VAT return
Your VAT return for a month or a quarter, laid out box by box like the tax authority's form: the ZATCA return in Saudi Arabia, VAT 201 in the UAE, the NBR return in Bahrain and the Tax Authority return in Oman; other countries get a plain summary. It is built from the period's sales, sales returns, purchases, purchase returns and vendor expenses in your own currency, the same figures as the dashboard's VAT box. Part of the VAT return add-on.
Steps
- Open Accounting → VAT return. Pick Quarterly or Monthly and the period; it opens on the last period that has ended.
- Each box shows its amount, the adjustment (returns are taken off here) and the VAT. Press a box marked see documents to list the sales, returns, purchases or expenses behind it, and open any of them.
- Under Adjustments, press Add adjustment for what the documents do not show, such as exempt sales, reverse charge on services bought from abroad or tourist refunds: pick the box, type the amount and VAT and the reason, and press Save. Type corrections from the previous period and credit carried forward where the form has them.
- Download Excel or print the return and type its figures into the tax authority's portal; there is no direct filing.
- Once it is submitted, an admin presses Mark as filed. The return is kept exactly as filed and, with Journals, the period is locked up to its last day so nothing in it changes. Reopen lets an admin change a filed return; the lock stays until an admin changes it under Period lock.
Tips
- A sale with VAT is a standard rated sale; one without VAT is an export when the customer's country is not yours, else zero-rated. A purchase with VAT from a vendor abroad counts as an import with VAT paid at customs. Set the customer's or vendor's country to have exports and imports sorted for you.
- In the UAE, pick the emirate of your standard rated sales; they go in its row of box 1.
- The VAT by period chart under the return shows the output, input and net VAT of the last months or quarters, so a period out of line stands out.
- If a document of a filed period changes later, the return warns you and shows the net VAT now, so you can file a correction next period.
In the app, press F1 or ? on this screen to open this guide next to your work.
This guide belongs to the VAT return module. Learn more
Related guides
More guides in Finance & accounting
- Malta VAT: rates, Article 11 and invoice wording
- Receipts from the portal
- Asset register
- Depreciation runs
- Bank statements
- Bank rules
- Expenses
- Expense categories
- Debit notes (customer receipts)
- Credit notes (customer refunds)
- Capital
- Capital withdrawals
- Dividends
- Chart of accounts
- Journal postings
- Budgets
- Cost centres
- Client stores
- Currencies and rates
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