Extracting percentages

[tortolano]

..duh..uh dumb or what!! can anyone remind me how to extract VAT from the total sum?

[geofbob]

Do you mean if somethings costs one pound including VAT, how much of that is VAT? If so (and assuming VAT is 17.5%), then divide the total by 117.5 and multiply by 17.5. So about 15p out of the pound would be VAT.

[tortolano]

Thank-you geofbob. I remember now!!

[brawburd]

Multiply the price by 7, divide by 47, divide by 100 - take this total from the initial price and you have the cost without vat.

[sft42]

If it helps any......if you want to find the amount of VAT in any given figure then simply divide the total by 6.714 and the number your left with is the VAT that is contained in the total.

[geofbob]

It should be noted that Brawurd's and sft's methods only work for VAT of 17.5%. My method, above, will work for VAT of any percentage - or for any other tax, service charge etc - if you simply substitute that percentage for the 17.5%. Eg if a restaurant bill of �25 includes a 15% service charge, then that charge is 25/115 x 15 = �3.26.

[tortolano]

Thank-you everyone for taking the trouble to answer. Yes geofbob , it was the method I recall using before computers and vat was at 8 % and 15% for 'luxury' goods like candles and torchbatteries for the power cuts!

[robber1]

Goods cost �82.95 inc vat. 82.95 div. by 1.175 = �70.59. 82.95 - 70.59 = �12.36 vat