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Set Up Filing Periods

Filing periods have to match what you registered for with your tax authority, exactly.

Get them right once at the start and every return afterwards lines up on its own; get them wrong and every return needs manual arithmetic.

The VAT Settings tab of Finance Settings, alongside Tax Rates, VAT Filing Settings and a greyed-out Construction Industry Scheme. A Registration section carries a VAT Registered toggle set on, a registration number label, the number GB418277364 and a registration date. A Filing section sets VAT Accounting Basis to Accrual (Standard) and Filing Frequency to Quarterly, noting that changing the basis recalculates draft returns while returns already filed are unaffected.
Accounting basis and filing frequency are what decide which transactions land in which period.

Rates and treatments

Two settings decide the tax on any given line, and they work together. The rate is what percentage applies; the treatment is whether it applies at all.

Tax rateon the item or line
The percentage. Set as a default on the item and overridable per line.
Tax treatmenton the customer or vendor
Whether tax is charged, and at which rate group. This is what makes an overseas sale zero-rated without anybody choosing it.

Changing periods later

ChangeWhen it is safe
Frequency, monthly to quarterlyFrom your next unfiled period, if the authority agreed.
Period start dateOnly if no return has been filed on the old dates.
Accounting basisAt a period boundary, with the authority's agreement.
Adding a tax rateAny time. Existing transactions keep their rate.
Editing a tax rate percentageNever. Add a new rate instead.

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