Hello - my VAT return which is due next week is not pulling through any purchase data at all - despite there being 15 transactions within the period.
Background: I was issued a VAT number in May however only physically received it last month. I was therefore already a period behind on submissions. I submitted a nil return for the first period as soon as I could last month.
I have the 15 purchase transactions in November which is within the VAT period but sales did not start coming in until December.
I’m aware I can manually adjust the return to populate the number correctly but does anyone have any ideas why the VAT report is not pulling through the purchase data?
By far the most common reason for this with people who are new to VAT in QuickFile is the cash accounting setting.
By default QuickFile assumes cash accounting, which means everything is driven by payment dates rather than invoice dates. A sale or purchase invoice dated November but only paid in December belongs to the Dec-Feb quarter, not the Sep-Nov one.
If you want to report based on what HMRC call “traditional accounting” (where the vat is due on sales and reclaimable on purchases based on the date of the invoice, even if payment has not yet been made) then change your QuickFile vat settings to “accrual accounting” rather than cash.