Robinson Tuition
Grade 4 · Foundation and Higher · free GCSE maths worksheet

Percentage change in context (VAT, discounts, profit)

Real-life percentage problems.

21 original questions, 77 marks. Print the worksheet, mark it with the answers sheet, and use the solutions to see every step written out by hand.

Worksheet PDFWorked solutions PDFAnswers PDF

The questions

1

VAT is charged at 20%. Work out the price including VAT of

  1. a bicycle that costs £240 before VAT
  2. a printer that costs £85 before VAT
3 marks
Show answer
a) £288 b) £102
2

In a sale, all prices are reduced. Work out the sale price of

  1. a jacket with an original price of £65, reduced by 30%
  2. trainers with an original price of £80, reduced by 15%
3 marks
Show answer
a) £45.50 b) £68
3

Kane buys a bike for £250.

A year later he sells the bike for £210.

Work out his percentage loss.

3 marks
Show answer
16%
4

A coat costs £132 including VAT at 20%.

Work out the price of the coat before VAT.

3 marks
Show answer
£110
5

In a sale a pair of boots is reduced by 30%. The sale price is £42.

Work out the original price of the boots.

3 marks
Show answer
£60
6

A trader buys a table for £68.

She sells the table for £85.

Work out her percentage profit.

3 marks
Show answer
25%
7

Samira bought a house for £240 000. She spent £20 000 on improvements. She then sold the house for £312 000.

Work out her percentage profit on the total amount she spent.

3 marks
Show answer
20%
8

Dev buys 40 phones at £90 each. He sells 25 of them at £140 each and the other 15 at £110 each.

Work out his percentage profit. Give your answer correct to 1 decimal place.

4 marks
Show answer
43.1%
9

In 2019 Femi bought a flat for £180 000.

In 2026 he sold the flat for £207 000.

Work out his percentage profit.

3 marks
Show answer
15%
10

A supermarket sells two special offer boxes of cereal.

Box A: 500 g for £3.20, with 25% extra free

Box B: 750 g for £3.60, with 10% off the price

Decide which box is the better value for money. You must show your working.

4 marks
Show answer
Box B - 0.432p per gram compared with 0.512p per gram
11

A farm shop buys 200 kg of potatoes at 45p per kg. The potatoes are packed into 5 kg bags. Four of the bags are damaged and cannot be sold.

The shop wants to make a profit of 30% on what it paid for the potatoes. Work out the lowest price, per bag, at which it must sell the rest of the bags.

4 marks
Show answer
£3.25
12

A sofa has a price of £540 including VAT at 20%. In a sale, the price is reduced by 10%.

Work out the sale price before VAT is added.

3 marks
Show answer
£405
13

A shop buys phone cases for £3.20 each.

The shop sells each phone case for £4.40.

Show that the shop's percentage profit on each phone case is 37.5%.

3 marks
Show answer
Profit = £1.20; 1.203.20 = 0.375 = 37.5%
14

Gina buys 40 plants for £1.80 each.

She sells 32 of the plants for £3 each.

She sells the rest of the plants for £1.50 each.

Work out Gina's percentage profit.

4 marks
Show answer
50%
15

Layla needs 18 identical notebooks for a club.

Shop A sells the notebooks at £1.20 each, with an offer of buy 2 get 1 free.

Shop B sells the notebooks at £1.05 each, with 10% off the total cost when you buy 15 or more.

Work out which shop is cheaper for 18 notebooks, and by how much.

4 marks
Show answer
Shop A by £2.61 (Shop A £14.40, Shop B £17.01)
16

A grocer buys a 25 kg sack of potatoes for £15.

He puts all the potatoes into 2.5 kg bags.

He sells each bag for £2.10.

He sells all the bags.

Work out his percentage profit.

4 marks
Show answer
40%
17

Kirsty buys a sofa costing £840

She pays a deposit of 35% of the cost.

She pays the rest of the cost in 12 equal monthly payments.

Work out the amount of each monthly payment.

4 marks
Show answer
£45.50
18

A florist buys 60 roses for a total of £45.

She sells all 60 roses at the same price each.

She wants to make a profit of at least 40%.

Work out the least possible price for each rose.

5 marks
Show answer
£1.05
19

Rob and Sita buy a boat for £6400.

They pay for the boat in the ratio 5 : 3.

Later they sell the boat for £8800.

They share the money from the sale in the ratio 7 : 4, with Rob taking the larger share.

Work out Rob's percentage profit on the money he paid.

5 marks
Show answer
40%
20

The price of a sofa is £480 plus VAT at 20%.

Zara pays for the sofa with a deposit followed by 8 equal monthly payments.

The ratio of the deposit to the total of the 8 monthly payments is 2 : 7.

Work out the amount of each monthly payment.

5 marks
Show answer
£56
21

The same jacket is sold in two shops.

Shop A: normal price £80, with 15 off.

Shop B: normal price £84, with 25% off.

In which shop is the jacket cheaper, and by how much? You must show your working.

4 marks
Show answer
Shop B, by £1 (Shop A: £64, Shop B: £63)

Every question here is original and written by Robinson Tuition. The grade follows the Edexcel grade descriptors and suits AQA and OCR too; this is not an exam-board paper.

All Grade 4 topics