Include late invoices - CIS return

Hi Kevin - bit confused, don't the s-con bills only get processed on the return when paid?

Yes but let's say the bill isn't input one month for whatever reason and then subsequently added the following month but added in with the original date - there's currently no mechanism to pick up bills that are dated prior to the current month that haven't been included on a prior return.

I don't know why the situation my my client has happened but it has (6 months ago) and it's only by luck i've now cottoned on.

Sorry Kevin, I'm still lost, if the return is based on payment dates, surely the CIS return would have had to be submitted before the bank/cash entries were up to date, something that should be a no-no?

To summarise:

1. Monthly return goes in and gets locked down in CB (let's call it April 15).
2. User then inputs and pays a subbie bill the following month backdated to sometime in April (yes it should've been picked up in April but for whatever reason it wasn't).
3. May 15 return is then generated but the system only looks for subbie bills paid between 06/05/15 - 05/06/15 and therefore completely overlooks the fact there's now a bill dated April 15 that's not been picked up.

Now, I know we can preach the bank etc should reconcile each month before the likes of CIS returns are submitted and we can also blame the user for getting it wrong but even with that said there really needs to be something in place that picks up this kind of error. For the above scenario either the April return should be amended (by phone call to HMRC) or at worst included within the next return.

It's a fiddly one but there needs to be something...

Ahhh I think we've arrived.

There's no way a business should submit their cash accounting VAT return till the bank is reconciled, and the CIS return is the same, but if the client is careless (or worse) then they can't criticise CB for not catering for them. I don't know how HMRC expect these things to be amended but yes, the client calls them to notify the error or the payment's date is changed to get it onto this month's return (if that's permitted).

As it happens one of my clients submitted his cash VAT return without uploading a whole month's bank entries and so he changed the dates of all the omitted entries to the first day of the next quarter. The errors were

I don't think it's a case of criticising CB in the slightest, more just the need to ensure there's a plan B should the worst ever happen.

CB themselves obviously appreciate there's an issue seeing as they've got the tick box on the VAT return.

Hi Kevin - OK I know what you mean, the problem is that your plan B might be my Plan C and so on over all the users. The software has to cope with basic compliance, without trying to second guess what mistakes people will make.

BTW the tick box on the VAT return is primarily for invoices & bills entered after the return, which is common if you get the return off quickly or suppliers are late sending bills, it's not to pick up omitted payments.

As a workaround i've now implemented an extra step into our workflow to run a dummy CIS return covering the full financial year to pick up any prior month errors.

All's well...