Opening balance won't save/need to file VAT return

[Laney]

Hi All,

I’m moving over from Crunch and need a little help getting started. Ideally I’d like to import all my historical data, so everything’s in one place, but for now my main concern is making sure my VAT return is filed by the deadline (7th Sept).

I submitted my VAT return via Crunch, but as the account is ‘disengaged’, it may or may not have gone through. I did get a notification that it has been filed, but the person I spoke to at Crunch, suggested otherwise.

As I can’t access my VAT account manually due to MTD, I can’t check and therefore don’t know what ‘Vat Filing Start Date’ (required field) to enter into QuickFile.

Question: If I add the current period and it turns out it has been filed, will it cause a problem/can it be changed later? Alternatively, what should I do?

I have checked the knowledge base re VAT, ‘Filing your first VAT Return on QuickFile’, ‘VAT Bridging’ and ‘Getting Started’ generally, but as I can’t get my trial/opening balance to save and don’t know what filing start date to use, I’m a bit stuck.

Re trial/opening balance - the Crunch downloadable is a PDF not a CSV file, so I entered the figures manually. However, it wouldn’t save, presumably because the figures don’t quite tally (difference of £1.27, not sure why). I used the trial balance as of yesterday, but the balance as of 30th April (as recommended (if VAT registered) in ‘Importing data from another system’), has a similar discrepancy, so I doubt it would be any different.

Question: Do I have to add a trial balance, or will uploading all of my data from Crunch (as I plan to do anyway) give me the same result?

I’m not sure what to do for the best, so if anyone can help, I’d be very grateful!!

Many thanks in advance!!

[Paul_Courtier]

First thing to do is log on to hmrc website using your mtd login details and check if the return has been filed. It should tell you whether a return has been submitted I would have thougjt. If it has. It gives you a bit more breathing space.

[Glenn]

Hi @Laney

I think it would be easier to drop you a private message on here to get some more information on your account and take a look at the file you have received from Crunch. Look out for a green notification icon in the top right, this will indicate that you have a private message.

[Laney]

Hi @Paul_Courtier - thanks for getting back to me so quickly, much appreciated!!

Joy of joys! The VAT return was filed successfully after all - thank goodness for that!! It does indeed give me some breathing room, phew!

Stupidly, I tried logging in before (to check), but bailed when I got to the authentication bit, as that’s what had failed previously. The difference being, that time I was logging in to file the return. This time I was simply logging into the account, so the authentication worked. It looks exactly the same, so I just assumed…doh!

Thanks again!!

On with the setup

[Laney]

Hi @Glenn,

Thanks also for getting back to me so quickly! I’ll drop you a private message as requested.

So far, I’m loving QuickFile and can’t wait to get stuck in! From what I’ve seen, I feel like I’ll get a much better understanding of my accounts, which can only be a good thing!!