Why are my paid invoices and then when I deposit them are double counted?

Hi, i'm having a similar problem, my deposits and invoices are both included in my VAT return. My accountant didn't pick this up and so I have paid approx double the VAT i should have! So i'm not very happy about that as you can imagine.

I can see from the report the account generated that we have received say £5K as a deposit from one client and then each invoice that makes up that £5K has also been counted in the VAT return.

To mark invoices as paid, I would go to the invoice and just mark it as payment received so I don't understand what we're doing wrong here.

Please help

Hello there, Harry. I want to make sure you get the help you need.

To ensure we're on the same page, can you send a screenshot of the VAT return showing as duplicate? Then, hide personal information when sharing it, so I can get a better picture of what's happening.
 
We are looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great day!

As I'd left this to the accountant I have no idea how I find what you're looking for. I noticed it as they'd exported the QB data to excel for me to look at as I'd queried the amount of VAT i'd paid.

How can I find the info you need in QB?

Hi HarryElson, you can view your VAT return in QuickBooks by navigating to Taxes > VAT (Take me there) > Select the drop-down beside the relevant VAT period > View VAT details. If you have your banking connected to QuickBooks, one cause of the duplication may be adding the deposits instead of matching these to the existing invoice payments. You can delete the duplicate entry and this will automatically create an exception on your open VAT return to correct this. We'd recommend consulting with your accountant on how to do this if you're unsure. 

Thanks, i've attaced a part of the report, you see deposit in the top and then that amount is broken down and all the invoices that make up that deposit are listed ie so it's counted twice.

The comment "If you have your banking connected to QuickBooks, one cause of the duplication may be adding the deposits instead of matching these to the existing invoice payments" is the cause yes, I have the bank account connected...how has this gone wrong though?

As per my earlier email, each time I receive a payment I go to the list of invoices and mark each one paid that has been paid....so how else should these have been done?

How do i delete the deposits that are duplicates?

thanks!

Thanks for getting back to me with that, HarryElson. The matching function on the banking works by offering an automated match to transactions of a similar date and amount. Since in this scenario you're matching a bulk deposit payment to multiple invoices, it would be recommended to either:

1) Exclude the transaction from the bank in QuickBooks, as you've already recorded the payments manually against the invoices and these total the same amount. Or; 

2) Replicate the bulk deposit in QuickBooks to match this to the bulk deposit in the bank. To do this, when recording the invoice payment manually you'd select 'Undeposited funds' as the Deposit to account instead of the bank. Once you've done this on each invoice, click + New > Bank deposit - here, you'll see the invoice payments listed under 'Select the payments included in this deposit' where you can tick all that apply. The total of this will then match the downloaded deposit. 

The quickest way to rectify this would be to undo the downloaded deposit. To do this, navigate to Banking > Categorised > Use the search bar to locate the transaction by amount > Select Undo. This will move the transaction back to your For review tab, where you can tick the check-box beside this > select Exclude to remove. 

Undoing this will automatically create an exception to reclaim the VAT - you can check this by going to Taxes > VAT > Select the drop-down beside your open return > View exception details. Hope this helps!

Great thank you I've managed to exclude the deposits as per your instructions.

I don't however get a report, it has no data... it shows today's date which is prob why... but there doesn't seem to be a way to change that? The past return is still open in QB..

That's another question, how do I close returns when they are done?

Thank you I now have to get my accountant to reclaim my VAT!

Hello HarryElson, to close the returns when they are done, you either have to mark them as filed or submit them to HMRC.

Thanks yes how are they marked as filed in QB?

Hello Harry, do you have MTD enabled? If so to mark the return as filed, you would need to turn off MTD. You can turn off MTD in the taxes section, then go to prepare return on the relevant VAT period and you will see a mark as filed option.

If you want to file with HMRC and not just mark as already filed, we have both a step-by-step guide and a how to video available here