VAT

VAT Settings

Not all companies are VAT registered and that is why do not need to submit VAT reports to SARS.
Our systems deal with both VAT registered and not VAT registered companies.
If you are going to use VAT, you need to activate it in your infobase.
To set up VAT:
  1. Go to Quick menu > Settings.
2. Go to the VAT tab.
3. Select the VAT Registered checkbox to activate VAT in your infobase.
4. Enter the VAT Number.
5. Enter the Default purchase & sales VAT.
6. Specify whether the price includes VAT or not.
7. Enter the Tax reporting frequency. This is about how often you report your VAT payable to the government. There are 6 different categories in South Africa.
8. Enter the VAT control account and VAT provision account.

Creating VAT Codes

When you choose a default purchase and sales VAT, there are a few options to choose from.
To create these options in the system:
  1. Click the drop-down list arrow on either Default purchase or Default sales VAT.
  2. Click Show all. This will show you a list of all existing VAT types in the system.
  3. Click Create to add a new one.
  4. Enter the necessary information:
  • Enter the Code.
  • Enter the Description.
  • Enter the percentage (incl. rate, %).
  • Enter the tax control Account.
  • Enter the VAT type.
This will reflect on your report.
5. Click Save and close.
It will be saved in your existing VAT codes list.

VAT Submissions

At the end of the tax period, a company must submit a tax report to the tax authorities. This report, called VAT return, usually contains a record of all sales with and without VAT as well as purchases on which you plan to claim VAT.

Filling in VAT Submissions

To fill in the VAT Submission:
  1. Go to Accounting and click VAT submission.
  2. Enter the Period that you are submitting VAT for. Each company has its own Tax reporting frequency which is entered into the system in the setting up stage, so you will not need to enter this as it will be there by default. Check if all the information is correct before proceeding.
  3. Click Fill to bring in all documents that include VAT that you will be submitting.
If you have a document that was not included in the previous period report, the document will appear in the next period’s report automatically. This is because companies sometimes close the VAT period but then realize that there were some documents that should’ve been submitted as well and create it on a later stage. Anything that was created after the VAT period was closed will relate to the next period.
If you have a document that has been posted but not submitted yet, it will appear in your current submission. You can always save it and come back later to complete.

Closing VAT Periods

Once you have filled in the VAT submission document, double check to see if all the information is correct and that everything that should be submitted is there.
If you are sure that everything is correct, click Close period. This step cannot be undone!
When you close the period, you will not be able to edit any document for that period that was included in the respective VAT submission. You will also not be able to edit the VAT submission or the VAT report.
As you can see, the Period closed checkbox will be selected.

Pulling Tax Type Report

To pull the Tax type report:
  1. Go to Accounting and click VAT submission.
  2. Open the required VAT submission.
  3. Click the Tax type report. To view the same report divided into different tax categories, click VAT box report.
  4. Click Run report.
This will give you your report with the Company’s name & VAT number, the VAT period, and the Date the report was generated. It is divided into Input tax and Output tax. It also gives you the Total amount for each and the Tax payable/claimable.
To print this report, click More actions > Print.