Irish VAT Calculator for Tradespeople
Enter the sell price of labour and materials on a job to see which VAT rate applies, and the total to charge.
What's the two-thirds rule?
Most jobs a tradesperson does — fitting a kitchen, rewiring a house, laying a patio — combine two things in one price: your labour (a service) and the materials you supply (goods). Revenue calls this a composite supply, and it's taxed as a single rate, not as labour-at-one-rate and materials-at-another.
The rule that decides which rate applies is set out in Section 8(2)(a) of the VAT Consolidation Act 2010: if the sell price of the materials is more than two-thirds of the total job price (materials + labour), the whole job is treated as a supply of goods and taxed at 23%. If materials are two-thirds or less of the total, the whole job is treated as a construction service and taxed at 13.5%.
Two things catch people out. First, the test uses the price you're charging the customer, not what the materials cost you — if you mark materials up, use the marked-up figure. Second, the comparison is materials against the total job price, not against labour alone.
Getting this wrong isn't just a rounding error — charging 13.5% on a job that legally needs 23% means you've under-collected VAT and owe Revenue the difference.
Quotr applies this rule automatically on every quote it generates from your WhatsApp voice note — you never have to run the numbers yourself. Try it free →