VAT Calculator
Add VAT to a net price or strip it out of a gross one at 20%, 5% or a custom rate, and check how close your turnover is to the registration threshold.
- Free, no sign-up
- Runs in your browser, nothing is stored
- 2026/27 rates, reviewed 2nd September 2026
VAT Calculator
Enter your figures to see results.
How do I add or remove VAT, and when must I register?
To add 20% VAT multiply by 1.2; to take it off divide by 1.2. Do not subtract 20%, which gives the wrong answer. You must register for VAT once your taxable sales pass £90,000 in any rolling twelve months, or if you expect to pass it in the next 30 days. Enter your turnover to see how much headroom you have.
How to use this calculator
- Choose whether you are adding VAT to a net price or removing it from a gross one.
- Enter the amount and pick the rate: 20% for most goods and services, 5% or 0% for the exceptions, or a custom rate for the Flat Rate Scheme.
- Add your last twelve months of taxable turnover to check your position against the £90,000 threshold.
What your result means
How to read the figure, what counts as normal, and what to do about it.
Adding and removing VAT
Adding VAT is straightforward: multiply the net price by the rate. Removing it catches people out: you divide the gross price by one plus the rate, you do not subtract 20%. A £120 gross price is £100 net plus £20 VAT; taking 20% off £120 would give £96 and understate the net by £4. The calculator does the division for you and shows all three figures.
Prices to consumers must be shown inclusive of VAT; prices to businesses are conventionally quoted net with VAT added on the invoice. If you sell to both, be clear which you mean on every quote.
UK VAT rates
| Rate | % | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 20% | Most goods and services: consultancy, software, restaurant meals, alcohol, adult clothing, electronics |
| Reduced | 5% | Domestic fuel and power, children's car seats, energy-saving materials in some cases, some residential conversions |
| Zero | 0% | Most food, books and newspapers, children's clothes and shoes, public transport, new house building, exports of goods |
| Exempt | n/a | Insurance, finance, education, health, postal services, most property rental. Not the same as zero-rated: exempt sales do not count towards the threshold and input VAT on them cannot be reclaimed. |
The registration threshold
You must register for VAT when your taxable turnover (standard, reduced and zero-rated sales, but not exempt sales) exceeds £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period, or when you expect it to exceed £90,000 in the next 30 days alone. The rolling test is the one that catches people: it is not your accounting year or the calendar year, but any twelve consecutive months, checked at the end of every month.
When you cross it, you have 30 days from the end of that month to notify HMRC, and your registration takes effect from the first day of the second month after. Late registration means paying the VAT you should have charged (out of your own pocket if you cannot go back to customers) plus a penalty. You can deregister if turnover falls below £88,000.
Registering voluntarily below the threshold can make sense if your customers are VAT-registered businesses (they reclaim the VAT, so your price is unchanged to them) and you have significant VAT on your own costs to recover.
The Flat Rate Scheme
Businesses with taxable turnover under £150,000 can join the Flat Rate Scheme: charge customers VAT as normal but pay HMRC a fixed percentage of gross turnover (from 4% to 14.5% depending on trade) instead of accounting for input and output VAT. It saves admin and can save money for businesses with few VAT-able costs, but "limited cost traders" (those spending under 2% of turnover on goods) must use 16.5%, which removes most of the benefit. Use the custom rate option above to model a flat-rate percentage.
Worked example: a consultant's invoice and threshold check
A VAT-registered consultant quotes £1,250 for a project. Adding standard-rate VAT: 1,250 × 20% = £250, so the invoice total is £1,500.
A second consultant is not yet registered. Her sales over the last twelve months come to £84,000. She has £6,000 of headroom, within 10% of the threshold, so she should be checking the rolling total every month and deciding now whether to register voluntarily (most of her clients are VAT-registered companies who would not notice) or to plan for the price change.
Frequently asked questions
How do I take VAT off a price?
Divide by 1.2 for 20% VAT (or by 1.05 for 5%). Do not subtract 20%; that gives the wrong answer because the VAT was added to the smaller net figure, not the larger gross one.
What is the VAT threshold for 2026/27?
£90,000 of taxable turnover in any rolling 12-month period, with deregistration possible below £88,000. Both figures have been unchanged since 1 April 2024.
Do zero-rated sales count towards the threshold?
Yes. Zero-rated sales are taxable at 0% and count. Exempt sales (insurance, education, most rent) do not.
What happens if I register late?
HMRC will treat you as registered from the date you should have been. You owe VAT on all sales since then (which you may not be able to recover from customers) and a penalty of 5%, 10% or 15% of that VAT depending on how late you were.
Can I reclaim VAT on costs before I registered?
Yes, within limits: VAT on goods bought up to four years before registration that you still hold, and on services bought up to six months before, provided they were for the business.
How often do I submit VAT returns?
Quarterly for most businesses, through Making Tax Digital-compatible software. The return and payment are due one month and seven days after the end of the quarter. Annual accounting and monthly returns are available in some circumstances.
The maths behind this calculator
For anyone who wants to check the working or rebuild it in a spreadsheet.
The formulas
Add VAT: VAT = Net × Rate Gross = Net × (1 + Rate) Remove VAT: Net = Gross ÷ (1 + Rate) VAT = Gross − Net At 20%: VAT in a gross price = Gross ÷ 6 (the "VAT fraction" 1/6) At 5%: VAT in a gross price = Gross ÷ 21
Assumptions and limits
- Rates and thresholds are the current UK figures shown beneath the calculator; the standard rate has been 20% since January 2011 and the threshold £90,000 since April 2024.
- "Taxable turnover" for the threshold check excludes exempt sales, outside-the-scope sales and the sale of capital assets. Enter the taxable figure only.
- The calculator does not account for partial exemption, the margin schemes, reverse-charge supplies or place-of-supply rules for services sold abroad.
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