Migration of VAT submissions from QBO to QBAO

I have just the information you'll need about VAT, @pezza.

Since you've migrated, you'll want to mark your taxes as filed in QuickBooks for your record. Here's how you can mark your VAT as filed in QBO:

1. Go to Taxes, then VAT.
2. Select Prepare return to view your open return.
3. Confirm the dates and figures are correct. When you are ready to submit your VAT return to HMRC, click File online with HMRC.
4. Choose Submit a VAT Return/Set up a VAT Direct Debit Instruction, then Submit a return.
5. Tick Mark as Filed.

As with your reconciliation, you can record your VAT payment and then find a match in the banking page to reconcile. Here's how:

1. Go to Banking, then the Banking tab.
2. Choose the For Review tab, and locate the VAT payment.
3. Click the Find Match button. Then, select the possible transactions that match the payment.
4. Hit Save.

With these steps, you're able to mark your taxes as filed and paid. For details about VAT return, please check out this link: Submit a VAT return in QuickBooks Online.

I'll also share with you our page about assign, categorize, edit, and add your downloaded banking transactions which I'm sure you'll find helpful. It has detailed steps to guide you through the process.

That'll do it. Please let me know if there's anything else I can assist you with. I'll be around to help. Thanks for joining us today and I wish you have nice day ahead.

Thanks for the reply @ShiellaGraceA , however my point was that the items are not available in the VAT section as it has only pulled in returns going back 1 year.

The payments that I need to reconcile are for prior submissions that are not showing, and therefore there are no entries for me to select "Prepare Return" for.  All of the ones that did appear, as mentioned, I have already marked as filed.

What I need to do is either get the system to recognise these earlier submissions so that I can then do as you suggest, or find a way to manually record them in the way that the system does.  It would appear that it only goes back so far (or at least that seems to be the case with my scenario)

Thank you

Andrew

Thanks for getting back to us and providing additional information about your concern, pezza.

Yes, that is correct. You may consider recording those payments manually in QuickBooks  so the system will recognise them and then reconcile them after. I'll walk you through recording payments in QBO. Here are the steps:

1.  Go to the Taxes section on your left-hand navigation bar.
2. For the period you are wanting to record the payment / refund you will have a drop-down arrow on the same line but the far right-hand side under the Action column.
3. Select Record Payment.
4. Fill in the information,date, bank, and amount and save.

If you have your bank connected to QuickBooks you can then match them from your For Review section to the payment you created in the steps above. 

I've also added this link about submitting a VAT return in QuickBooks Online for your reference.

Let me know if you have other questions. I'm always here to help.

Hi @GlinetteC 

I really must not be explaining this very well, but I have no periods visible to select on that screen.  It has only brought in entries for the last year.  The entries that I do have, I have been able to mark them as filed, but I do not have any entries for the previous year, so I cannot select anything in any drop down menu as the line does not exist.

Please see the screenshot file attached.  I have bank transactions for paid VAT returns BEFORE these that were all automatically brought in, but I need to generate the actual entries PRIOR to this i.e. for 2018.  Again, there is nothing I can select as no entry exists to do anything with.  I need the entry so that I can then process them as already paid.

So how do I get the actual entries there in the first place, so that I can record them as filed and paid.

Thanks

Andrew

You have me to help you record the prior year tax payment, Andrew.

There are two-ways on how we can do this. We can either import the transactions manually or create a Journal entry.

Also, I'd still recommend reaching out to your accountant so they can guide you on what account is best to use.

Here's how to import the transactions manually:

First, we'll have to filter the dates, so you don't import the transactions you've added.

1. From the Accounting menu, then select Chart of Accounts.
2. Find the bank or credit card account you want to upload more transactions into. 
3. Click Account history.
4. Write down the date of the oldest transaction. In many cases, the oldest transaction is the opening balance.

Second, we'll have to download the transactions from your bank. Then, you're good to import them to QuickBooks:

1. From the Banking tab, select Banking.
2. Select File upload.
3. Click Browse and then select the file.
4. Select Open.
5. Click Next.
6. Continue with the on-screen instructions to import them.

Once imported, the system will automatically detect that there's payment from the prior year.

If you want to use the Journal Entry, you can check this guide: Create a Journal Entry.

Feel free to browse this article when marking your VAT as filed: Mark your VAT as filed in QuickBooks Online.

I'm always around if you still need my help. Stay safe!

Thanks @Adrian_A 

So, I have the bank transactions already downloaded and waiting to be matched up.  They are now the only 4 transactions left to match.

As part of the export/import, I have also, what I believe to be the Journal Entries, and my VAT Suspense account is showing a postive amount to the same amount of the 4 bank transactions waiting to be matched.

Are you saying that if this was a recognised entry in the VAT section, then marking as paid would be equivalent to linking the bank transactions up with the VAT Suspense Account? 

I think I am fine setting the bank transactions to "Transfer" to that Account, but just want to make sure that I am not missing any 'behind the scenes' workflow that QB would normally be doing when submitting, marking as filed and then ultimately marking as paid.

Not too worried about a return not being visible in that VAT page, as such (although it would be nice to have it) but more concerned that everything is recorded as it should be in case the VAT man/woman ever comes calling :)

Thank you

Andrew

Ok, so please correct me if I am wrong here, but just for my own sanity...

"Mark a VAT return as filed" ... behind the scenes, creates the Journal Entries and moves from VAT Control to VAT Suspense Account.

"Mark a VAT return as paid (Record a Payment)" ... behind the scenes matches up the payment (bank transactions) with the VAT Suspense Account

So the records in the Taxes section are just a UI that performs the above 2 steps (plus allows you to view the returns)

And therefore, I assume that as far as viewing the returns are concerned, I will have lost that ability as they are no longer in the Taxes section, but as far as accounting goes, performing manually those 2 steps will do everything needed?

Thanks

Andrew

So, QB will not allow me to Transfer the Payment to the VAT Suspense Account.  It says that this is controlled by the system, so I am still left with a balance of the VAT Suspense Account and Bank Transactions which would clear that, but not able to do it.

So it seems that I have to get QB to recognise these returns within the Taxes section so that it then allows me to select to Record Payment as it would seem that only the system can do this?

Thanks

Andrew

Good day, pezza.

I understand that dealing with VAT may be confusing. 

For us to better assist you with this, I suggest reaching out to our Customer Support Team. They can take a look at it and walk you through the process. Simply go to Help and select Contact Us.

I've added this article to know more about VAT.

Post again here if you have more questions. Have a great day!

Thanks @AlexV 

Yes, the VAT system itself can sometimes be confusing, but none of this is down to understanding how VAT itself works, but more the restrictions of QuickBooks.

I have now spoken to support who have said that this cannot be done.  It comes down to 2 main issues of QuickBooks which is:

1)  The VAT Suspense account is system controlled and you cannot add transactions to it, modify entries or delete them.  So even when I have duplicates in here that make the accounts wrong, I cannot do anything about it as is it "controlled by the system"

2) To make matters worse, QuickBooks only goes back 1 year (although support wasn't able to 100% confirm if this was the case as they said it depends on the setup.  My setup was correct in terms of the dates I had said to go back to, and it only went back 1 year).  So it means that the only thing that can control these accounts do not go back and generate the submissions.

So now, I am left only with the option of purging my account and starting again, so that I can remove the incorrect duplicate entries from the VAT Control and VAT Suspense accounts.  But even then, I will probably still have to create a fictitious copy of the VAT Suspense account so that the VAT payments that I have for 2018 and part of 2019 can be manually matched to a different account.

All because of the restrictions on those VAT accounts and the fact QB only goes back so far.  It seems QB is not designed for bringing over historical data from other tools, even if it is another QB product.

So I now have to start again.  I am also going to have to split up my csv's in to transactions occurring before my FRS discount expired and after given that there are 2 rates involved and will leave some returns being calculated on the wrong value, as I cannot tell it beforehand to use rate 1 for one period and rate 2 thereafter.

I have asked if they will submit as feedback as I think if the system is going to lock down the VAT accounts so that they cannot be manually controlled, then QB should not be restrictive on how far it goes back to pull in the VAT returns.  If it is going to skip previous submissions by only going back so far, then it should allow us to manually add these already submitted returns and payments in to the correct accounts ourselves.

Thanks

Andrew

Hello Community Users, We just wanted to pop in and add a helpful article on how to use and set up the VAT feature in Quickbooks Online here

If you migrate VAT and have any issues please reach out here and  we'll be happy to look into what can be done to resolve this for you.