VAT Formula

[jeansegal]

Does anyone know the new formula for calculating VAT at 20%?

[ChuckFickens]

Really???

x * .20 would give you the VAT amount

x * 1.20 would give you the total amount including VAT

(X is the price before VAT)

[ABerrant]

To calculate the 17.5% element of 117.5% total price is 7/40

To calculate the 20% element of 120% total price is 1/6

[mollykins]

Original price + (original price divided by 5) . . . . or are you after the price with the 17.5% already there, in which case it would be current price + ((current price divided by 117.5) x 20) But there may be a simpler way.

[mollykins]

Such as above, sorry my brains scrambled from 4 hours of maths and 3 hours of chemistry today, to much maths involved!

[ABerrant]

^ typo ... first ratio 7/47

[squarebear]

divide it by 5...

[factor-fiction]

If you have the pre-VAT price and want to know the VAT amount then it's simple:

Work out 10% (which most people should be able to do in their head) and then double it (most people seem reasonably good at doubling).

That gives you the VAT

[ChuckFickens]

"Work out 10% (which most people should be able to do in their head)"

It's sad to say, but I think you are being generous as to most peoples mental arithmetic abilities these days.

[squarebear]

I have to agree seeing as the OP couldn't figure out how to work out 20% of something.

[factor-fiction]

Well it should be easy with decimal currency to find 10% of £74.65 than it was to find 10% of £74 13s, but there is a lot of truth in what you say, chuckfickens. Despite the effort maths teachers put in to teaching, I would estimate that 50% of pupils leave school unable to (and not caring how to) convert 2.5 metres into centimetres.

[mollykins]

Factor, one of my teachers tried to do more than that today. I was in the classroom next to his, and we could hear him, and throughout the lesson it seemed as though he was trying to teach the whole curriculum, even subjects not taught at the school! At various points he mentioned stuff to do with; biology, chemistry, history, religious studies, electronics and even german! Although only a couple of the things seemed to be relevant to the lesson which i think was about symmetry!

Sorry jeans for hijacking your thread xx molly at least i answered your question.

[ChuckFickens]

it pains me to see how innumerate a lot of school leavers are these days, there may be an excuse for a certain amount of perceived illiterateness due to language evolving to the point of previous generations not seeing it as "proper English" But it's not like basic maths can evolve at all.

[mollykins]

The teacher i was with at the time sighed to herself and muttered; 'jack of all trades, master of none' !!!!!!!

[hc4361]

All those saying divide by 5 - that only applies if you want to add VAT on to an amount.

It's not so simple to find the VAT of a total price.

[gingejbee]

I want to know what Poundland and the 99p shops will charge after the increase!

[hc4361]

They'll do what they did when VAT dropped to 15%, and raised back up to 17.5%.

Nothing.

[jake-the-peg]

If something was being sold for a pound including VAT before the rise it should be about 2p dearer after the rise.

If it's more they're hiding a sneaky increase

[gingejbee]

OK - what about all those prices that end in 99p by convention? Will a £9.99 object become £10.12 ?

[gingejbee]

.....actually that should be about £10.19. We've always had that "just below the pound" way of charging.

[jeansegal]

Thank you - that might have been easy for you - but difficult for me.

J