Pick a country or region to apply its VAT, sales tax, or GST rate. Add tax to a net price to get the gross, or extract the tax from a tax-inclusive amount.
Where the tax sits differs by country. In Europe, Korea and Japan the shelf price already includes it; in the US and Canada it is added at the till. The same displayed price therefore costs a different amount to pay.
Korea, Japan, the EU and India use value-added tax (VAT or GST). Tax attaches at every production and distribution stage, and each business remits only the difference between the tax it charged and the tax it paid. The consumer pays once at the end, but collection happens all along the chain.
The United States uses sales tax, which applies only once — at the final sale to a consumer. Business-to-business purchases pass through untaxed on a resale certificate.
To a shopper the two feel similar, but they are displayed differently. VAT countries generally put the tax-inclusive price on the shelf label; US prices are shown pre-tax and the tax is added at the register.
Net price = gross ÷ (1 + rate), and the tax is the difference between the two.
At Korea's 10% VAT, an 11,000 receipt gives 11,000 ÷ 1.1 = 10,000 net and 1,000 tax. The frequent error is computing 11,000 × 0.1 = 1,100, which is the tax on 11,000 rather than the tax inside it.
At 8% you divide by 1.08; at 20%, by 1.2. In countries with several VAT rates, the divisor changes with the product category.
Korea applies a single 10% VAT, with exemptions for certain staples, medical services and education.
Japan applies a 10% standard consumption tax with an 8% reduced rate on food, drink and subscription newspapers.
The EU sets a floor of 15% and lets each member state choose its own standard rate — most sit between 19% and 25% — plus reduced rates on categories such as food, medicine and books. The same product is taxed differently across the union.
The United States has no federal sales tax. Rates are set by each state and topped up by county and city rates, so the final rate varies between towns inside one state.
India assigns goods and services to five GST slabs: 0, 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent.
Sales tax is a state power, so there is no single national rate — and Oregon, New Hampshire, Delaware and Montana levy no state sales tax at all.
Local rates stack on top of the state rate. There is no such thing as "the California rate": the real rate is the state base plus county, city and special-district add-ons.
This calculator uses the state base rate. Your actual register total will usually be higher by the local portion, so check the combined rate for the specific address when precision matters.
What is taxable differs too. Many states exempt groceries, prescription medicine or clothing, or tax them at a reduced rate.
It does not decide whether a product qualifies for an exemption or a reduced rate; it applies the rate you select.
It does not compute input-tax credits or a business's remittance — this is consumer-side arithmetic.
Cross-border rules such as import VAT, non-resident seller registration and de minimis thresholds are governed separately and are not modelled here.
'Add' takes a pre-tax amount and adds tax to get the total; 'extract' takes a tax-inclusive amount and works back to the net price and tax.
US sales tax is set at state and local levels. This tool uses the state base rate; local taxes may add on top.
Divide the tax-inclusive total by (1 + tax rate) to get the net price, then subtract that from the total to find the tax amount — this tool does that calculation for you automatically.
What this tool bases its numbers on, and how far those numbers go.
Gross = net × (1 + rate); net = gross ÷ (1 + rate); tax is the difference.Korean VAT at 10%: 11,000 ÷ 1.1 = 10,000 net, 1,000 tax.