Refund with tax include

Question

Customer is to receive a total refund of $500.00. A 9% tax is calculated on the product amount. what is the product amount?

Answer 1

If you mean that 9% of the $500 is also to be refunded, that could mean that $545 will be the total refund.

I'm not sure because of the lack of connection between the terms "refund" and "product amount."

 

Or maybe the $500 includes tax:

500 = x + 0.9x  in which case solve for x = 500/1.09 = product amount.