EBITDA Calculator
Free EBITDA calculator. Build EBITDA the way the SEC defines it — up from net income, not operating income — plus EBITDA margin and Adjusted EBITDA.
EBITDA Calculator
Background.
EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation — is the most quoted profitability figure in private-company finance and one of the least standardised. This calculator builds it the way the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission defines it: upward from the GAAP net income line, adding back interest, income tax, depreciation and amortisation, one rung at a time. It reports EBITDA in dollars, the EBIT subtotal underneath it, the depreciation-and-amortisation add-back on its own, and EBITDA margin against revenue. It also does something most EBITDA tools do not: it tells you what the number you have just produced is legally allowed to be called.
Start with the fact that governs everything else. EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. It appears in no accounting standard. The SEC permits it, regulates it under Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K and Regulation G, and requires any registrant who discloses it to present the most directly comparable GAAP measure with equal or greater prominence and to reconcile the two. The International Accounting Standards Board takes the same view from the other side of the Atlantic: IFRS 18, issued in April 2024 and effective for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, introduces two required subtotals — operating profit, and profit before financing and income taxes — and defines neither EBIT nor EBITDA. Two of the world's principal financial-reporting authorities have looked at EBITDA and declined to make it a defined subtotal. That is the context in which any EBITDA figure should be read.
The direction of travel matters more than most people realise, and it is where a great many published EBITDA formulas go wrong. It is tempting to start at operating income and add back depreciation and amortisation, because operating income already sits above interest and tax on the income statement. The SEC staff have addressed this directly. Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation 103.01 states that the "earnings" in EBITDA "means net income as presented in the statement of operations under GAAP." Interpretation 103.02 goes further: EBITDA presented as a performance measure "should be reconciled to net income," and "operating income would not be considered the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure because EBIT and EBITDA make adjustments for items that are not included in operating income." Those two paths give the same answer only when a company has no non-operating income or expense at all. The moment there is equity-method income, a foreign-exchange gain, a gain on the sale of a division, or a restructuring charge presented below the operating line, they diverge — and the operating-income route produces a number the SEC says should not be called EBITDA.
This divergence is worth stating plainly because a widely used and otherwise excellent free source defines it the other way. Aswath Damodaran's variable definitions for the NYU Stern data sets — the same data sets behind the industry EBITDA-multiple tables analysts quote constantly — describe EBITDA as "adding depreciation and amortization back to operating income (EBIT)." That definition is perfectly serviceable for cross-sectional academic work on thousands of firms. It is not the definition a filer must use. This calculator implements the SEC version and says so, rather than picking one silently; if you are comparing your result against Damodaran's sector tables and your company carries material non-operating items, expect a gap, and know where it comes from.
The second dropdown option exists for the same reason. Adjusted EBITDA — EBITDA plus stock-based compensation, restructuring costs, transaction fees, litigation settlements, or whatever else management considers non-representative — is the figure that actually drives most private-market pricing and most credit agreements. It is also the figure with the least discipline behind it. The SEC's position is that a measure computed differently from plain EBITDA "should not be characterized as 'EBIT' or 'EBITDA'" and must carry a distinguishing title such as "Adjusted EBITDA." That is why this page prints the required name next to the number instead of leaving it to you. There is a harder limit too: Item 10(e)(1)(ii)(B) prohibits adjusting a non-GAAP performance measure to eliminate or smooth items labelled non-recurring, infrequent or unusual when the charge is reasonably likely to recur within two years or a similar one occurred in the prior two. An add-back that reappears every single year is not an unusual item, whatever the deck calls it.
Used carefully, EBITDA earns its popularity. Because interest is added back, it is invariant to how a business is financed, which makes two otherwise identical companies comparable across very different capital structures. Because depreciation and amortisation are added back, it does not punish a company for the accounting consequences of assets bought years ago, and it stays positive for capital-intensive and loss-making firms whose net income is deeply negative. Used carelessly, it flatters. Depreciation is a real economic cost — equipment genuinely wears out and genuinely has to be replaced — and a company reporting handsome EBITDA alongside enormous maintenance capital expenditure is not generating the cash the headline implies. Read the D&A add-back this calculator reports on its own line: it is the exact amount of real cost the headline figure is choosing to ignore.
What is ebitda calculator?
EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure equal to net income plus net interest expense, plus the income tax provision, plus depreciation, plus amortisation. The SEC first described it in Exchange Act Release No. 47226 (adopted January 2003) as "earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization," and the staff subsequently clarified in Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation 103.01 that the "earnings" being referred to means net income as presented in the GAAP statement of operations. It is not defined by US GAAP, and it is not defined by IFRS: IFRS 18, which replaces IAS 1 for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, requires the subtotals "operating profit" and "profit before financing and income taxes" and declines to define EBIT or EBITDA at all. Because it is a non-GAAP measure, a US registrant disclosing EBITDA must present net income with equal or greater prominence and reconcile the two, under Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K for filings and Regulation G for other public disclosures. EBITDA margin is EBITDA divided by revenue. Adjusted EBITDA is EBITDA plus further management-defined add-backs; the SEC requires it to carry a distinguishing title precisely because it is not EBITDA, and Item 10(e)(1)(ii)(B) forbids smoothing away charges that recur. EBITDA is widely used in leveraged lending and private-market valuation: the 2013 interagency Guidance on Leveraged Lending cites Total Debt divided by EBITDA above 4.0x as one common marker of a leveraged transaction, and leverage above 6.0x Total Debt/EBITDA as a level that "raises concerns for most industries."
How to use this calculator.
- Choose the measure. Pick "EBITDA" for the strict, SEC-defined figure. Pick "Adjusted EBITDA" only if you intend to add back items beyond interest, tax and D&A — and note that the result is relabelled, because the SEC requires it to be.
- Enter total revenue for the period. This is used only to compute the margin; EBITDA itself does not depend on it. Every other figure must cover the same period.
- Enter net income exactly as your income statement reports it. This is the GAAP anchor the whole reconciliation runs from — do not substitute operating income, which produces a different measure.
- Enter net interest expense and the income tax provision. Both accept negative values: use a negative interest figure if you earn more interest than you pay, and a negative tax figure for a net benefit.
- Enter depreciation and amortisation. Take these from the cash-flow statement, not the income statement — most filers fold depreciation into cost of sales and SG&A rather than disclosing it separately, so the income statement will understate it.
- If you chose Adjusted EBITDA, enter your add-backs. Before you do, check each one against Item 10(e)(1)(ii)(B): a charge that recurred in the prior two years, or is likely to recur within two, is not an unusual item.
- Read the results as a ladder. Net income sits below EBIT, EBIT sits below EBITDA, and the D&A add-back is the gap between them. If the add-back is a large share of EBITDA, the business is capital-intensive and the headline figure is ignoring a great deal of genuine cost.
- Use the printed measure name. Whatever label the calculator returns is the one that belongs in your lender pack, board deck or filing alongside the number.
The formula.
The calculation is a two-step ladder, taken in this order because the SEC requires the reconciliation to begin at net income. Step one produces EBIT: EBIT = net income + net interest expense + income tax provision. Step two produces EBITDA: EBITDA = EBIT + depreciation + amortisation. Adjusted EBITDA adds a third step, EBITDA + other add-backs, and is reported under a different name. EBITDA margin is the headline measure divided by revenue, multiplied by 100. On the worked example below — $2,400,000 of net income, $1,100,000 of interest, $800,000 of tax, $2,900,000 of depreciation and $600,000 of amortisation on $40,000,000 of revenue — EBIT is $4,300,000, the D&A add-back is $3,500,000, EBITDA is $7,800,000, and the margin is 19.5%. Running the ladder in reverse confirms it closes: $7,800,000 less $3,500,000 of D&A is $4,300,000 of EBIT, and $4,300,000 less $1,100,000 of interest and $800,000 of tax is $2,400,000 of net income. That reversal is the reconciliation a filer must publish. Two design decisions are worth stating explicitly. First, the direction: this calculator does not start at operating income. SEC C&DI 103.02 holds that "operating income would not be considered the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure because EBIT and EBITDA make adjustments for items that are not included in operating income." Starting from operating income gives the same answer only when non-operating income and expense are zero; where they are not, the two routes diverge and the operating-income route yields a figure that should not be called EBITDA. Aswath Damodaran's NYU Stern variable definitions take that other route — "adding depreciation and amortization back to operating income (EBIT)" — so a company with material non-operating items will not reconcile exactly to his published sector tables. That conflict is disclosed rather than resolved silently. Second, the rounding stage: all arithmetic runs at full arbitrary-precision decimal, and every figure is rounded exactly once, at the point it is returned. In particular the margin divides the unrounded EBITDA by revenue; it is never computed from the already-rounded dollar figure shown on screen, which would shift the second decimal place on small denominators.
A worked example.
A mid-market contract manufacturer closes its year with $40,000,000 of revenue and $2,400,000 of net income. Its debt costs it $1,100,000 of net interest, it books an $800,000 income tax provision, and its cash-flow statement shows $2,900,000 of depreciation on plant and equipment plus $600,000 of amortisation on intangibles acquired in an earlier bolt-on deal. Adding interest and tax back to net income gives EBIT of $4,300,000. Adding the $3,500,000 depreciation-and-amortisation charge on top gives EBITDA of $7,800,000, an EBITDA margin of 19.5%. Read the gaps rather than the headline. Between $2,400,000 of net income and $7,800,000 of EBITDA sits $5,400,000 — $1,900,000 of it financing and tax, and $3,500,000 of it the cost of assets the business has already bought. That $3,500,000 is 44.9% of EBITDA, which tells you immediately that this is a capital-intensive business whose EBITDA flatters its cash generation. If the equipment genuinely needs $3,000,000 a year of replacement spending, most of the depreciation add-back is not free cash at all. Now suppose management prepares a sale memorandum and adds back $900,000 — $600,000 of stock-based compensation and a $300,000 restructuring charge. The measure becomes $8,700,000 and the margin 21.75%, a 225-basis-point improvement created entirely by definition rather than by trading. Two things follow. First, that figure must be labelled Adjusted EBITDA, not EBITDA: SEC C&DI 103.01 requires a differently-calculated measure to carry a distinguishing title, and this calculator prints the required name beside the result. Second, the stock-compensation add-back deserves scrutiny under Item 10(e)(1)(ii)(B), which prohibits smoothing items described as non-recurring when a similar charge occurred in the prior two years or is likely to recur within two. Equity compensation granted every year is not an unusual item. A buyer paying a multiple of EBITDA should ask which of the two numbers the multiple is being applied to, because at 8x the $900,000 of add-backs is worth $7,200,000 of headline value — a difference far larger than most negotiations over the multiple itself.
Frequently asked questions.
Do I start from net income or from operating income?
Is EBITDA a GAAP measure?
What is the difference between EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA?
Why does the D&A add-back come from the cash-flow statement?
Can EBITDA be positive when the company is losing money?
What counts as a good EBITDA margin?
How do lenders use EBITDA?
What is the difference between EBIT and operating income?
Why is EBITDA criticised so heavily?
Do the SEC rules apply to my private company?
References& sources.
- [1]U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Corporation Finance — Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations: Non-GAAP Financial Measures, Section 103 (EBIT and EBITDA). Question 103.01 (last updated Jan. 11, 2010): "'Earnings' means net income as presented in the statement of operations under GAAP." Question 103.02 (last updated May 17, 2016): EBIT and EBITDA presented as performance measures "should be reconciled to net income ... Operating income would not be considered the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure." Retrieved 2026-07-29. Primary, free, not paywalled.
- [2]17 CFR 229.10(e) — Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K, "Use of non-GAAP financial measures in Commission filings." 10(e)(1)(i)(A)–(B) require equal-or-greater prominence for the comparable GAAP measure plus a quantitative reconciliation; 10(e)(1)(ii)(A) exempts EBIT and EBITDA from the cash-settlement prohibition; 10(e)(1)(ii)(B) prohibits smoothing items likely to recur within two years. Text verified against the govinfo CFR XML (CFR title 17, vol. 3, § 229.10), retrieved 2026-07-29. Primary, free.
- [3]U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — "Conditions for Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures," Securities Act Release No. 33-8176 / Exchange Act Release No. 34-47226, adopted 22 January 2003, published at 68 FR 4820 (30 January 2003). The release the C&DIs above interpret; it expands EBIT as "earnings before interest and taxes" and EBITDA as "earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization." Retrieved 2026-07-29 from the govinfo Federal Register text. Primary, free.
- [4]IFRS Foundation / International Accounting Standards Board — IFRS 18 "Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements," issued April 2024, effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 (early application permitted). Replaces IAS 1; requires the subtotals "operating profit" and "profit before financing and income taxes" and requires disclosure of management-defined performance measures. Consulted as the independent second authority; it does not define EBIT or EBITDA. Retrieved 2026-07-29. Primary; standard text itself is registration-gated, the standard page and issuance announcement are free.
- [5]Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business — Variable Definitions for the annually-updated valuation data sets. Defines EBITDA as "Adding depreciation and amortization back to operating income (EBIT)." Cited because it CONFLICTS with SEC C&DI 103.01/103.02 on the starting line; this calculator implements the SEC definition and the divergence is disclosed above. Retrieved 2026-07-29. Independent of the SEC sources, free.
- [6]Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern — "Value Multiples" equity-valuation lecture notes. Slide 6 defines EBITDA as "earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization"; slide 10 lists the reasons for the rise of value/EBITDA, beginning with the fact that the multiple "can be computed even for firms that are reporting net losses." Retrieved 2026-07-29. Free PDF.
- [7]Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation — Interagency Guidance on Leveraged Lending, 21 March 2013 (Federal Reserve SR 13-3 attachment). Cites Total Debt/EBITDA above 4.0x and Senior Debt/EBITDA above 3.0x as common markers of a leveraged transaction, and leverage "in excess of 6X Total Debt/EBITDA" as a level that "raises concerns for most industries"; footnote 6 states that "cash should not be netted against debt for purposes of this calculation." Retrieved 2026-07-29. Primary, free.
- [8]CFA Institute — refresher reading "Market-Based Valuation: Price and Enterprise Value Multiples" (2026 curriculum). Notes that "CF and EBITDA are not strictly cash flow numbers because they do not account for noncash revenue and net changes in working capital," and that EV/EBITDA "may be more appropriate than P/E for comparing companies with different amounts of financial leverage." Retrieved 2026-07-29. Free summary page; the full curriculum is enrolment-gated.
In this category
Embed
Quanta Pro
Paid features are coming later.
- All 762 calculators remain free
- No billing is enabled