# Taxes

The rates every document line can carry, your registration and accounting basis, and the choice between filing yourself and filing through SorviAI.

Tax settings decide two separate things: what a document line may be taxed at, and what happens at the end of a period. Settle both before you raise anything with tax on it, because changing a rate later does not revisit documents already issued.

Go to **Settings > Finance > Taxes**. The tabs are **Tax Rates**, your tax's own settings tab, and **Tax Filing Settings**. **Construction Industry Scheme** is listed and not selectable.

> **Note:**
>
> **Your country decides the wording and the tabs**
>
> The country on your organisation profile sets what the screens call your tax, so a British workspace reads **VAT Settings** where an Indian one reads **GST Settings**. Where filing is not offered for your country, the filing tabs are not shown at all.

## Tax Rates

![The Tax Rates tab of Taxes settings, headed Tax Rates above the line Manage tax rates applied to your transactions, with a blue Tax button at the right. Tabs above read Tax Rates, VAT Settings, Tax Filing Settings and a greyed-out Construction Industry Scheme. A table with columns TAX NAME, RATE, STATUS and ACTIONS lists Zero Rate at 0%, Reduced Rate at 5% and Standard Rate at 20%, each marked Active.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/settings/taxes-rates.png)

*Construction Industry Scheme is listed and greyed out: it is not selectable in either interface.*

The rates a document line can be charged at, each with a name, a percentage and a status. Making a rate **Inactive** keeps it off new documents while leaving it on the documents that already use it, which is what you want when a rate changes rather than disappears.

> **Tip:**
>
> **Mark a rate inactive rather than deleting it**
>
> Deleting is refused where the rate is in use, and the screen offers the inactive route instead. History that cannot explain its own tax is worse than a long list.

## The tax settings tab

Two sections: **Registration** and **Filing**.

![The VAT Settings tab, headed VAT Settings above the line Configure your VAT registration and filing preferences. A REGISTRATION section holds a VAT Registered toggle turned on, a VAT Registration Number Label field reading VAT, a required VAT Registration Number (VRN) reading GB418277364, and a required VAT Registration Date of 04/01/2024. A FILING section holds VAT Accounting Basis set to Accrual (Standard), VAT due on the invoice date, and Filing Frequency set to Quarterly.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/settings/taxes-vat-settings.png)

*Turning VAT Registered off disables the number and date rather than hiding what is already there.*

*The VAT Settings tab, named for your own tax*

> **Warning:**
>
> **Changing the accounting basis recalculates draft returns**
>
> It decides which transactions fall into a period, so a draft return moves when you change it. Returns already filed are unaffected.

A number that does not look like a UK registration number raises a note under the field rather than blocking the save, because a non-UK tax number is a legitimate thing to enter there.

## Tax Filing Settings

Two cards, and choosing one of them is the whole screen.

- **I want to file my tax returns to HMRC through SorviAI**: Finance connects to HMRC and the screen shows the connection status above the cards.
- **I'll file my tax returns on my own**: Manual filing mode. Finance prepares the figures and you submit them yourself.

Where the connection is not yet made, the status reads **Not connected to HMRC**. **Set up filing periods** and **File a return** carry the rest of that job.

> **Note:**
>
> **This tab is only there when filing is switched on**
>
> It answers to the filing switch in Preferences and to whether filing is offered for your country. A workspace without it still charges and records tax; it just prepares its return elsewhere.

## Where the rest of tax lives

- [Set up filing periods](https://www.sorviai.com/finance/help-docs/tax-filing/set-up-filing-periods): Turning a filing frequency into the periods you actually file.
- [File a return](https://www.sorviai.com/finance/help-docs/tax-filing/file-a-return): Preparing, checking and submitting a period.
- [Record a tax payment](https://www.sorviai.com/finance/help-docs/tax-payments/record-a-tax-payment): Paying what a filed return says you owe.