Free VAT Calculator (+ Guide)

What is a VAT calculator?

A VAT calculator adds value added tax to a price, or works out how much of a price is VAT.

This one carries the UK's rates from GOV.UK, Ireland's from Revenue and every other EU country's from the European Commission, so it works for an invoice from London, Dublin or Madrid.

How it works

Choose whether your price is ex VAT or inc VAT, and the calculator does the rest.

How to remove VAT from a price

Removing VAT, also called taking VAT off or reverse VAT, works back from a price inc VAT to the price before it was added.

Divide the price by 1 plus the rate. At 20%, divide by 1.2: £120 inc VAT ÷ 1.2 = £100 ex VAT, so the VAT is £20.

At 5%, divide by 1.05: £105 inc VAT is £100 ex VAT, with £5 of VAT.

How to add VAT to a price

Multiply the price ex VAT by 1 plus the rate. At 20%, £100 × 1.2 = £120 inc VAT, and the VAT is £100 × 0.2 = £20.

The rate goes in as a decimal: 20% is 0.2, so 1 plus the rate is 1.2.

UK VAT rates

GOV.UK lists 3 rates, and its guide to goods and services says which applies to what.

• 20% standard rate: most goods and services
• 5% reduced rate: for example home electricity and gas, and children's car seats
• 0% zero rate: for example most food, children's clothes and shoes, books, newspapers, household water, and solar panels and insulation

Some things are exempt from VAT altogether, such as postage stamps, financial and property transactions.

Ireland VAT rates

Revenue, Ireland's tax office, lists 4 rates from 1 January 2025, and its rates guide says what each covers.

• 23% standard rate: most goods and services, such as furniture, cars and consultancy
• 13.5% reduced rate: for example hotels, cinemas and museums, repairs, cleaning and certain building services
• 9% second reduced rate: for example restaurants, hot takeaway food, hairdressing, magazines, electricity and gas
• 4.8% livestock rate: livestock
• 0% zero rate: for example certain food and drink, books and newspapers, certain medicines, and children's clothes and shoes for under 11s

Restaurants, hot takeaway food and hairdressing moved from 13.5% to 9% on 1 July 2026, Revenue says.

EU VAT rates by country

Each EU country sets its own rates inside the frame of the EU's VAT Directive, as the European Commission explains. The calculator reads them from its Taxes in Europe Database, which each country fills in itself.

• Standard rate: at least 15%, with no maximum: today from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary, averaging 21.9%
• Reduced rates: up to 2, as low as 5%, for listed goods and services such as food, books and hotels
• Super-reduced and zero rates: 1 rate below 5% and 1 zero rate, for up to 7 kinds of basic needs

As an EU VAT calculator, it covers all 27 member states: pick a country, and it shows its rates and what each covers.

Austria

Standard rate

20%

Lower rates

3 rates: 13%, 10%, 4.9%

Belgium

Standard rate

21%

Lower rates

2 rates: 12%, 6%

Bulgaria

Standard rate

20%

Lower rates

1 rate: 9%

Croatia

Standard rate

25%

Lower rates

2 rates: 13%, 5%

Cyprus

Standard rate

19%

Lower rates

3 rates: 9%, 5%, 3%

Czechia

Standard rate

21%

Lower rates

1 rate: 12%

Denmark

Standard rate

25%

Lower rates

No lower rate

Estonia

Standard rate

24%

Lower rates

2 rates: 13%, 9%

Finland

Standard rate

25.5%

Lower rates

2 rates: 13.5%, 10%

France

Standard rate

20%

Lower rates

3 rates: 10%, 5.5%, 2.1%

Germany

Standard rate

19%

Lower rates

2 rates: 7%, 0%

Greece

Standard rate

24%

Lower rates

3 rates: 13%, 6%, 4%

Hungary

Standard rate

27%

Lower rates

2 rates: 18%, 5%

Ireland

Standard rate

23%

Lower rates

4 rates: 13.5%, 9%, 4.8%, 0%

Italy

Standard rate

22%

Lower rates

3 rates: 10%, 5%, 4%

Latvia

Standard rate

21%

Lower rates

2 rates: 12%, 5%

Lithuania

Standard rate

21%

Lower rates

2 rates: 12%, 5%

Luxembourg

Standard rate

17%

Lower rates

3 rates: 14%, 8%, 3%

Malta

Standard rate

18%

Lower rates

3 rates: 12%, 7%, 5%

Netherlands

Standard rate

21%

Lower rates

1 rate: 9%

Poland

Standard rate

23%

Lower rates

2 rates: 8%, 5%

Portugal

Standard rate

23%

Lower rates

2 rates: 13%, 6%

Romania

Standard rate

21%

Lower rates

1 rate: 11%

Slovakia

Standard rate

23%

Lower rates

2 rates: 19%, 5%

Slovenia

Standard rate

22%

Lower rates

2 rates: 9.5%, 5%

Spain

Standard rate

21%

Lower rates

2 rates: 10%, 4%

Sweden

Standard rate

25%

Lower rates

2 rates: 12%, 6%

United Kingdom

Standard rate

20%

Lower rates

2 rates: 5%, 0%

Country	Standard rate	Lower rates
Austria	20%	3 rates: 13%, 10%, 4.9%
Belgium	21%	2 rates: 12%, 6%
Bulgaria	20%	1 rate: 9%
Croatia	25%	2 rates: 13%, 5%
Cyprus	19%	3 rates: 9%, 5%, 3%
Czechia	21%	1 rate: 12%
Denmark	25%	No lower rate
Estonia	24%	2 rates: 13%, 9%
Finland	25.5%	2 rates: 13.5%, 10%
France	20%	3 rates: 10%, 5.5%, 2.1%
Germany	19%	2 rates: 7%, 0%
Greece	24%	3 rates: 13%, 6%, 4%
Hungary	27%	2 rates: 18%, 5%
Ireland	23%	4 rates: 13.5%, 9%, 4.8%, 0%
Italy	22%	3 rates: 10%, 5%, 4%
Latvia	21%	2 rates: 12%, 5%
Lithuania	21%	2 rates: 12%, 5%
Luxembourg	17%	3 rates: 14%, 8%, 3%
Malta	18%	3 rates: 12%, 7%, 5%
Netherlands	21%	1 rate: 9%
Poland	23%	2 rates: 8%, 5%
Portugal	23%	2 rates: 13%, 6%
Romania	21%	1 rate: 11%
Slovakia	23%	2 rates: 19%, 5%
Slovenia	22%	2 rates: 9.5%, 5%
Spain	21%	2 rates: 10%, 4%
Sweden	25%	2 rates: 12%, 6%
United Kingdom	20%	2 rates: 5%, 0%

The UK's, Ireland's and Germany's lower rates include their 0% rates, from their own tax offices and law. The Commission's list for the other countries shows the rates above 0%.

A worked example

Here's the example the calculator loads: a UK price of £120 inc VAT, at the 20% standard rate.

Ex VAT, it's £120 ÷ 1.2 = £100, so the VAT is £20. That's 16.7% of the price you pay, not 20%.

The same £100 ex VAT comes to £105 at the 5% rate and stays £100 at the 0% rate.

Mistakes to avoid

These are the slips that come up most.

• Taking 20% off a price inc VAT: £120 less 20% is £96, not the £100 it was ex VAT
• Charging 20% on something zero-rated or at 5%, such as children's clothes or home energy
• Using an old rate from memory, since countries change theirs: the calculator shows the date its rates are from

Who is the VAT calculator for?

It's for small businesses, freelancers and shoppers pricing a product or checking an invoice in the UK, Ireland or the rest of the EU, and these tools help around it.

• Currency converter – for a price in another currency
• Percentage calculator – for any other percentage
• Discount calculator – for a sale price

Check the rate first, and the rest is one division.