[GNC] UK VAT Flat Rate Scheme

[Adrien Monteleone]

I’ll caveat that I’m not in a VAT territory, but this is how I’d approach it:

Method 1:
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Set your tax rate at 20% linked to a VAT Payable account.

Write your invoice as taxable with the appropriate rate just defined.

When you remit your payment to the government add a split for your own profit.

You can do that manually, or set up a scheduled transaction using variables.

You can create the SX template to ask for the current liability amount set to some variable say ‘vat_collected'. (no way yet to query the account unfortunately)
Set the payment split amount to: vat_collected * .775 

(15.5/20 = .775)

Set the profit split amount to: vat_collected * .225

Your SX reminder should be set to fire according to the schedule you make your payments.  (monthly, quarterly, etc.)

When the SX fires, you’ll be prompted for the vat_collected amount and then it will do the math for the splits and then you can approve the transaction.

Method 2:
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Alternatively, if you need to recognize this income right away, then simply enter a transaction for .225 of the VAT collected balanced between a debit to the tax liability account and your ‘other revenue' account. Unfortunately, there is not yet a basic ’template transaction’ feature to make this easier and using a SX really won’t work because you can’t get it to fire on command. (only by a particular date with/out recurrence)

Method 3:
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It *might* be possible to set up two rates, one at 15.5% and another at 0.5% and link the 0.5% to the ‘other revenue’ account, but I have not tested this. Revenue accounts may not be offered as options when setting up tax rates, and the invoice might list both rates separately, which probably isn’t allowed. You’ll have to play around with that to see if it works for you. Doing it this way would eliminate the need for additional transactions moving the vendor compensation amount from liability to revenue and is probably the cleanest option if it works.

Regards,
Adrien

> On Feb 10, 2019, at 12:38 PM, Bumbling Amateur <eweare at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I've read a couple of previously posted topics on this subject stretching
> back years but haven't found an explanation of exactly how to successfully
> manage the UK's VAT Flat Rate Scheme (FRS) from within gnucash. Here we are
> in 2019, can anyone share their method?
> 
> In summary when in the VAT Flat Rate Scheme one adds 20% to sales to create
> an invoice. Then one calculates 15.5% of sales which is paid to the
> government. The difference between the 20% invoiced and the 15.5% paid out
> is profit for the business ie
> 
> Sales: £1000
> VAT added to sales invoice @ 20% = £200
> Invoiced amount: £1200
> VAT @ 15.5% owed to government = £155
> Profit for business = 200-155 = £45
> 
> Thanks for any help, I'm really looking forward to a neat solution!