The United Kingdom runs three VAT rates, and the 20% standard rate loaded above is the one most transactions use.
Three rates, and things outside them
Below the standard rate sits a reduced rate of 5%, charged on items such as children's car seats and home energy, and a zero rate covering most food and children's clothes.
Exempt supplies sit outside the VAT system altogether, which is what separates them from zero-rated ones however similar the two look on a receipt. Postage stamps and financial and property transactions are exempt.
Getting in, and getting out
You must register once total taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, and the deadline is 30 days from the end of the month in which you crossed it.
The exit sits slightly below the entrance, which is deliberate. If taxable turnover falls below £88,000 you can ask HMRC to cancel the registration, so a business hovering around the line is not pulled in and out year after year.
Returns and deadlines
A VAT Return normally covers three months. The deadline for filing online is one calendar month and 7 days after the accounting period ends, and payment is due on the same date.
That date does not move for the calendar. Your payment has to reach HMRC on or before it even when it falls on a weekend or a bank holiday, which in practice means starting the transfer earlier.
Other ways in
Two further routes lead to a registration. You can choose to register voluntarily where turnover is under £90,000, and if you take over a business you must register once the combined taxable turnover of it and your existing business is over the line.
There is also a way back from an accidental crossing. Where taxable turnover goes over the threshold only temporarily you can apply for a registration exception, which HMRC will either grant or refuse by registering you anyway.
Northern Ireland carries a rule of its own. A business there selling only exempt or out-of-scope goods and services must still register if it buys more than £90,000 of goods in any 12 month period from EU VAT-registered suppliers to use in the business.
The Flat Rate Scheme
Smaller businesses can pay a fixed percentage of turnover rather than account for VAT purchase by purchase. The scheme is open where VAT turnover is £150,000 or less excluding VAT.
You keep the difference between what you charge customers and what you hand over, and in exchange you give up reclaiming VAT on your purchases, apart from certain capital assets costing more than £2,000.
United Kingdom: common questions
When must I register for UK VAT?
Registration becomes compulsory once taxable turnover for the last 12 months passes £90,000, and HMRC allows 30 days from the end of the month in which you went over.
How do I take VAT out of a UK total?
Divide the gross figure by 6 to get the VAT, or by 1.2 to get the price before it. The two agree: a £120 total is £100 plus £20.
Is zero-rated the same as exempt in the UK?
No. Zero-rated supplies such as most food and children's clothes sit inside the VAT system at a nil rate, while postage stamps and financial and property transactions are exempt, which places them outside it altogether.
Figures on this page are from HM Revenue and Customs. 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.