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Yes this would be very helpful. Ideally, I'd like to see the detail for each particular item of what VAT return it was included in. It's already been suggested below, an extra column that could be added in account transactions or general ledger detail reports would be my preferred solution.

The VAT element on Xero definitely needs some work. For example, when the business moved from accrual scheme to cash scheme there were duplicated entries which I had to use excel to manually work out. Then when the business was moved back to the accrual scheme there were entries missed and again, excel had to be used to work out which ones. Lots of ticking off and I'm still not confident I've captured all of the entries. Something that would tell me which VAT return each transaction was included in would have solved a lot of hard work.

Thanks help me with this claim

Hi Kelly, there definitely needs to be improvements to XERO's VAT reporting and reconciliation processes. The actual VAT return itself is very unwieldy. Ours is around 50,000 lines long by the end of a quarter and there is no easy way of being able to filter to get to the next headings/sections - just a lot of time-consuming scrolling through. And that is before we even start the manual reconciling. The VAT Reconciliation report is not that useful either. I've worked with a XERO consultant to see if we could resolve some of our rec issues and it wasn't the solution we expected.

We've just moved from an other accounting package that was built into a mainframe. The VAT reporting on XERO is a big step backwards which has surprised me as our old accounting package was underdeveloped. XERO's VAT reporting is perhaps OK for a sole trader/small business with few transactions but for more developed businesses who need to perform more contorls, the current VAT Reports and reconciliations are a big step backwards for us.

We reconcile the VAT control account each month due to the volume of transactions we have and to avoid year end recs.

A late claims report would be useful. Also, re-thinking the layout of the VAT returns so that they can be filtered/pivot table etc. e.g. a column which repeats the heading for each transaction.

I would like a simple additional column available in any transaction report that shows R for included in a VAT return.

Hi Sam,

I still think this would be useful, I would envision it to be an extra column on reports, for example, when running a general ledger report you have the option to include VAT rate and VAT name on the report, it would be good if there was a feature that said VAT return and any item that is on a VAT return would show an R for reconciled and expenses that have not yet hit a VAT return show a dash?

This was a feature sage 50 had so you could identify what expenses haven't hit a VAT return.

Quarter filtering would be enough - a clear report showing income and expenses in the quarter and then what has been included in that VAT return.

Must fields would be those found in the report for general ledger.

Country - for me I am looking from a UK perspective

Particularly, a feature showing which return the transactions were on would be helpful

Anyone still needs this?

@everyone

Can you clarify what is actually needed.

A transaction report that shows which vat return period a particular transaction was finalised/closed in?

If so, what type of reporting is needed?

Date - is Quarter filtering enough?

Transactional Data - Which fields are a must in this report?

Country - Are you after specific country vat return format, or is it just the data that is required?

Given the recent announcement of Xero's partnership with Anthropic, perhaps Xero anticipates that clients will setup a Claude.ai workflow to automate searching for VAT errors and missing transactions or other custom analyses not available natively in Xero ?

I would like a report that can be run at year end that shows you all the late claims for that year submitted in future VAT returns as at the moment you need to go into each VAT return to see this information and it's time consuming.

Please add this feature. It was floated over 3 years ago. VAT recording and filing requires enough checks as is. You have history and notes for bills and invoices which time stamps everyting, surely this can be used to capture 'VAT' attracting transactions that are inputtted post filing.

It woudl be even better if the report show which weren't on returns as one section and then another section where it shows which return they are on otherwise you have to go hunting for late claims!

Actually, it would be good if there was a report that said which return the transactions were on to make it easier to look for late claims rather than having to go into each return and search

Great idea!

Great idea, this would be very useful

Great idea!

Great idea, this would be very useful

Great idea!

This would be really helpful. Great idea.

Great Idea