VAT calculator: add or remove 15% VAT
Add VAT to a price, or work out how much VAT is inside a price that already includes it. South Africa's standard rate is 15%.
15% is the South African standard rate. Zero-rated and exempt supplies carry no VAT at all.
Enter an amount and the VAT, with the price either side of it, appears here.
Nothing typed here leaves your browser. There is no submit button because there is nowhere for it to send anything.
Only a business registered for VAT charges it. A business that is not registered must not show VAT on its invoices, and cannot claim the VAT it pays on what it buys.
Some supplies are zero-rated (basic foods such as brown bread and maize meal, exports) and some are exempt (residential rent, most financial services). Neither carries VAT, so do not add 15% to them.
Questions owners ask
- How do I add VAT to a price?
- Multiply the price excluding VAT by 1.15. R1 000 plus VAT is R1 150.
- How do I remove VAT from a price?
- Divide the VAT-inclusive price by 1.15. R1 150 including VAT is R1 000 excluding VAT, and the VAT in it is R150. Taking 15% off R1 150 would give the wrong answer, R977.50.
- What is the VAT rate in South Africa?
- 15%. The increase to 15.5% announced in the March 2025 budget was withdrawn, and the rate was left unchanged in the 2026 budget.
Putting VAT on a document? The invoice generator adds it for you and titles the document a tax invoice.
See it on your business.
We build a version around what you sell and how you quote it, and show you it working. No paid audit, no obligation.