Preparing for a VAT return: a practical checklist
What to have in order before a VAT return is prepared, and the reconciliation checks that catch errors before they are filed.
4 min readUpdated
A VAT return is a summary. It is only as reliable as the records underneath it, which is why preparation matters more than the submission itself.
Before the period closes
- Make sure every sales invoice for the period has been recorded
- Chase supplier tax invoices you are missing — you need the document, not just the payment
- Record credit notes in the period they belong to
- Reconcile each bank account so nothing is sitting unrecorded
Checks worth running
- Does output tax in your records agree to the sales figure it should relate to?
- Does input tax being claimed have a valid tax invoice behind every line?
- Have transactions with a different VAT treatment — exports, exempt supplies, zero-rated items — been treated consistently?
- Are there any expenses where input tax is not recoverable that have been claimed by mistake?
The most common corrections we see are input tax claimed without a valid tax invoice, and transactions posted to the wrong period.
After filing
Keep the return together with the working papers that produced it — the ledger extracts, the reconciliation, and the invoice file. If a question comes up later, the answer should take minutes to find, not days.
Your filing frequency and due dates are set by the Federal Tax Authority when you register, and they are shown in your FTA account. Check them there rather than relying on a general rule.
This guide is general information, not individualised tax or legal advice. Rates, thresholds and filing dates are set by the Federal Tax Authority and depend on your circumstances.