Reconciling VAT entry

Hi Natalie - if your books are set to create a bill then there is a bill sitting in unpaid bills waiting to be paid off.

On the assumption that the "supplier" is HMRC then select this from the "From" box when you come to explain the payment and you'll be presented with the unpaid bill to allocate the payment against.

Just for info - in Toggle features, you can turn off the bill method which means that, when the return is generated it puts the liability to the "VAT payable" account and so that is where you'd put the payment.

Hi Paul,

Thanks of the speedy reply - much appreciated.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that yes, if I select "HMRC" it automatically populates with the current outstanding bill for the same amount.

When matching against a Bill, does that mean I do not have to also select an Account against which it will assign? Does it do this automatically for me?

I always thought I had to select an Account also - maybe this is where I've gone wrong!

Ah, gotcha!

I've been selecting to match to the BILL and then populating the account and lower half options as well.

Appreciate your clarification. Thanks!

So I'm not the only one to find the CB way of handling VAT counter-intutive ...

Hi Jonathan - not sure I understand, it just gives you a choice between two methods, both of which are similar to other accounting systems. How do you find it counterintuitive?

Because every time we come to do it - which is 4 times a year in our case - we have to look back to see what we have been told previously. There should be just one simple way to do it, and I find that having a "bill" created to be counter-intuitive. It's a liability that has to be settled with HMRC, and it should act directly on the VAT Control account.

Hi Jonathan - there are hundreds, if not thousands, of users (including some of my clients) who like the ability to go to one place in the books (Bills>Unpaid) to see what they owe, whether that be PAYE, VAT, salaries, expense claims, supplier bills etc and so having an HMRC bill suits them.

Unlike other software providers, for those of us/you who prefer not have this for the VAT liability, CB offer the alternative, which is to put the liability to a "VAT payable" account. But, if you don't like the name, you can always change it.

So if you find the bill method counterintuitive, Toggle it off and if you want to go to the VAT control to pay it, change the VAT control account to a name you find intuitive and change the VAT payable account to VAT control.

Thank you Paul. At the moment, we can't see our VAT due as displayed on the dashboard in either VAT control or VAT payable (and we have 'VAT return journal' de-selected on the Settings>Configure Suystem>Togle Features page).

But this discussion is probably moot now if the new restyled invoice creation debacle is not sorted out. Like others, I expect we will be baling out of CB at our year end.

OK Jonathan - but, just for the record, if you have VAT journal de-selected then, as I say, you will see any any unpaid VAT due to HMRC in Bills>Unpaid (or on the trade creditors report).

If you want it on the dashboard, and the unpaid bill doesn't always show select the journal toggle and "star" the VAT payable account in Settings>Account codes.

Fingers crossed with the invoice creation stuff, from my experience, if you switch accounting software for one issue, you can end up in the frying pan with several others and there are now 30 others to chose from.

Well, we don't see it in in Bills>Unpaid, so that negates the benefit you were extolling.

That's weird? If you create a VAT return, showing a sum owed to HMRC and you have the VAT journal toggle de-selected, and you haven't yet paid the VAT, then it should appear on unpaid bills (or the trade creditors report).

If it doesn't you have a bug!!

Ah, we haven't created the return yet, that's probably why.