VAT on £20
Add or remove VAT at 20%, 5%, 0% on £20, with the net, VAT and gross figures.
Adding 20% VAT to £20 gives £24.00, of which £4.00 is VAT. Removing 20% VAT from £20 gives £16.67 net, with £3.33 of VAT inside the price. At the 5% reduced rate the VAT is £1.00 when added and £0.95 when removed; at 0% nothing changes.
£20 at every VAT rate
| Calculation | Net | VAT | Gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add 20% | £20.00 | £4.00 | £24.00 |
| Remove 20% | £16.67 | £3.33 | £20.00 |
| Add 5% | £20.00 | £1.00 | £21.00 |
| Remove 5% | £19.05 | £0.95 | £20.00 |
| Add 0% | £20.00 | £0.00 | £20.00 |
| Remove 0% | £20.00 | £0.00 | £20.00 |
What £20 looks like with and without VAT
A £20 purchase is the kind of thing that ends up as a receipt in a drawer: fuel, stationery, a parking charge, a working lunch. If the receipt shows a VAT number and the price includes VAT, then £3.33 of that £20 is tax you can reclaim on your return, leaving a net cost of £16.67. Without a valid VAT receipt you can still claim the £20 as an expense against profit, but not the VAT itself.
Working the other way, if you quote £20 before VAT and you are VAT registered, the customer pays £24.00: your £20 plus £4.00 that you collect for HMRC. At the 5% reduced rate, which applies to things like domestic energy and children's car seats, the same £20 becomes £21.00. Zero-rated items such as most food, books and children's clothing stay at £20 on the invoice, though they still count as taxable sales.
The 20% figures catch people out because the VAT inside a gross price is not 20% of the price. It is 20% of the net, which works out at 16.67% of the gross. So £20 including VAT contains £3.33, not £4.00. Keep that in mind when you are checking a till receipt or splitting a shared bill between personal and business use.
Source: GOV.UK: VAT Flat Rate Scheme; GOV.UK: VAT thresholds. Last updated .
Frequently asked questions
- How much is £20 plus VAT?
- £20 plus 20% VAT is £24.00. The VAT element is £4.00. At the 5% reduced rate the total is £21.00, and at 0% it stays at £20.
- How much VAT is included in £20?
- If £20 already includes 20% VAT, the VAT inside it is £3.33 and the net amount is £16.67. You divide by 1.2 to find the net, then subtract to find the VAT.
- What is £20 minus VAT?
- £20 minus 20% VAT is £16.67. That assumes the £20 was a VAT inclusive price. If £20 was already the net price, there is no VAT to take off.
Cite this page: “VAT on £20”, SoleKit, https://solekit.co.uk/vat-calculator/20