Sales Tax / VAT / GST Calculator

Add tax to a price

Remove tax from a price

This free Sales Tax, VAT and GST Calculator works in both directions, because tax questions come in both directions. The first tool adds tax to a pre-tax price and shows the tax amount and the final total — what you need when quoting a customer, pricing a product or checking whether a bill was taxed correctly. The second tool works backwards from a tax-inclusive price to reveal the amount before tax and how much of the sticker price was tax, which is exactly what bookkeepers, freelancers and anyone reclaiming VAT or GST need for their records.

The backwards direction is where most people go wrong, so it deserves a warning: you cannot find the pre-tax price by simply subtracting the percentage from the total. Tax was added to the smaller pre-tax amount, so removing twenty percent from the full price takes away too much; the correct method divides by one plus the rate, and that is what this calculator does. It works for any rate and any country — US sales tax, UK and EU VAT, GST in Canada, Australia, India and elsewhere all share the same arithmetic. Everything runs locally in your browser, and nothing you enter is uploaded or stored.

How to use

  1. To add tax, enter the price before tax in the first card.
  2. Type the tax rate as a percentage and click Add tax.
  3. To reverse it, enter the tax-inclusive price in the second card.
  4. Enter the same rate and click Remove tax.
  5. Compare the tax amount with your receipt or invoice to verify it.

Frequently asked questions

Why can I not just subtract the percentage?

Percentages depend on the base they apply to. Twenty percent VAT added to one hundred gives one hundred and twenty; but twenty percent of one hundred and twenty is twenty four, not twenty. Dividing the total by one point two returns the true pre-tax price of one hundred and tax of twenty.

What rate should I enter?

Enter your local rate for the item in question. Some goods are taxed at reduced or zero rates and some places stack state and local taxes, so use the combined rate that actually applied to the purchase for an exact match.

Does this work for VAT and GST as well as sales tax?

Yes. Despite the different names and rules about who pays what, the maths of adding or removing a percentage-based consumption tax is identical, so the same two tools serve sales tax, VAT and GST calculations in any country.

Can businesses use the remove-tax result for reclaiming?

It gives you the exact net and tax split for a single inclusive price, which is the figure bookkeeping needs. Formal reclaim claims must still follow your tax authority's rules and be supported by valid tax invoices, so keep those documents as your evidence.


 

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