Small Things Sorted

Work out VAT

Net to gross and back – at 19, 7 or a rate of your own.

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How to do it

  1. Choose a starting point

    Do you have the net amount or the gross amount?

  2. Enter the amount and the rate

    Two preset rates, or one of your own.

  3. Read all three figures

    Net, tax and gross, at once.

What this is for

The commoner case is working backwards: a receipt shows the gross amount, and the books need the net figure and the tax it contains. This is where the arithmetic usually goes wrong – taking 19 per cent off the gross does not give you the net, because the 19 per cent are calculated on the net.

Both directions therefore sit side by side, and the tax amount is always shown separately.

A note for readers outside Germany: 19 and 7 per cent are the German standard and reduced rates. Every country sets its own, so if yours differs, enter it in the field for a custom rate – the arithmetic is the same everywhere.

Common questions

The presets are the German ones. Enter your own rate if you are elsewhere – nothing else changes.

Because the percentage refers to the net. From a gross figure you divide by 1.19, you do not subtract 19 per cent.

Half up, to two decimal places. On an invoice with many lines the sum of the rounded amounts can differ by a cent from the rounded total – that is normal.

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