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Sales Tax and VAT Calculator
Enter an amount and a tax rate, then choose whether the amount already includes tax. You get the price before tax, the tax and the total.
Example
Adding 20% tax to $100 gives $20 of tax and a total of $120.
How the sales tax and vat calculator works
To add tax, multiply the price by one plus the rate: total = price × (1 + rate).
To remove tax from a total, divide by one plus the rate: price = total / (1 + rate). Subtracting the percentage from the total gives the wrong answer, because the tax was calculated on the smaller, pre-tax price.
Sales tax and VAT use the same arithmetic for a single purchase. The difference is in who collects it and when, which matters to businesses and not to this calculation.
Common questions
Why can I not just subtract the tax percentage from the total?
Because the percentage applies to the price before tax. Taking 20% off a total of 120 gives 96, but the price before tax was 100.
What tax rate should I use?
Use the rate for where the sale takes place. Rates differ by country, and in some countries by state, city and type of product.
Are all products taxed at the same rate?
Often not. Many places apply lower rates or no tax to food, medicine, books or children’s clothing.