VAT Calculator
This is the universal version of the VAT calculator: it works with any rate and for any country. Instead of locking in a fixed percentage, you type the one you need — your country's standard rate, a reduced rate, or an unusual figure like 15% — and the tool resolves value-added tax both ways: it adds VAT to a tax-free price to give you the final price, or separates it out of a tax-inclusive price to show how much was the net amount and how much was tax. It is ideal when your country does not yet have its own calculator here, when you deal with products that carry a rate different from the standard one, or when you want to compare how the same price looks under two different rates.
The amount is shown as a number, without a currency symbol. The default rate is 21%; adjust it to your country or product.
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How it works
The starting point is always the net price, the one without tax. To add VAT, the calculator applies the rate to that net amount and adds the result: with a 15% rate, a 200 item gains 30 of tax and ends at 230. To go the other way — when you already have the tax-inclusive price and want to know how much of that total is VAT — the tool splits the total between the part that belongs to the net price and the part that belongs to the tax, keeping in mind that the percentage is measured against the net amount, not the total. Following the example, from a final price of 230 at 15% it recovers the 200 base and the 30 of tax. Change the rate in the field and everything recalculates: the same mechanics work for 21%, 10%, 5% or any value you enter.
VAT around the world: standard rates by country (2026)
Although the mechanism is much the same everywhere, the standard rate changes from one country to the next and even the name of the tax varies. This table gathers the standard rates in force in 2026 for the most searched countries; many of them also apply reduced rates for food, books or medicine. Brazil is in the middle of a shift to a dual VAT (federal CBS plus state and municipal IBS): 2026 is a test year with token rates, and full implementation — with a combined reference rate near 26.5% — will be completed by 2033. If you need the detail for your country, with its reduced rates and local examples, we have a dedicated calculator for several of them in the finance section.
| Country | Standard rate | Local name |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | 21% | IVA |
| Mexico | 16% | IVA |
| Argentina | 21% | IVA |
| Chile | 19% | IVA |
| Colombia | 19% | IVA |
| Italy | 22% | IVA |
| Germany | 19% | MwSt. |
| France | 20% | TVA |
| Portugal | 23% | IVA |
| United Kingdom | 20% | VAT |
| Peru | 18% | IGV |
| Uruguay | 22% | IVA |
| Japan | 10% | Consumption Tax |
| Brazil | In transition | CBS + IBS |
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Preguntas frecuentes
- What is VAT and who really pays it?
- VAT (value-added tax) is a consumption tax charged on the sale of goods and services. Businesses collect it at each stage of the supply chain and hand it to the government, but the one who ultimately bears it is the final consumer: it is baked into the price you pay on the shelf. Each business only remits the difference between the VAT it charged and the VAT it paid to its suppliers, so the real weight falls on whoever buys to consume, not to resell.
- Why does every country have a different rate?
- Because each country sets its own rate (or bloc, like the European Union, which only fixes a minimum) according to its fiscal policy and how much it raises through other channels. That is why 16% in Mexico, 21% in Spain or Argentina and 23% in Portugal coexist. Many countries also add reduced rates for essential goods, so within a single country several percentages apply depending on the product.
- Are IVA, VAT, TVA and MwSt. the same thing?
- They are the same type of tax under a different name depending on the language and country: IVA (impuesto al valor agregado) in Spain and Latin America, VAT (value-added tax) in English, TVA (taxe sur la valeur ajoutée) in France and MwSt. (Mehrwertsteuer) in Germany. They all tax the value added at each stage and work the same way; only the acronym and the rate change. This calculator handles any of them: you just enter the applicable rate.
- What is the difference between VAT and US sales tax?
- VAT is charged at each link of the production chain and usually comes already included in the displayed price. US sales tax, by contrast, is applied only once at the final sale to the consumer, is set by each state (and sometimes the county or city), and is almost always added separately at the register, not on the tag. In practice, with sales tax the shelf price is not what you pay. Even so, you can still use this calculator for the math by entering the sales-tax rate that applies to you.
- How do I calculate VAT for a rate that is not in the list?
- That is the whole point of this universal calculator: there is no fixed rate. Type the exact percentage in the rate field — it does not matter whether it is 15%, 8.5% or anything else — and choose whether to add or remove the tax. The tool instantly recalculates the tax, the price with VAT and the price without VAT. It works for non-standard rates, for countries without their own calculator and for simulating scenarios with different percentages.