charged and reclaimed at each stage of the supply chain, with businesses passing the net tax to the government. US sales tax is a single charge applied only at the final retail sale.
• Who sets the rate. VAT rates are national (with reduced rates for some goods). US sales tax is set by state, county and city, so two towns a few miles apart can charge different totals — there is no single national rate.

When you are travelling or buying across borders, the key question is simply: does the price I see already include the tax? If yes, use remove mode to find the net; if no, use add mode to find what you will really pay.

Common rates at a glance

• Germany: 19% standard, 7% reduced.
• United Kingdom: 20% standard, 5% reduced, 0% on some essentials.
• Much of the EU: standard rates cluster around 19–25% (e.g. 21% in the Netherlands and Spain), with lower reduced rates for food, books and similar.
• United States: combined state-plus-local sales tax commonly lands between 0% and roughly 10%, depending on the location.

Always confirm the current rate for your jurisdiction — rates and reduced categories change, and this tool deliberately lets you type any value rather than baking in a list that could go stale.

Privacy: your numbers stay local

Tax calculations often involve sensitive figures — a salary, a day rate, a client total. This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so none of it is uploaded, logged or shared. There are no accounts and no limits. Keep it bookmarked for invoicing, expenses and quick cross-border checks: it turns any price and rate into a clean net / tax / gross breakdown in seconds, while your numbers stay yours.