If you have a blog or website that deals in currency matters, you’ll know how important it is to keep it up to date and accessible for your visitors. The more you can do for them, the more likely they are to stay with you and keep using your site.

Currency calculators are quite popular for this purpose, but what about other types of calculator? What about a VAT calculator, for example?

If your site deals with any kind of subject related to business or working for yourself, then a VAT calculator would certainly be welcomed by your visitors. And luckily you don’t have to pay to have one installed either. Let me walk you through this VAT calculator from the website VATCalculator.com. You can find it at http://www.vatcalculator.com/vat_calculator/ if you want to take a look for yourself.

Let’s see what it does.

How does this VAT calculator work?

The first thing to point out is that it has several different functions. And you’re not stuck with just one rate of value added tax, either.

As many of you will know, the rate of VAT in the UK has changed quite recently. The standard rate of 17.5% was reduced to 15% on the 1^st December 2008. While this reduction is not permanent, it will be in place until New Year’s Day 2010. You will see that the calculator takes this into account by making the 15% rate the defaulted mode when you first look at it.

You will also see that it doesn’t matter whether you have a gross or net amount to work with either. Let’s walk through how you would use it, depending on which figure you are starting with.

Say for example you have a total amount of £100, and you want to know how much VAT is included within that amount. This could happen if you have a total written down in your accounts and you need to split it into the VAT part and the net part, for example.

What you do for starters is to put £100 into the input box at the top of the VAT calculator.

Don’t forget you need to make sure that the 15% VAT is relevant for your purposes. If you need the reduced rate, or the sum was worked out before 1^st December 2008, you’ll need to change it using the drop down box.

Okay, so from there you need to know the amount of VAT included in your £100. The process for doing this is simple. There is a little box underneath the input box which asks you if the amount is inclusive of VAT. In this case it is, so you simply have to click your mouse in that box to make a tick appear.

You’ll see that you don’t even need to hit the calculate button in this case, as the split figures appear underneath for you automatically.

So that was easy, wasn’t it? Just imagine how easy your visitors will find it too! And you’ll be glad to know it’s just as easy if you need to add VAT onto a net amount – say for example if you are selling things to other people and you are VAT registered.

In this case the process is really not much different from the above. You’ll have your net amount ready and waiting, and as before you just need to type it into the input box.

The only difference is that it’s not inclusive of VAT, so you don’t tick the box this time. As such, you’ll need to hit the calculate button this time around, and that will bring up the figures you need in the boxes below. The example for a £100 starting figure is given in the screenshot below, so you can see how it works.

As you can see, this is easy to do and if you have a number of calculations to work out there are only really two things you need to remember. Firstly you will have to make sure the VAT rate is correct for each one. You might find it easier to do all the ones with the same rate first. Secondly, make sure that little box is ticked or not as appropriate.

Is it easy to install on my own site?

It’s as easy to install as it is to use! Here is the code you will need to do so, which you will find on the same page as the VAT calculator itself:

To actually put the calculator on your website, you just need to copy and paste that text exactly as it appears on the site. Once you have done that, you just need to put that code in the exact place on your website or blog where you want the VAT calculator to appear. This is up to you – many people find that dedicating a page to it is the best thing to do, since it will be easier for people to find.

Can I use it on more than one website or blog?

The calculator is free for you to use as and where you wish. So if you are a finance whiz and you want to use it on all your websites, feel free to do so. It is after all a useful tool and people who have business interests will be glad of the help.

Think of it like this – some people may have VAT sums to do which currently mean they have to leave your site and go elsewhere to find a VAT calculator. If you show them you can provide that service – especially for free – then you can enjoy longer visits to your site. That is what separates the good sites from the really good ones, so why not put your site or blog in the second group now?

Take another look at the calculator at http://www.vatcalculator.com/vat_calculator/, and then get to work installing it while you remember!