VAT Summary — output vs input tax for the period

The working paper for your monthly (or quarterly) VAT filing. Splits tax by code, showing Output Tax (what you collected from customers on sales) against Input Tax (what you paid on purchases and expenses), and the Net Payable — what to remit to the tax authority for the period, or the reclaim you carry forward.

For Nigerian hotels this feeds the FIRS Form 002 filing directly.

Before you start

• You need Financial Statements permission.
• Every taxable line on an invoice, purchase, or expenditure needs a tax code attached (an InvoiceDetailTax / PurchasesDetailTax / ExpenditureDetailTax row). If items aren't configured with tax codes, they won't feed this report.
• The tax Rate column shows the current rate of each tax code; the report totals use the rate stored on each transaction (so historical filings are correct even if you change a rate later).

Steps

1. Open Reports → VAT Summary.
2. Pick a From / To date range — typically the first to last of the month for the standard monthly filing.
3. Read left to right:
   • Tax code — one row per distinct tax code that had activity.
   • Rate — the code's current default rate (context, not used in the totals).
   • Output Base / Output Tax — sales side. Base is the amount tax was applied to; Tax is what was charged and collected.
   • Input Base / Input Tax — purchase + expense side.
   • Net Payable — Output Tax − Input Tax. Positive is what you owe; negative (green) is a reclaim / credit you carry forward.
4. The highlight banner at the very bottom states the net position in plain English — the number to type into the tax authority form.
5. Export → Excel and attach it to your filing workpapers.

Tips

• Reconcile against the Ledger: Output Tax should equal the credit movement on your Output VAT account (typically Tax Liabilities / 2205); Input Tax should equal the debit movement on Input VAT (Tax Assets / 1120). Any mismatch here means either a manual journal or a lost/added InvoiceDetailTax row.
• Rows sort by absolute Net Payable — the biggest movers show first.
• Standard reduced-rate + zero-rate + exempt tax codes all appear as separate rows because they're distinct tax items.

Common problems

• "No taxed transactions in this period" — either genuinely no taxable activity, or your items aren't configured with tax codes. Check Item setup → Sales Tax + Purchase Tax fields.
• Output/Input Base don't add up to your sales/purchases totals — tax base excludes non-taxable / zero-rated lines. The gap between invoice totals and the base column here is your exempt/zero-rated turnover for disclosure purposes.
• Rate column empty — the TaxItem has no Rate set. That's a cosmetic problem only; the report totals use the historical rate on each transaction, so the numbers are still correct. Fix by editing the TaxItem's Rate under Setup.
• Numbers surprising after a period-end — the report only shows transactions with a TaxAmount row. If an accountant deleted an InvoiceDetailTax after the fact, the numbers here move. Cross- check via Ledger movement on the VAT accounts to spot deleted rows.