Value Added Tax is the sales tax of most of the world -- baked into European price tags, added at each stage of production, and averaging around 20 percent. Americans encounter it as tourists wincing at Paris receipts, as sellers shipping to London, or as businesses pricing for international customers. The math runs two directions: add VAT to a net price, or strip it out of a gross price to see the tax hidden inside.

This calculator handles both. Enter the price before VAT and the rate -- 20 percent is the default, matching the UK and much of the EU -- and it returns the VAT amount and the final price. A $100 net price becomes $120 gross. The VAT-as-fraction readout helps accountants reconcile invoices where the tax must be stated separately.

The tourist's version of this math is the VAT refund: non-EU visitors can reclaim VAT on goods they take home, minus the refund agency's cut, which is why savvy shoppers ask for the tax-free form at checkout. For sellers, the lesson is pricing psychology -- Europeans read the gross price as the price, so absorbing or passing on VAT changes competitiveness directly. Run your cross-border prices through the tool before listing them.

With the pre-filled defaults — Price Before VAT ($) 100, VAT Rate (%) 20 — the VAT Calculator returns VAT Amount ($) 20.00, Price After VAT ($) 120.00, VAT as Fraction 0.1667. Change any input and those results update instantly, so you can see exactly how each number you enter moves the answer.