Not sure if this is the right area for this, so admin please adjust if not right.
I recently had to submit VAT to HMRC, for the period 1.12.22 - 28.2.23, however I had till 7th April to submit, and up until early March '23 the VAT liability was correct (I checked it), however, I went to submit the VAT today and even though the period requested is stated, the software (SW) has accounted for payments over this payment period, meaning I had to manually adjust the VAT liability figures to within the date period requested - surely this cannot be right? is there a glitch? will the SW correct itself? as going forward there’ll always be a delta I have to adjust for…
The “export” option in the top right of the vat return screen shows you exactly what was included in the return. If you submitted a return for the period up to 28th February then it should have included all sales and purchase invoices (if you’re on accrual accounting) or sale and purchase payments (if you’re on cash accounting) that happened up to 28th Feb and have not already been reported in an earlier return. It should not have included items dated after that date, but as I said above many people get confused with the cash vs accrual accounting thing - if you’re on cash accounting then a payment that arrived before 28th Feb would be included even if it pertains to an invoice that was not raised until March.
All other VAT returns were correct, however this current period included items outside the period it was for and I had to manually adjust, to get it right.