Add or remove UK VAT, with the rounding shown VAT
VAT at 20%, 5%, 0% or your own rate, added or taken out, on one amount or a pasted list. Each line’s exact VAT is shown before it is rounded, by a rule that is named.
The sum
Type pounds and pence, with or without £ and commas. A line can end with its own rate, as 45.00 5%, for an invoice with lines at two rates. Words before an amount are kept as the line's description.
Your flat rate is the percentage HMRC lists for your trade, on GOV.UK’s flat rate scheme table. The spend on goods decides the limited cost test; leave it empty to skip the test and use the rate you typed.
The result
The working
What it does, and what it does not
Adding VAT multiplies the net amount by the rate. Taking it out of a gross amount uses the VAT fraction, the rate over a hundred plus the rate: one sixth at 20%, one twenty-first at 5%. Both are worked as exact fractions of a penny, and only then rounded.
The rounding follows VAT Notice 700, The VAT guide, section 17.5. The total VAT on an invoice may be rounded down to a whole penny. Where VAT is worked line by line, each line’s VAT may be rounded down to the nearest 0.1p, or rounded to the nearest 1p or 0.5p, as long as the same method is used every time, and the total is then rounded down to a whole penny. This page offers the 1p version; an exact half penny goes up, which the notice’s own example does not settle. HMRC says the round-down concession is meant for invoicing traders and is not generally right for retailers, who are covered by section 17.6.
The flat rate scheme is in VAT Notice 733. A business on it pays HMRC a fixed percentage of its VAT-inclusive turnover instead of the VAT it charged less the VAT it paid, and generally reclaims no VAT on purchases. A limited cost business pays 16.5% whatever its trade: one whose spending on goods, VAT included, is under 2% of its VAT-inclusive turnover, or over 2% but under £1,000 a year (£250 a quarter). Goods here leave out services, capital items, food and drink for you or your staff, and vehicles, fuel and parts unless transport is the business. In the first year of VAT registration the percentage is one point lower. The scheme can be joined with expected taxable turnover of £150,000 or less, excluding VAT, and must be left when total income goes over £230,000. This page does not list the percentage for each trade: type yours from HMRC’s table.
It does not file a VAT return, keep VAT records or tell you which rate applies to what you sell; GOV.UK’s guide to rates of VAT on different goods and services does that. It does not handle the reverse charge, partial exemption, the margin schemes or Northern Ireland’s rules. A credit note is worked the same way as an invoice: type the amounts without a minus sign. To see when a business must register, THRESHOLD follows the rolling twelve months.
HMRC’s figures used here
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Standard, reduced and zero rates | 20%, 5%, 0% | GOV.UK, VAT rates |
| Rounding VAT on an invoice | Total down to 1p; or each line down to 0.1p, or to the nearest 1p or 0.5p | VAT Notice 700, section 17.5 |
| Flat rate for a limited cost business | 16.5% | GOV.UK, flat rate scheme; VAT Notice 733 |
| Limited cost test: goods under | 2% of turnover, or £1,000 a year (£250 a quarter) | VAT Notice 733 |
| Off the flat rate in the first year of registration | 1 point | VAT Notice 733 |
| Join the flat rate scheme with expected taxable turnover, excluding VAT, of | £150,000 or less | GOV.UK, flat rate scheme |
| Leave it when total income, VAT included, goes over | £230,000 | GOV.UK, flat rate scheme |
Last reviewed on 6 October 2026. Rates and rules change, so check GOV.UK before relying on them. This is arithmetic, not tax advice.
How it works
VAT works in whole pence, so nothing here is worked in floating-point pounds: £19.99 at 20% is 399.8p exactly, and whether an invoice says £3.99 or £4.00 depends on a rule HMRC sets out in VAT Notice 700. You choose the rule; the page shows what the other two would have given. Nothing typed here leaves this tab.
Doing this often? OBSCURA Books puts the VAT on every invoice and bill as it is recorded, and works out the nine boxes of the VAT return each quarter, on the standard or flat rate scheme. On its own, US$2 a month; with everything else, US$5 a month or US$48 a year. 7 days free.