The Tax Manager and how to keep a better check on your VAT
Guidance on how to setup the Tax Manager.
(Guide for Pastel Partner 14, but older versions will loosely follow the same method).
The Tax Manager is a very useful feature available in Partner and Xpress, you can use it to ensure all VAT is declared and nothing gets missed off.
It also has a handy reconciliation report to check all transactions with VAT and when they have been submitted or if they are still outstanding.
(Please note, the reconciliation report is only available in Version 14, if you would like to upgrade so you have access to this, please contact us).
The way the Tax Manager works, is you specify how often you do your VAT returns (quarterly, monthly etc) and Pastel will create them as 'Tax Periods'.
This way you only produce the reports for your Tax Periods, when you have finished with a period and have paid/been reimbursed by HMRC then you can close these periods.
The good thing about doing this, is that when a period is closed, you can post an invoice which may have been missed, to it's original date and the tax values will still show in your VAT reports in your current period so it does not get missed off.
To begin, you need to specify the frequency you do VAT returns.
- Go to 'Setup > Tax > Tax Manager'.
- Now select your frequency from the available options in the menu, when you have selected, click 'OK'
- Now go to the tax reports 'View > General Ledger > Tax > Reports'.
- The first time you come here, it will ask you to set the current Tax Period, so just select the period you are currently working in and click 'OK'.
- It can take a long time to close earlier periods if there are lots of transactions, please be patient and let it go through to the end. When it is done, you will get the following confirmation message.
- At this point, you need to continue processing your sales/purchases as normal, then when you get to the end of your Tax Period, you now need to select either the Tax Type report or the Tax Box report, depending on what you are familiar with. For a guide on how to setup your Tax Boxes [Click Here]
- When you have viewed the report to get your VAT figures, you then go through paying HMRC or getting re-reimbursed if they owe you tax. Now you need to close the Tax Period by selecting the option to close and clicking 'Next'
- Enter a comment to go with the process and click 'Process'
- Allow the process to go through to the end and you will then get the following confirmation message, click 'Finish' when it is done.
- Now if you wish to reconcile your tax transactions, choose the report 'Tax Manager Reconciliation Report' and click 'Next'
- Choose the filters for the report as you want to see it and click 'OK'
- You will now have your report, note the period submitted on the right so you can keep check on when each transaction was submitted or if it is still outstanding.
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