Results are estimates, not financial or tax advice. Tax rates change; check the rate that applies to you with your tax office.
To take tax out of a price, divide by 1 plus the rate: 120 including 20% VAT is 100 net and 20 VAT, and 119 including 19% is 100 net. Taking 20% off 120 would wrongly give 96. Tap a rate or type your own.
How to use
- Pick a tab: Percentage, Discount, Margin or VAT / tax. Each also has its own page.
- In Percentage, choose the calculation (% of, What %, % change, Add / subtract, Reverse) and type two numbers. The answer updates as you type.
- In Discount, enter the price and tap a percentage. Add an extra % off or a coupon to stack discounts.
- In Margin, enter cost and selling price, or switch to Target margin or Markup to get the price you should charge.
- In VAT / tax, choose Add tax or Remove tax, enter the amount and tap a rate or type your own. Tap any result to copy it.
- Percentage change = (new − old) ÷ |old| × 100. Percentage difference compares two values to their average, so it’s the same in both directions.
- Reverse percentage divides by (1 + p/100): a price of 115 after a 15% increase was 100, not 97.75.
- Stacked discounts multiply: 20% off and then an extra 10% off is 28% off in total, not 30%.
- Margin is profit ÷ selling price; markup is profit ÷ cost. A 50% markup gives a 33.3% margin.
- Tax rates change and can differ by product and region (US sales tax adds city and county rates). The chips are common examples; check the rate that applies to you.
- Type decimals with a dot or a comma.
Adding and removing tax
To add tax: gross = net × (1 + rate). 100 plus 20% VAT is 120. To remove tax from a price that already includes it: net = gross ÷ (1 + rate), and the tax part is gross − net. 120 including 20% VAT is 100 net plus 20 VAT.
The usual mistake is to take 20% off the gross price: 120 − 20% = 96, which is wrong. At a 20% rate the VAT is one sixth of the gross price; at 19% it is 19/119, about 15.97%.
Sales tax vs VAT
VAT, as in the UK and the EU, is included in shelf prices for consumers. US sales tax is added at the register and combines state, county and city rates, so the same item can carry 4% in one place and over 9% in another. Rates also differ by product: many countries apply reduced rates to food, books or transport. Check the rate that applies to your purchase.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add 20% VAT to a price?
Multiply the net price by 1.2. A net price of 250 becomes 300 with VAT.
How do I remove VAT from a price?
Divide the gross price by 1 plus the rate. 360 including 20% VAT is 360 ÷ 1.2 = 300 net, so the VAT is 60.
Why can't I just subtract 20% to remove VAT?
Because the VAT was 20% of the net price, not of the gross. Taking 20% of 120 gives 24, but the VAT in 120 is only 20.
How do I calculate US sales tax?
Add the state, county and city rates and multiply the price by that total. 50 at 8.25% tax is 50 × 1.0825 = 54.13.
What is the VAT fraction?
The share of a gross price that is tax: rate ÷ (100 + rate). It is 1/6 at 20%, 19/119 at 19% and 1/11 at 10%.