Inland Revenue frames the whole tax as three cases: 15% on most taxable supplies, 0% on some, or exempt. There is no reduced band to choose between.
Three twenty-thirds
Inland Revenue spells out both directions. Add GST and a $100 supply becomes $115; start from a GST-inclusive price and the tax inside it is 3/23 of the total, so $100 including GST contains $13.04.
Which direction you are working in changes what you keep. Adding GST to your prices leaves the price you charged intact; quoting a GST-inclusive figure means part of the money you already named belongs to Inland Revenue.
When you must register
Registration is required if you carry out a taxable activity and turnover was at least $60,000 in the last 12 months, or you expect it to reach that in the next 12. Adding GST to your prices is itself a trigger, whatever you turn over.
A short exempt list
Exempt supplies are left out of your GST return altogether. The list covers financial services such as interest, mortgages, securities and currency exchange, and goods or services donated to a non-profit body and later sold on.
Charity shops carry the cost. One that sells only donated clothing cannot claim GST credits on its rates, electricity or maintenance, and on that activity alone would not register at all.
Zero-rating is the other category, and it mostly concerns exports: work connected with land or goods situated overseas, services supplied to non-residents who are outside the country at the time, and services connected with goods entered for export.
Filing
A return is due for every taxable period even when it is nil, and Inland Revenue does not grant extensions of time to file.
Return and payment are both due by the 28th of the month after the period ends, with two exceptions: the period ending 31 March is due by 7 May, and the period ending 30 November is due by 15 January.
New Zealand: common questions
How do I find the GST inside a New Zealand price?
Take three twenty-thirds of the tax-inclusive figure. Inland Revenue's own example is $100 including GST, which contains $13.04.
When must I register for GST in New Zealand?
If you carry out a taxable activity and turnover was at least $60,000 over the last 12 months, or you expect to reach that in the next 12. Charging GST on your prices obliges you to register regardless of the figure.
When is a New Zealand GST return due?
By the 28th of the month following the taxable period, with two dates that break the pattern: the period closing 31 March is due 7 May, and the one closing 30 November is due 15 January.
Figures on this page are from Inland Revenue. Rules change, so check the source before relying on one. Calculator for every other country.
How to add GST or VAT to a price
If you have a price that does not yet include tax, multiply it by one plus the rate. At a 10% rate that means multiplying by 1.1; at 20%, by 1.2.
Total = price × (1 + rate)
So a $200 service at 10% GST becomes $220, of which $20 is tax. The tax itself is the price multiplied by the rate.
How to remove GST or VAT from a total
Work backwards by dividing. The rate went onto the smaller number, so taking the same percentage off the larger one comes up short.
Price before tax = total ÷ (1 + rate)
Tax = total − price before tax
A $110 invoice at 10% GST breaks down to $100 plus $10 of tax. Subtracting 10% of $110 would have given you $99, which is wrong by a dollar, and the error grows with the amount.
Why the tax is never the full rate of the total
A 10% rate adds 10% to the price, but that tax is then only about 9.09% of the resulting total, because the total got bigger. The bar at the top of this page shows that gap. The higher the rate, the wider it gets: at 20% VAT, the tax is one sixth of the total, or 16.67%.
Shortcuts worth memorising
At certain rates the tax inside a total is a clean fraction, which makes mental checks easy.
| Rate | Tax inside a total | Tax as % of total |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | total ÷ 21 | 4.76% |
| 10% | total ÷ 11 | 9.09% |
| 15% | total × 3 ÷ 23 | 13.04% |
| 20% | total ÷ 6 | 16.67% |
| 25% | total ÷ 5 | 20.00% |
Standard rates around the world
The rates below are standard rates, the ones that apply to most goods and services. Many countries also run reduced rates for essentials such as food, books, medicine and transport, so check which band your transaction falls into before relying on a figure.
| Country | Tax | Standard rate |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | VAT | 20% |
| Belgium | VAT | 21% |
| Bulgaria | VAT | 20% |
| Croatia | VAT | 25% |
| Cyprus | VAT | 19% |
| Czech Republic | VAT | 21% |
| Denmark | VAT | 25% |
| Estonia | VAT | 24% |
| Finland | VAT | 25.5% |
| France | VAT | 20% |
| Germany | VAT | 19% |
| Greece | VAT | 24% |
| Hungary | VAT | 27% |
| Ireland | VAT | 23% |
| Italy | VAT | 22% |
| Latvia | VAT | 21% |
| Lithuania | VAT | 21% |
| Luxembourg | VAT | 17% |
| Malta | VAT | 18% |
| Netherlands | VAT | 21% |
| Poland | VAT | 23% |
| Portugal | VAT | 23% |
| Romania | VAT | 21% |
| Slovakia | VAT | 23% |
| Slovenia | VAT | 22% |
| Spain | VAT | 21% |
| Sweden | VAT | 25% |
| Iceland | VAT | 24% |
| Norway | VAT | 25% |
| Russia | VAT | 22% |
| Serbia | VAT | 20% |
| Switzerland | VAT | 8.1% |
| Turkey | VAT | 20% |
| Ukraine | VAT | 20% |
| United Kingdom | VAT | 20% |
| Argentina | VAT | 21% |
| Brazil | ICMS | 17% |
| Canada | GST | 5% |
| Chile | VAT | 19% |
| Colombia | VAT | 19% |
| Mexico | VAT | 16% |
| Peru | VAT | 18% |
| Australia | GST | 10% |
| China | VAT | 13% |
| India | GST | 18% |
| Indonesia | VAT | 11% |
| Japan | Consumption tax | 10% |
| Malaysia | SST | 10% |
| New Zealand | GST | 15% |
| Philippines | VAT | 12% |
| Singapore | GST | 9% |
| South Korea | VAT | 10% |
| Thailand | VAT | 7% |
| Vietnam | VAT | 10% |
| Egypt | VAT | 14% |
| Israel | VAT | 18% |
| Nigeria | VAT | 7.5% |
| Saudi Arabia | VAT | 15% |
| South Africa | VAT | 15% |
| United Arab Emirates | VAT | 5% |
Rates last reviewed September 2026. Governments change them at short notice, so confirm against your own tax authority before you file anything.
Country guides
Each guide keeps this calculator and adds what the country's own revenue authority says about the tax: which rate applies to what, when registering stops being optional, and what falls outside the rate altogether.
Common questions
What is the difference between GST and VAT?
Very little, mechanically. Both are consumption taxes charged at each stage of supply, with businesses claiming back the tax they paid on inputs so that only the final consumer carries the cost. The name is regional: Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India and Canada say GST, most of Europe and much of the world says VAT, Japan says consumption tax. The arithmetic on this page is identical either way.
How do I work out the GST included in a total?
Divide the total by one plus the rate to get the price before tax, then subtract that from the total. At a 10% rate there is a faster route: divide the total by 11. Switch this calculator to "includes tax" and it does either for you.
Why doesn't the tax equal 10% of my total?
Because the 10% was added to the smaller number. Ten per cent of $100 is $10, and that $10 is only 9.09% of the $110 total. Any time you work backwards from a tax-inclusive figure, you divide rather than subtract a percentage.
Which rate should I use?
Pick your country above and the standard rate fills in. Many countries tax food, books or transport in a lower band; if your supply sits in one of those, type that rate into the box instead. Where a supply is zero-rated or exempt, no tax applies at all, though the two differ for reclaim purposes.
How should rounding be handled on an invoice?
This page rounds to the nearest cent and always keeps the three figures consistent, so the base and the tax add exactly to the total. Accounting systems and tax authorities vary on whether rounding happens per line or per invoice, which can shift a total by a cent. If you are reconciling against a system that disagrees, that is usually the reason.
Is this a salary calculator?
No. This one handles sales tax, where net is the price before tax and gross is the price after it. Payroll uses the same two words the other way round: there, gross is your pay before deductions and net is what actually reaches your account. If you are converting a salary, you want a take-home pay calculator for your country, not this page.
Does this send my numbers anywhere?
No. Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, logged or stored beyond your last-used country and rate, which stay on your own device.