VAT/GST/Tax Report

This report provides summary and detail VAT, GST or Tax information for reporting to your local tax authority.

AccountsPortal allows you to define the name of your Sales and Purchases Tax in the Financial Settings of your organisation. For the sake of simplicity, the help document refers to the tax as VAT. The application will correctly reflect the name you define though which might be VAT, GST, Sales Tax or anything of your choosing.

Before you create your first VAT Report, ensure that the organisation's Tax status is correct.

Create VAT Report

Navigate to the Reports tab and then click the VAT Report link. 

Click on the New VAT Report button.

Set the appropriate Start date and End date. Note that you cannot enter a date earlier than the Conversion Date.

Click on the Refresh button.

Click the View Detail button to analyse the detail behind the figures.

Click the Save button to complete the report and save it for future reference.

Late Entry Transactions

The system automatically checks if you have transactions dated before the Start Date that have not yet been included in previously saved reports. In almost all cases, this is a result of you entering late transactions after you have already prepared and saved a report for the period. For example:

• 05/02/2013 - you prepare and save the January 2013 VAT Report with Start Date = 01/01/2013 and End Date = 31/01/2013
• 10/02/2013 - you enter a Sales Invoice INV200 with Transaction Date = 30/01/2013
• 05/03/2013 - you prepare and save the February 2013 VAT Report with Start Date = 01/02/2013 and End Date = 28/02/2013

In the above scenario, INV200 is considered a late entry transaction and will not be included in the January 2013 report because it didn't exist when you saved the report. It is also not included in the February 2013 report because it falls outside the Start and End Date range.

You will, however, be issued with a warning to say you have 1 late entry transaction. This transaction can be included in the current report by clicking on the checkbox to 'Include late entry transactions from prior periods dated before the Start Date but after dd/mm/yyyy'. The date defaults to your Conversion Date but you can set it forward if there are transactions that you wish to exclude from the search for late entries. Any late entry transaction included in the report will be separately marked on the VAT Detail Report.

Why wouldn't I just include all late entry transactions in my current report?

• You may have already reported these items in an earlier VAT Report by manually adjusting your return when you submitted it to the tax authority. Including them again in the current report would be a duplication.
• Your tax authority will have specific requirements on making corrections for items not reported in previous periods. Depending on the value of the omission, you may be required to submit a separate correction report or just include the late entry transactions in your current report.

An alternative to selecting the option to include late entries would be to set your Start Date back to an earlier date which includes the relevant transactions. There is no risk of picking up transactions already included in previously saved VAT Reports. This approach will not result in late entry transactions being separately marked on the VAT Detail Report.

View and Print VAT Report

Navigate to the Reports tab and then click the VAT Report link.

Click the View link in the Action field for the required report.

View Details or Print the return as required. The option to print the report is only available once the report has been saved.

Delete a VAT Report

A VAT Report can be deleted at any time. This is not advisable if you have already submitted the results to the relevant tax authority.

Navigate to the Reports tab and then click the VAT Report link.

Click the Delete link in the Action field for the required report.

Digital Sales to EU Customers

Please read the following document if you carry out digital sales to EU customers. Note that sales using the Tax Rate specificall set up for digital sales will not appear on the VAT Report. If your local reporting requires this information to be displayed, then you will need to source it from the EU Digital Services report

NOTE

Underlying transactions on a saved VAT Report can only be changed if the changes don't effect the VAT results. In order to make changes to these transactions you may need to delete the VAT report.

Important Note: You must ensure that there is no change in the organisation's VAT status (for example, from standard rate VAT to flat rate VAT, or from the cash to accrual accounting basis) during the VAT reporting period. Any change in VAT status MUST be effected at the start of a VAT period. See the section on Adding a VAT status for more information.