Re: EU VAT

[Nigel Titley <..hidden..>]

On Mon, 2011-08-08 at 10:25 -0700, Chris Travers wrote:
> > Yes, this is called the ECSL form. I make enough of these that I have a
> > perl script that crawls the LedgerSMB database and generates a file of
> > the appropriate format to directly load up to the online submission
> > system.
> 
> With 1.3, we can probably simplify this a little bit with the tax form
> reporting API (we'd have to write a query to grab the records
> correctly).

I'm really looking forward to a proper, documented API so I can finished
the Oscommerce channel and automate some of the invoice generation.
Grabbing the records is fairly simple.

> > Purchasing from outside the EU is fairly straightforward. VAT is paid on
> > the goods' entry into the country, usually to the shipping agent. This
> > can then be claimed back, as per usual, at the end of the quarter. Every
> > month the taxman sends you a list of incoming payments which you then
> > need to match up against your claims. If they miss one, then too bad,
> > you can't claim it back.
> 
> In what format do these come in?  Is there an electronic format?

Paper....

> > But you will shortly *have* to complete your return online.
> 
> Ok.   Either way it seems the key is to be able to ensure we can
> generate the reports needed.  How we present these (on paper vs
> electronically) is a presentation issue and can be handled in a
> country-specific way if we need to.  What I'd like to know then is:

Presentation isn't really an issue. Formats can always be munged as
appropriate.

> 1)  What sorts of reports are needed that we don't have?  What could
> be added to reports we have to make them work?

You need to be able to report: VATable sales, VAT-free intra-community
sales and export sales.

> 2)  Is there a specific electronic format needed for the UK system?

Not for the VAT reporting, no. It is done via a fairly simple web
interface and there are only seven numbers to type in. The ECSL is done
via a simple CSV file format. 

Nigel