Calculating 20% VAT content of an invoice?

[DefyG]

I still receive bills from companies e.g. TalkTalk, that only show a gross invoice total (incl. VAT) but omit to show the 20% VAT element in that cost.

I used to be with Talk Talk but BT are the same, you have to request a VAT invoice. The invoice they send you says it includes VAT but not the actual figures.

 

[telectrix]

what's the fuss? the math is simpler than Ohms law FFS.

 

[pirate]

Glad someone thinks the same way...thanks Tel!
If you can't work out the VAT, how do you do simple load calcs and so many other calcs?
Trouble is, schools don't teach mental arithmetic these days.
" How much is that?"
"£12.17"
"Here's a twenty, and I'll give you the 17p"
" Whaaat? No...don't bother..."

When I was working, our local sandwich shop delivered to the office. The young lad would bring our order and he had change for a fiver in one pocket, change for a tenner in another pocket and change for a twenty in yet another pocket...we sometimes fooled him by offering a £100 note...

If a chocolate bar costs 40p, how many do you get for a pound?
Yoof grabs phone...two and a half!
Aye...right!

 

[mattg4321]

Whatever the total is just divide by 1.2 to get the ex vat amount.

 

[telectrix]

Glad someone thinks the same way...thanks Tel!
If you can't work out the VAT, how do you do simple load calcs and so many other calcs?
Trouble is, schools don't teach mental arithmetic these days.
" How much is that?"
"£12.17"
"Here's a twenty, and I'll give you the 17p"
" Whaaat? No...don't bother..."

When I was working, our local sandwich shop delivered to the office. The young lad would bring our order and he had change for a fiver in one pocket, change for a tenner in another pocket and change for a twenty in yet another pocket...we sometimes fooled him by offering a £100 note...

If a chocolate bar costs 40p, how many do you get for a pound?
Yoof grabs phone...two and a half!
Aye...right!

for your future enlightenment......
The 'perfect acre is a rectangular area of 43,560 square feet, bounded by sides 660 feet (a furlong) long and 66 feet wide (220 yards and 22 yards) or, equivalently, 40 rods and 4 rods. An acre is therefore 160 square rods or 10 square chains.

you may notice that we has the factor of 10 long before the froggies chopped off any heads with brain cells (that's also why plumbers have survived to this day) and invented the stupid metric system.

 

[pirate]

I well remember, from my earlier life, converting square roods, poles and perches, rods and chains from ancient title deeds...I once measured the area and boundaries of an old Glasgow tenement plot, and the old measurements were within an inch over 150 yards. So, Tel, I don't need the acre stuff for my future enlightenment, but I am obliged to you for bringing this to light for our younger members!

 

[Timbo]

Glad someone thinks the same way...thanks Tel!
If you can't work out the VAT, how do you do simple load calcs and so many other calcs?
Trouble is, schools don't teach mental arithmetic these days.
" How much is that?"
"£12.17"
"Here's a twenty, and I'll give you the 17p"
" Whaaat? No...don't bother..."

When I was working, our local sandwich shop delivered to the office. The young lad would bring our order and he had change for a fiver in one pocket, change for a tenner in another pocket and change for a twenty in yet another pocket...we sometimes fooled him by offering a £100 note...

If a chocolate bar costs 40p, how many do you get for a pound?
Yoof grabs phone...two and a half!
Aye...right!

I was in Tesco's yesterday, teenage girl says to her dad "what's 75p and 25p" - straight up!

 

[DefyG]

I know the formulas for the 17.5% & the 15% VAT but not the 20%.

Really! C’mon couldn’t be simpler!

 

[Zerax]

" How much is that?"
"£12.17"
"Here's a twenty, and I'll give you the 17p"
" Whaaat? No...don't bother..."

It's even funnier when it's £12.67... and you offer the 17p... totally confuses anyone under the age of about 35 !

 

[Zerax]

It used to be known as the VAT Fraction... but I think they may have changed this as the word "fraction" may cause distress and mental health issues in the young.

For 17.5% VAT is was 7/47... so if you knew the gross amount but wanted the VAT amount... you'd divide by 47 and multiply by 7. For the Net amount, divide by 47 and multiply by 40. Similarly if you knew the VAT amount, you could divide by 7 then multiply by 40 or 47 to get the Net or Gross amounts respectively.

For 20% VAT... the VAT Fraction is, as Tel said, ⅙... so even simpler.

For 5% VAT (Domestic fuels)... 1/21

 

[pirate]

If the VAT rate is 20%, than the gross figure is 120% of the "net of VAT" amount. Divide by 120 and multiply by 100 for the net figure. It's all the same calculation, regardless of the rate, it's just that at 20% the calculation is easier, as said above.