Assignigng VAT values to accounts

[Robert Graham Merkel]

On Sun, 27 May 2001 02:07:12 Klaus Ridder wrote:
> Talking about GnuCash for business:
> 
> It is already possible to set accounts to "tax-related", which is quite
> useful.
> {tax} is inserted in the "notes"-field, as I can see.
> 
> I _am_ using gnucash for business, and one of the functions I'm really
> missing the most is the possibility to assign a VAT value to every
> account.
> This feature would make Gnucash really usable for business.
> 
> I see that Gnucash for business is quite a road ahead, but I think the
> following feature probably wouldn't be _too_ difficult to implement and
> would REALLY help a LOT:
> 
> I imagine the feature as follows:
> Every account has a flag, called "VAT". This now can be set to any
> percentage (0% - 100% and to "UNSET", which is the default for all
> accounts).
> 
> Now you can create a "VAT TAX REPORT" that makes a listing of all
> accounts
> tagged in the "tax report", and shows:
> 
> 
> Account Name        Tax    Amount
> 
> +Business           16%              160$
> |--+PCs              -          160$
> |  |--without tax    0%      0$
> 
> 
> The account "Business" is tagged with 16%, #
> the account "PCs" is not tagged at all,
> The account "without tax" is tagged with 0%.
> 
> The account "PCs", which is not tagged, takes it VAT value from its
> fahter
> account for this report.
> 
> Currently, I am handling it the following way:
> 
> Business expenses 16%
> |--- PCs
> Business expenses 0%
> |--- PCs
> 
> For the VAT report, I print the "Business expenses 16%" account, take my
> calculator and calculate the VAT total.
> It is just bad that I have to maintain 2 equal account structures for 16%
> and 0%. Whith the new feature, I just had to make a sub-account if I had
> transactions with different VAT values.
> 
> I would love to program this by myself, but I'm sorry I can't, so it
> would
> be great if someone could implement that feature. It would really help me
> a
> lot!
> 
> (Some of you might say now: "Oh, this would be better the following
> way...":
> Yes, of course, this is not THE way for business-gnucash. But it helps
> around until that is finished.)

While this might work, in Australia you *must* explicitly record the
GST/VAT
amount for each transaction, as reported on the receipt.  Presenting tax
statements calculated by the methods you describe is *illegal*, if Ben
Stanley
and I have interpreted the Guidlines provided by the Australian Tax Office
 correctly.  This of course, may not be the case in your jurisdiction.

However, for doing GST calculations for goods/services you sell, the system
you
describe would be very handy for doing the calculations (and hopefully
printing
a "Tax Invoice" or whatever the equivalent is in your jurisdiction). 
However,
for actually recording the transaction, you still have to store the GST
value
explicitly - just recording the rate won't do.

I do want to have GST/VAT support as soon as possible in the next
development
cycle, but we have to do it right, or people won't be able to use it.

By the way, when we have GST/VAT recording/reporting implemented, we'll
need
testers from as many jurisdictions as possible.  I'm confident we can find 
some Australians, but your help as a tester from a different jurisdiction
would
be most appreciated.  That goes for anybody from any other countries with
this
type of tax.


-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Merkel	                           rgmerk@mira.net

Go You Big Red Fire Engine
-- Unknown Audience Member at Adam Hills standup gig
------------------------------------------------------------