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Finance

Loan repayments, VAT, savings interest after tax and tax on investment bond gains.

Four everyday money questions

The Finance section answers four questions that come up in UK households and small firms all the time. The VAT calculator adds VAT to a net price or strips it out of a gross one, at the standard, reduced or zero rate that HMRC sets for the goods or service. It suits an invoice, a quote from a trader or a receipt where only the total is printed.

The loan repayment calculator works in two directions. From an amount, a rate and a term it shows the monthly repayment, the total interest and a full repayment schedule. From a monthly budget it works back to the largest sum that budget could repay. It also shows the APR that fees turn the headline rate into, and compares level repayments with equal capital repayments, where the instalment falls over time.

The savings interest calculator grows a deposit and monthly payments over a term, then works out the income tax the interest causes after the Personal Savings Allowance and the starting rate for savings, with a cash ISA for comparison.

The top slicing relief calculator handles the gain when an investment bond is cashed in or runs past its 5% withdrawal allowance. It works out the chargeable event gain, the income tax on it for onshore and offshore bonds, and the relief that spreads a long-held gain over the years it built up.

  • What savings will be worth after tax on the interest: the savings interest calculator.
  • A price with or without VAT, or the VAT inside a receipt: the VAT calculator.
  • The cost of a personal loan, car finance or any fixed rate borrowing: the loan calculator.
  • How much a monthly amount could borrow over a chosen term: the loan calculator in its borrowing mode.

Where the numbers come from

Every rate and legal limit is taken from an official source, such as gov.uk, HMRC guidance, legislation.gov.uk or the FCA Handbook, and each page lists those sources with the date they were last checked. Worked examples in the text are produced by the same code that runs the calculator, so the article and the result cannot drift apart. Where a published answer exists, the page runs it through the tool and shows both figures side by side.

The full process, including how sources are chosen and how often they are rechecked, is set out in the methodology. When a rate changes, the data is updated first and the pages follow from it.

Reading a result

These results are estimates for information, not financial advice. A calculator knows only what it is given. A lender's offer can include fees, insurance or a different interest calculation, and a trader's VAT treatment depends on their registration and on how a supply is classified.

Some checks are yours to make against the paperwork. Compare the monthly repayment, the total amount repayable and the APR on a credit agreement with the figures shown here. On an invoice, check that the VAT rate, the net amount and the VAT registration number are all present. Any difference points to something the document includes that the calculation did not.