VAT and Small Business Tax Calculators

The compliance arithmetic that comes up every month. Take a gross amount apart into net and VAT, work out what reverse-charge VAT means for an invoice from abroad, decide how much of each payment to put aside for the tax bill, and compare what you would keep as a sole trader against a limited company.

Every Tax tool

Contractor Tax Reserve

Work out what share of each 1099 check to set aside for tax.

Reverse Charge VAT Checker

Get the correct reverse charge wording for a cross-border invoice.

Sole Trader vs Limited Company

Compare sole trader and limited company take-home pay.

VAT Splitter

Split a gross total into net and tax, or add tax on.

Splitting VAT

The VAT splitter takes a figure and a rate and gives the other two numbers: from gross, the net and the VAT; from net, the VAT and the gross. It exists because dividing a gross figure by the rate is the classic mistake — £120 at 20% VAT is not £96 net plus £24, it is £100 plus £20. The rate is an input so it works for reduced rates and for other countries' systems.

Reverse charge

When a business buys services from a supplier in another country, VAT is often accounted for by the customer rather than charged by the supplier. The reverse-charge calculator shows what the customer must declare as output tax and can reclaim as input tax, and what the invoice should and should not show, so the transaction is recorded correctly on both sides. It handles the common case; the page is clear about when you need an accountant instead.

Setting money aside

Freelancers and contractors are paid gross and taxed later, and the bill arrives long after the money has been spent. The contractor tax reserve calculator takes an expected annual profit, applies the income tax bands and national insurance rates you enter, and gives the percentage of each incoming payment to move into a separate account so the bill is covered when it comes. It errs on the side of setting aside slightly too much, which is the right way to be wrong.

Sole trader or limited company

At low profits a sole trader usually keeps more; at higher profits a company paying a small salary and dividends often does, and the crossover moves whenever rates change. The comparison calculator takes a profit figure and the current rates and shows take-home under each structure side by side, including the corporation tax, dividend tax and employer costs that make the company route less simple than it looks. It ignores the non-tax reasons for incorporating, which are often the deciding ones.

Accuracy and limits

Rates are entered rather than hard-coded, so the tools stay correct across tax years and jurisdictions — but that also means the result is only as good as the rates you supply. Treat every figure as an estimate to check with an accountant, not a filing. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.