VAT Enquiry/Reconcile: Bills Delivered/Cash Received

Every time a posting is made that contains an element of VAT, the VAT nominal is automatically updated with a credit or a debit for the amount of the VAT. This means that at any given time, you can see at a glance by looking at the VAT Enquiry how much you owe to Customs & Excise at that time.

The VAT Enquiry shows the exact breakdown of the all the figures that you need to fill in your Customs & Excise Return form. It is essential that all VAT related postings are posted with the correct dates, if you back date into a previous reconciled VAT quarter the system will reject the posting, and you will only be able to post into the current VAT quarter.

In line with the Government's Making Tax Digital, VAT returns can now be uploaded via the Advanced Business Tax Portal. There are three options, set in System Parameters:

Below are the instructions for the Manual option, for details on using the Base and Full editions of using the Making Tax Digital in conjunction with the Business Tax Portal, please see Making Tax Digital.

  1. Open the Accounts application.
  2. On the Tools menu, click V.A.T Enquiry. This screen is split: on the left is the reconciliation information, on the right is the breakdown of the vat due.
Field Description
From This is the first day of the VAT Quarter.
To This is the last day of the VAT Quarter.
Include Reconciled Leaving this blank will only include items that have not previously been included within a VAT reconciliation.
Branch This will default to All Branches. If you have different VAT numbers for each branch select the relevant branch. Vat No: The relevant VAT number will be displayed.

Once you have entered the first and last date of the VAT Quarter click on Refresh. The information on the VAT Return form will be updated to reflect the dates entered. The box 5 figure should match the year to date figure in your VAT control nominal 5000001.

If you wish to look at the items of a previous VAT return, enter the from and to date of the return and ensure “Include Reconciled” is ticked.

 At the bottom of the right-hand Section you have three buttons: Summary, Transactions, and Reconcile.

Button Description
Summary Click on the Summary button this will default to Sales, click on Print from the top menu bar, click on the drop-down list next to Sales and select Purchases and click on Print from the top menu bar.
Transactions This will show all transactions for the VAT quarter, this will default to Sales, click on Print from the top menu bar, Click on the drop-down list next to sales and select Purchases, click on Print from the top menu bar. These reports are your VAT control reports and may be needed if you have a VAT inspection.
Reconcile This will clear down the VAT for the quarter and stop further posting into the quarter. Click on Print on the top menu bar to print the VAT Reconciliation.
 
Click on Reconcile, a warning will be displayed, advising that All Vat Transactions for the period shown will be cleared down, are you sure? Click Yes to continue.
 
Do you wish to close this VAT period?? Click Yes to continue and a record will be entered in the VAT Enquiry History.
All boxes will now be cleared down and the From Date populated with the last date of the previous VAT quarter.

VAT Reconciliation – Cash on VAT/Cash on Costs & VAT

With the Cash Accounting system, the VAT on bills raised does not become due until the Bill has been paid by the client. On the balance sheet, there is an item called Unpaid Vat. This shows the VAT which relates to outstanding bills.

The Payments Received Analysis report allows you to see all Bill Payments Received that have been made during a period and details their split between, Profit Costs, Disbursements and VAT, and also any unallocated cash that may need allocating to be able to correctly deal with the vat on the VAT Return.