How do VAT errors get adjusted on return I want to delete a sale

How-to
1

Can’t see where how to adjust vat returns. I’ve got a sale invoice for vat only which the net sum is on another invoice previously submitted on last vat return. I put the whole thing on this latest return because I can’t do a vat only invoice. Now I need to delete the entry from the previous vat return.

2

Hi @lewis

You can’t make an adjustment to a previous VAT return.

You can create a VAT only invoice, you would just need to have a few lines on the invoice. First line would be the total Net and VAT and then the next line you would do a negative value with 0% VAT to cancel out the NET figure.

Hope this helps

3

Hi Beth’
Thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately due to my VAT return being 4 days late I have already returned the sale with the net sum that was entered in the vat period before. So I’ve got it in twice, with the VAT in once this last period. What shall I do?

4

You can’t delete the net-only invoice because it’s been included in a VAT return, but if you credit it in full then that will effectively apply a negative adjustment to box 6 on your next return to even it out.

5

Hi Beth,
I think I did credit it and I had 2 choices to give it back or hold it on account. Will holding it on account mean it appears as a credit or not. How will it look on the vat return?

6

Hi Ian,
I just checked and there doesn’t seem to be any negative entry for my credit held on account in my box 6 on return. What have I done wrong?

7

What did you do when you created the net+VAT one? Is that one marked as paid? Are you on cash or accrual accounting for VAT?

8

Hi Ian,

Yes, the vat+net

9

So my understanding of your situation is:

  • you billed a customer for net only (zero VAT) a while ago and you’ve submitted the VAT return for that period
  • you needed to bill the customer for the additional VAT but you didn’t know the trick at the time for how to create a “VAT-only” invoice, so you created a new invoice for the whole net+VAT instead, and you’ve already submitted the return that includes that invoice
    • is this net+VAT invoice marked as paid in full, or did the customer just pay the VAT part of it?
  • you now want to get rid of the doubled net amount on your next return

I ask again, are you on accrual or cash accounting?

10

Hi Ian,
All that you say is correct.

Accrual is the type of vat I am using

11

The newer vat+net is marked paid in full.
When I returned this I also attempted to resolve the situation by crediting the former net only invoice - but it gave me the choice of holding it on account or giving it as a credit and I am afraid that I held it on account because there was no reflection of a credit in the vat report

12

OK, on accrual it shouldn’t make any difference whether the invoice is marked paid or not, or whether you held the credit note on account or refunded it.

If both the original net-only and the new net+VAT invoices are marked as paid in full but the customer has only actually paid once (for the net plus the VAT) then somewhere in one of your QuickFile bank accounts you must be holding on to the additional net amount. If you view all payments for this customer you should be able to find the unallocated one from the credit note, go into this and then “refund balance” at the top, selecting whichever bank account has the too-high balance from the doubled net “payment”. That should get everything back into line.

13

I don’t use bank feeds, I just use it for the vat. Everything on QuickFile is much too complicated for me.

14

By the way the net only invoice I marked at the time of the last return as a credit or it might have said refunded

15

If you credited the net-only invoice prior to submitting your last VAT return then that will already have corrected box 6 and there’s nothing more to do. If you credited it after submitting your last return then the box 6 correction will appear in your next one.

16

Yes I did correct it prior to my vat return, but I have looked at the report and there is no sign of it

17

Hi @lewis

It might be worth you getting in touch with your/an accountant to check over your most recent VAT returns to make sure that everything is in order. You may need to make some adjustments or a manual adjustment with your next VAT return to correct things.

With the invoices/credits that you have raised you just need to make sure that the correct balance is showing at the end so the full net and the full vat

18

Hi Beth,

My accountant knows even less than I do about how your VAT software works. Where is the back up here? Why don’t you have more detailed guides in your knowledge base about how these adjustments can be done?

19

Hi @lewis

The VAT returns are created from the invoices/credit notes that have been entered onto the system. To see what the return has been calculated from you can download the backup data.

If you have created multiple invoices then these will be pulled into your VAT return so you would need to reverse these invoices - or if you are not using QuickFile to monitor payments etc you can just make a manual adjustment to your next return to correct the duplicates

20

Hi Beth, I understand what you are saying. I believe that the credit note was created for this latest vat return. It isn’t showing up in the VAT data. How can you check for sure NOW whether what I am saying is correct?