Error With Quickfile VAT return

I have just been completing VAT return for July- September 2019. I have been using the bulk purchase entry feature. On a number of the entries I had forgotten to change date to invoice date and it had selected the current date. When selecting ‘show all purchases’ I picked this up and changed the dates to correct invoice date (dates withing the VAT quarter detailed above). All seemed correct when viewing again in ‘show all purchases’. However when I came to send VAT return to HMRC and selected ‘create new VAT return’ the calculations did not match the Excel totals I had. I selected ‘download Calculations’ and the entries I had changed the dates on did not appear on the VAT return even though they were in the VAT quarter. I ended up deleting the original invoice and entering the invoice information again making sure the date was correct. I am very concerned that the program has an error like this as if I had not picked this up I would have been overpaying the Inland Revenue a considerable sum.

Hi @Bentley,

Sorry to hear you are having problems, there aren’t any errors with the VAT return that we are aware of. It is more than likely would have something to do with dates entered. It may be that the payments had the wrong dates and when you re-entered this corrected what was wrong?

Definitely a problem here. Yesterday I bulk loaded a lot of invoices and I forgot to put invoice date and it reverted to yesterdays date. When looking at ‘show all invoices’ it clearly showed them as yesterdays date. I went into these manually and changed each one to the correct invoice date. When looking at ‘show all invoices’ these were now correct. I went to file VAT return and the totals were incorrect, It was then that I noticed they were not even listed on the final stage of submitting VAT return.

Hi @Bentley,

If you are cash accounting then the invoice date wouldn’t come into the VAT return, the VAT return looks at the payment date. Without seeing the payments linked to these invoices it is impossible to say whether it is a bug or not, it is possible that when you linked the payments these payments also went in with ‘today’s’ date rather than the actual date of payment. Since you have now resolved the issue I am unable to investigate further.

If this happens again then please let us know so that we can take a look at your account.

I have just put a test transaction in of £12,000 on the bulk purchase entry and left as today’s date and put it as paid. I have then gone into amend the transaction and changed the date to 30th September 2019 (within the VAT period). When you show all purchases it is showing in there correctly. I have then gone into ‘Reports’ and then ‘VAT Returns’ and then create ‘new VAT return’. Clicked on Prepare and then ‘download transactions’ next to submit form. The transaction is not showing there or on the final VAT calculation figure.

Hi @Bentley,

The thing to check now is the payment linked to that transaction. As I believe this is why it is not being pulled into your VAT return.

Easiest way to check is to go into the invoice, then click on the linked payment.

I have gone into the test transaction and detached the payment and then arrange for it to be paid and it is still not showing when you complete the VAT return. To be honest not changing the date displayed (the current date) to the actual invoice date is a very easy mistake to make when you are adding multiple invoices in one go. I am very certain I am not the only one that has done this. It is very simple to go back and pick these errors up and put the correct date as they are top of the list. Very worrying that these then are not being carried through to the VAT return or flagged as needing attention? If I hadn’t got all my invoices listed on an Excel sheet before entering onto Quickfile I would never have picked the problem up. You urgently need to address this as people using your software will be paying far more VAT than is due. Please run tests yourself now as I have spent enough time detailing the issue. It is very easy to replicate. I have paid for Quickfile and an error like this really should not be occurring.

I will send you a private message now so that I can take a look at your account

Again, if you’re on cash accounting then the date of the invoice or purchase is completely irrelevant, what matters is whether or not the payment date falls within the quarter you’re submitting. The original bulk purchase entry you made will have set a payment date of 1st November, changing the invoice date to September doesn’t change the fact that it was paid in November and QuickFile is correctly considering that payment to be part of the Oct-Dec return instead of the Jul-Sep one.

You should aim to enter your purchases with the purchase date matching the date of the invoice from the supplier, and the payment date matching the date you actually paid for it (which might be the same, earlier, or later than the invoice date). If you do this then QuickFile will put every item into the correct return. For something that was invoiced in September and paid in October it is correct that this is accounted for in the October-December return if you’re on cash accounting - the quid pro quo of being able to delay handing over your sales VAT until your customers have paid you is that you’re then not entitled to reclaim purchase VAT until you’ve paid your suppliers, you can’t have it both ways.

This topic was automatically closed after 7 days. New replies are no longer allowed.