Finances

One of the main goals of the system is to make it easier to manage your finances by keeping accurate records of income and expenditure and, in particular, to help you complete your tax return at the end of each financial year. The finances page provides the following facilities to help organise your finances:

Statements

The statements page allows you to produce a financial statement for a property unit or portfolio over a given date range. It can be used for multiple purposes such as:

  • Producing simple statements for your business
  • Exporting transactional information into Excel

Specifying the scope of the statement

The controls at the top of the page allow you to choose the information that is displayed in the statement:

  • Property Unit: Allows you to restrict the statement to a particular property unit and all it's sub-units.
  • Date Criteria: Allows you to restrict the statement to a particular date range. You can either choose a month from the drop-down or specify a specific date range.

When you change the criteria, the list of transactions in the statement is automatically updated and the summary totals recalculated. If the chosen property unit has an owning landlord recorded against it then the landlord's details will also be added to the statement header.

Changing the opening balance

The opening balance for the statement defaults to 0.00. However, you can change this by clicking on it and then typing a new value into the edit box that appears.

Adjusting the statement

You can change the statement by adding, editing or deleting transactional information. When you edit transactions from the statement page, the dialog box for the income or expenditure record will contain an additional field at the bottom which allows you to override the summary line that is displayed on the statement. This allows you to customise exactly what appears on the statement.

Additional notes

See also the Detailed Statement Report.

Bank Accounts

The Bank Accounts page is the starting point for bank reconciliation. Open it from the Finances menu to record or review the cash and bank accounts used by your business.

Where live bank connections are available, start by connecting the account that you want to reconcile. You can then reconcile from the live bank feed and review suggested matches against transactions already recorded in the system.

If live reconciliation is not available for a bank, you can also reconcile by uploading an OFX, QIF, or comma-separated CSV file, or reconcile manually from a statement.

Bank Connections

Live bank connections use a secure redirect to an Open Banking provider. Before you continue, review the provider disclosure, agree to the terms, and confirm that you are authorised to connect the bank account.

To connect a bank account:

  1. Open Bank Accounts from the Finances menu.
  2. Record the account if it is not already listed.
  3. Use the action to manage the live connection for the relevant account.
  4. Click the Connect button to initiate the connection to your bank.
  5. Select the country and bank, then follow the bank authorisation steps.

Once a connection is active, the management dialog shows the current status and lets you disconnect, test the connection, or update the reconciliation start date.

Finexer live bank connections require consent renewal every 90 days. When renewal is due, the management dialog shows a Renew consent button. If consent renewal is required, renew consent before reconciling from the live connection, or use Revoke access to disconnect the live bank connection and stop future imports.

Reconciliation Worksheet

The reconciliation worksheet lets you compare bank rows with transactions already recorded in the system, mark matches as reconciled, record new transactions, and ignore bank rows that should not become transactions.

Reconcile from the live bank feed first where it is available for the account and date range. If live reconciliation is not available, use an uploaded file or manual reconciliation for that period.

Important: Avoid reconciling the same dates using different sources. If a live feed covers a period, avoid uploading a file or manually reconciling the same period unless you are correcting a clearly separate exception. Mixing sources for the same dates can make transactions appear unreconciled or duplicated.

Reconciling from a live bank connection

  1. Open Bank Accounts from the Finances menu.
  2. Choose Reconcile from Live Connection for the connected account.
  3. Check the live reconciliation start date and the last sync time.
  4. Review each imported bank row and the suggested matched transaction.
  5. Use the row action that matches what happened in your bank account.
  6. Use the summary and filters to check what remains unreconciled.

Reviewing imported bank rows

Live and uploaded bank rows use the same review table. The left-hand side shows the bank row, the right-hand side shows the matched or proposed transaction, and the action controls between them let you choose what to do next.

  • Set Reconciled: accept the suggested match or mark an existing transaction as reconciled.
  • Choose Existing: select a different existing transaction when the suggested match is not correct.
  • Record New: create a new income, expenditure, transfer, or other transaction from the bank row.
  • Ignore: hide a bank row that should not be represented by a transaction in the system.

Rows are normally removed from view after they are reconciled or ignored. Use Show Reconciled and Show Ignored to review those rows again.

For Finexer and GoCardless live feeds, an ignored row remains ignored when the feed is refreshed. Select Show Ignored and then Restore if you want to review it again. Uploaded statements and manual reconciliation keep their existing session-only behaviour.

Choosing an existing transaction

Use Choose Existing when the imported bank row matches a transaction that is already recorded, but the suggested match is missing or not correct. The dialog shows likely matches first, and the search option lets you widen the date range, include reconciled transactions, or search another account where account tracking is enabled.

Reconciling by uploading a file

Use file upload when live reconciliation is not available for the bank that you need to reconcile. The system can read OFX, QIF, and comma-separated CSV files.

  1. Download the statement file from your bank web site.
  2. Open Bank Accounts from the Finances menu.
  3. Choose Reconcile From File for the relevant account or business.
  4. Select the file from your computer.
  5. Review the imported rows in the reconciliation worksheet.

OFX and QIF files are usually processed automatically. CSV files must be comma-separated, and may need manual column mapping.

Mapping uploaded CSV columns

If the system cannot automatically understand a CSV file, it will ask you to map the columns. Select any rows to skip before the header, then map either Date, Description, and Amount, or Date, Description, Credit Amount, and Debit Amount.

Reconciling manually

Use manual reconciliation when you are working from a statement without a live feed or statement file. Select the account and date range, enter the opening and closing balances, then mark the matching transactions as reconciled.

The summary tracks the number of reconciled transactions and the difference between the reconciled balance and expected closing balance.

UK Property Tax

This page is used to review your UK property income figures and, when needed, to connect to HMRC so you can manage Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax obligations from the system.

If you do not need to connect to HMRC for MTD yet, you can still use this page to produce your UK property tax worksheet. Choose the Landlord, property units, financial period, and accounting method, then click View Report to open the worksheet.

If you are connecting to HMRC for MTD, complete these setup steps in order:

  • Check that your financial periods from 2026 onwards start on 6/Apr and end on 5/Apr.
  • If the account has jointly owned properties, set up the landlord records, user records, and ownership rules described in Joint Ownership.
  • Where multiple owners need to submit, make sure each owner logs in with their own user account and submits separately.
  • Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax using the GOV.UK sign-up guidance.
  • Configure the individual for MTD and authorize the HMRC connection, as described in Connecting to HMRC.

The sections below provide more detail on each of these steps.

Managing Financial Periods

When you use MTD for Income Tax, the financial periods in the system must match the standard HMRC tax year. If they do not, the page will show warnings and submissions may be inaccurate or fail.

To correct this:

  • Click on the Admin link at the top of the page.
  • Click on the Financial Periods link.
  • Check each financial period from 2026 onwards and make sure it runs from 6/Apr to 5/Apr.
  • Edit any financial period that does not match those dates.

Joint Ownership of Properties

The system supports properties that are owned by more than one landlord, including cases where ownership percentages change over time. Define those ownership rules before preparing MTD submissions or tax worksheet reports for jointly owned properties.

If all properties are 100% owned by one individual, you can use the single Landlord record for that individual. For jointly owned properties, set up:

  • A Landlord record for each person who owns a share of the properties.
  • Ownership rules against portfolios and property units, using the Owners tab.
  • A separate User record for each person who will connect to HMRC and submit MTD figures.

Ownership rules defined on a parent portfolio or property unit are inherited by descendant property units that do not have their own explicit ownership rules. If no rules are defined for a property unit or any parent, ownership defaults to the main business organization or landlord created when the account was registered. Refer to the Properties help topic for details of how to edit ownership rules.

See Understanding Joint Ownership calculations for how these rules affect figures on the tax worksheet.

Connecting to HMRC

Each individual who needs to submit figures must connect their own user login to their own HMRC account. The usual MTD workflow on this page is:

  1. Log in as the individual owner who will submit figures.
  2. Go to Finances and then UK Property Tax.
  3. If prompted, click Configure for MTD.
  4. Enter your NI number, choose the landlord to manage, and save the configuration. Landlords already linked to another user are shown but cannot be selected.
  5. Use the sign-up link on the page to sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax on GOV.UK.
  6. Click the authorise link to connect the application to HMRC.

When HMRC asks you to log in, use the HMRC account for the owner currently logged in to the system. The selected Landlord, user profile NI number and HMRC authorization should all relate to the same person.

Once Connected

After authorising with HMRC, the page shows:

  • The configured landlord and NI number at the top of the MTD and Income Tax Management panels.
  • The landlord and financial period being managed.
  • The accounting method currently selected for the worksheet.
  • Open Periods and Submitted Periods for quarterly obligations.
  • End of Year Tax Activities, when an annual property submission is available.
  • Tax Calculations, including the option to request and view in-year calculations.
  • Final Declaration, showing whether HMRC has reported the selected tax year's final declaration as open, overdue, fulfilled or not available.

You can use the View Historical Tax Years switch to view earlier supported periods without loading the active MTD obligation tables.

Submitting Quarterly Updates

For accounts with multiple individual owners, each owner must submit their own quarterly update separately. Submitting one owner's update does not submit the figures for the other owners.

  1. Log in as the owner who is making the submission.
  2. Go to Finances and then UK Property Tax.
  3. Make sure the correct Landlord, financial period and accounting method are selected.
  4. Use Go Statement from the Open Periods table to open the tax worksheet.
  5. Review the income, expenditure and tax summary figures carefully before submission.
  6. Accept the accuracy declaration and submit once the quarterly period has ended.

The worksheet is laid out in the same way as the SA105 UK property form. Calculated boxes are shown as read-only fields. Editable boxes must be entered and checked by you. For jointly owned properties, transaction figures are proportioned according to the ownership rules defined for the portfolio or property unit.

A quarterly update can be submitted once the quarterly period end date has passed. Once submitted, the period moves from Open Periods to Submitted Periods. An Excel snapshot is saved under your attachments and the Submitted Periods table can download the latest saved snapshot for that quarter.

End of Year Tax Activities

After the final quarterly update for the year has been submitted and year-end functions are available, the End of Year Tax Activities tab lets you manage the activities that HMRC expects after the in-year updates are complete.

Use Annual property figures to review the final statement and submit the annual property figures to HMRC. The tax worksheet shows a separate annual submission button and saves a separate annual Excel snapshot.

Use Property losses to review or update HMRC-backed loss brought forward, loss set off against total income and loss carried forward values for a single UK property business. For MTD tax years, the worksheet boxes for editable loss values are disabled. The dialog opens from HMRC values, and after a successful HMRC save the submitted values are also saved back to the worksheet for display and export. Manage the HMRC-backed values from End of Year Tax Activities.

The Property Business Adjustments section can also show the current UK property business adjustments held by HMRC. Use View Adjustments to open a read-only dialog with the original summary values, any submitted adjustment values, and the adjusted summary values returned by HMRC.

This covers the property income annual submission. To submit digital records for other income, or to make your final declaration, use an agent or other MTD software that supports those parts of the Income Tax MTD process.

Tax Calculations

The Tax Calculations tab lets you ask HMRC to trigger a new in-year tax calculation for the selected financial year. When HMRC has processed a calculation, use View Calculation to see the returned calculation details. If HMRC is still processing the request, wait a few seconds and refresh the page.

Final Declaration

The Final Declaration tab shows the current HMRC final declaration obligation status for the selected tax year, including the due date and any received date returned by HMRC.

After your first MTD submission, the NI number and linked landlord are locked for that user.

Important Notes:

  • Although the system makes the task of producing a tax return much easier, we always recommend the use of a professional accountant or tax adviser to ensure you meet HMRC requirements and to ensure you optimise your overall tax exposure. In particular, the specific guidelines for SA105 form change with each new tax year so it is important the details you submit on your tax return are professionally reviewed and valid with respect to the latest regulations.
  • The web page is designed to calculate figures for Property Income. From the 2025-26 tax year, former Furnished Holiday Lettings income is treated within normal UK or overseas property business reporting. For earlier tax years where separate Furnished Holiday Lettings rules applied, ask your accountant or tax adviser to confirm how those figures should be reported.

UK Tax Worksheet

The UK Tax Worksheet page makes it easy to complete the Properties section of the UK tax return (section SA105).

When the worksheet is opened from the UK Property Tax MTD workflow, the top panel shows the Landlord, property units, NI number, accounting method, financial period and quarterly end date being submitted. If the quarterly or annual submission is available, this panel also contains the accuracy declaration and submission button.

The rest of the page consists of three main sections:

Tax Summary

The first section of the page is laid out as per the UK Properties (SA105) section of the UK tax return. Those items of information that can be automatically calculated are shown within disabled fields so you can see them but can't change them. Those items of information which cannot be calculated are shown as standard editable fields which you can change. When you change one of the editable fields you can click on the button called Save to save your changes and to update the calculated totals.

If you want to see how the totals are calculated then click on the link Show Detailed Calculations. This displays a detailed breakdown of the calculations as described in the Working Sheet for calculating profit and loss described in the HMRC notes for the SA105 form.

Supporting Detail for Income

This section shows a detailed list of the income records which contribute to the Property Income totals of the Tax Summary section. This allows you to see exactly which records have been included and also allows those records to be changed if you need to adjust them. There are three groups of income records:

  • Rental Income - A detailed list of rental income records used to calculate the total income. See the section below on Accounting Methods for additional detail about this section.
  • Additional Income - A detailed list of additional income records.
  • Non-Taxable Income - A detailed list of those income records which are not considered taxable.

These sections are designed to make it easy to review and validate the income record detail which is used to calculate the figures in the tax summary. The tax basis information recorded against tenancy charges is used to determine which of the above groups an income record belongs to. If a particular income record is in the wrong section then you can change it by either assigning it to a different tenancy charge or by changing the tax basis of the tenancy charge itself. See the help on tenancy charges for further information.

Supporting Detail for Expenditure

This section shows a detailed list of the expenditure records which contribute to the various sections of the Tax Summary. Each record shows the Tax Category to which it has been allocated and shows whether it will be used to offset against rental income. You can edit individual expenditure records if you need to adjust them.

The section also includes a summary of expenditure by tax category. This is especially useful for validating the amount of expenditure assigned to tax categories which are not deductible as expenses. Typically, this includes Capital Expenditure, additional categories which you have added or expenditure which has not been allocated to a tax category.

Understanding Joint Ownership calculations

When ownership rules are present, all income and expense transactions are automatically apportioned based on the ownership rules of the property unit for each transaction in the tax worksheet.

When any apportioned transactions exist, an additional column called Proportioned Amount is displayed for transaction tables. This column will show the value allocated to the landlord after ownership rules are applied. In addition, an information button is shown next to the proportioned amount column to open the Allocation Info dialog. This dialog shows the original transaction value, the percentage allocated, the allocated value, and all ownership rules that overlap the transaction. Rules that were effective on the transaction date are marked with a tick so you can see which overlapping rules apply alongside the full ownership history.

When apportioned transactions are present, a link labelled view the location ownership report. is shown above the income detail. This opens the worksheet-linked location ownership report in a separate window and displays the ownership rules used for the selected property unit, landlord, accounting method, and worksheet date range. The report lets you switch between the effective ownerships and all ownerships that overlap the worksheet period, and warns you if any property unit has incomplete ownership coverage for the period.

Accounting Methods - Cash vs Accruals

There are two methods that can be used to calculate your annual UK property income tax: Cash Basis or Accruals Basis (aka Earnings Basis). The tax worksheet supports both accounting methods. You can choose the accounting method by using the 'Accounting Method' drop-down option - make sure to click on the Save button to update the tax worksheet after changing this option.

Cash Basis

The Cash Basis can be used when the income generated from your property rental business (before allowable expenses are deducted) does not exceed £150,000 in the tax year. Under the Cash Basis, the income tax calculation is based on when rent was actually received and when expenditure was actually paid.

Under the Cash Basis the tax worksheet calculates rental income by adding up the actual income received and recorded against the financial period. The Rental Income detail table will list all those income records that were used in the calculation. You can use the actions against each income record to edit them if, for example, an income record is assigned to the wrong financial period.

Accruals Basis

The Accruals Basis follows conventional business accounting methods. The income tax calculation is based on the period in which the rental income is due and when expenditure was incurred. You can use this method regardless of whether the income generated from your property rental business (before allowable expenses are deducted) exceeds £150,000 in the tax year. In other words if your annual rental income is below £150,000 per year then you can still use this method. However if it is above £150,000 then you must use this method.

Under the Accruals Basis the tax worksheet calculates rental income by adding up the income due during the financial period, regardless of what was actually paid. The Rental Income detail table will show each of the income due records that were used in the calculation. If a particular due payment spans more than one financial period then the system will automatically calculate the proportion of it due for the financial period in question. Note that there are HMRC rules for how to deal with bad debt - see Section PIM2054 of the HMRC Property Income Manual.

Expenditure records are normally assigned to financial periods based upon the date they were paid. However, you can simply change the financial period setting of an expenditure record if you wish to assign it to a different financial period. In addition, under the Accruals accounting method, expenditure can be allocated to multiple financial periods where appropriate - e.g. for insurance cover that spans two financial periods. See the help on expenditure for more details.

Tenancy Charge Tax Basis

Each tenancy charge has a Tax Basis which determines how income records recorded against that charge are treated for taxation purposes. There are three types of Tax Basis:

  • Rental Income - Income recorded against the charge is treated as regular rental income. If tax is calculated using the Cash Basis then the actual value of income recorded is used to calculate the tax due. If tax is calculated using the Accruals Basis then the income due against the charge is used to calculate the tax due, regardless of what was actually received.
  • Additional Income - Income recorded against the charge is treated as additional taxable income regardless of which accounting method is in use.
  • Non-Taxable - Income recorded against the charge is ignored for taxation purposes.

The default tax basis for each type of tenancy charge is as follows:

Type of Charge Default Tax Basis
Recurring Rent Charge Rental Income
Additional Recurring Charge Rental Income
Deposit Charge Non-Taxable On the understanding that it is returned to the tenant. See Section PIM1051 of the HMRC Property Income Manual for further details.
One-off Charge Additional Income

Furniture Wear and Tear Allowance

Note: HMRC announced the wear and tear allowance is abolished from 6th April 2016. Please consider the wear and tear allowance for prior tax years only.

The wear and tear allowance was introduced to make the lives of property investors easier when completing their annual tax returns. Section PIM3200 of the HMRC Property Income Manual describes how it works. In a nutshell, it allows you to offset 10% of your annual rental income against your property income tax bill. However, there are a number of conditions to be aware of:

  1. This allowance can only be used for fully furnished properties.
  2. If your rental income includes charges that would normally be borne by a tenant (e.g. council tax, water rates, etc.), then these have to be deducted before you calculate your allowance.
  3. It does not matter how much you spend on furnishing your property. You can only offset 10% of your rental income. This means that expenditure for purchasing furnishings cannot be offset against rental income.
  4. If you use the allowance, then it must be used consistently for the duration of the property ownership unless it becomes a partly furnished or unfurnished property.

The tax worksheet provides two ways for dealing with the wear and tear allowance via the option called 'Auto Calculate Furnished Wear & Tear Allowance?'. You can change this option for each property unit/portfolio and for each period (though note condition (iv) above) - make sure to click on the Save button to update the tax worksheet after changing this option. The two approaches are:

  1. When Auto-Calculate is off, you calculate the wear and tear allowance manually and type the resulting value into box 36.
  2. When Auto-Calculate is on, it will be calculated for you.

If you ask the system to calculate the wear and tear allowance for you then it displays additional details in the tax worksheet to help you review and adjust the information so it's correct:

  • The Income Details section will include an additional column to show whether the rental income comes from a fully furnished, partly furnished or unfurnished tenancy. If the column is blank for a particular rental income row then it means it has not been set for the tenancy and it's treated as unfurnished. If the furnished property is not set or is incorrect then you can adjust it easily by clicking on the Edit Tenancy Record link under the More... action. Changing the Furnished setting of the tenancy will affect all income records for that tenancy on the tax worksheet.

  • The Expenditure Details section will include an additional column to show whether the expenditure is included in the rent. This setting is taken from the transaction category associated with each expenditure record and can be adjusted by clicking on the Admin link at the top of the page and then the Transaction Categories link.

  • The Detailed Calculations section will show the intermediate totals used for calculating the final wear and tear allowance figure.

The wear and tear allowance is then calculated as follows:

  • Under conditions (i) and (ii) it calculates the net income by adding up the rental income for fully furnished tenancies and then deducting expenditure which is included in the rent.

  • It then calculates the value for the wear and tear allowance as 10% of the net income and automatically sets box 36 to the resulting value.

In addition, under condition (iii) any expenditure assigned to the tax category 'Renewal of items under Furniture W&T Allowance' is not included under the Property expenses section of the tax worksheet and hence, is not offset against rental income. Instead it appears under the Additional Tax Categories section. It's important that you assign any expenditure that cannot be claimed under the wear and tear allowance to this category to ensure the calculations are correct. It's also important to be aware that some furniture-related expenses can be claimed. Refer to the HMRC guidelines for further details.

Furniture - Renewals Approach

You don't have to use the Furniture Wear and Tear Allowance. Section PIM3200 of the HMRC Property Income Manual allows for an alternative method for accounting for furnishing related expenditure and this is called the 'Renewals Allowance' or the 'Renewals Approach'. The default data includes a number of transaction categories which you can use for this approach. The following table summarises which transaction category should be used for each type of expenditure under the two approaches:

Furniture Expense Accounting Approach Type of Expense Can be offset against income? Transaction Category Tax Category
Furniture Wear & Tear Allowance Original purchase of furnishings No (the 10% allowance covers it) Furniture (W&T Allowance) - Renewal Furniture (W&T Allowance) - Renewal
Renewal of furnishings No (the 10% allowance covers it) Furniture (W&T Allowance) - Renewal Furniture (W&T Allowance) - Renewal
Repair of furnishings Yes Furniture (W&T Allowance) - Repair Property repairs, maintenance and renewals
Furniture Renewals Approach Original purchase of furnishings No Furniture (Renewals Approach) - Capital Purchase Capital expenditure
Renewal of furnishings Yes Furniture (Renewals Approach) - Renewal Property repairs, maintenance and renewals
Repair of furnishings Yes Furniture (Renewals Approach) - Repair Property repairs, maintenance and renewals

Finance Cost Relief

From April 2017, HMRC are restricting the finance cost relief for individual landlords on residential properties to the basic rate of Income Tax. The restriction will be introduced in stages from 2017 through to 2021.

The lower part of the detailed calculations section of the tax worksheet displays details of how Finance Cost Relief is calculated for your business as follows:

Field Description
A. Non-residential loan interest and other financial costs The total expenditure your business has incurred for financial costs such as loan interest on non-residential property.

Specifically, this aggregates all transactions in the financial period with tax category Loan interest & finance costs (Non-residential property).

B. Residential loan interest and other financial costs The total expenditure your business has incurred for financial costs such as loan interest on residential property.

Specifically, this aggregates all transactions in the financial period with tax category Loan interest & finance costs (Residential property).

C. Residential finance costs that can be claimed as an expense The proportion of the residential finance costs that can be claimed as an expense. The percentage used to calculate the proportion will reduce in stages between 2017 through to 2021.
D. Residential finance costs that cannot be claimed as an expense The proportion of residential finance costs that cannot be claimed as an expense. These finance costs can be claimed as a reduction on your income tax liability at the basic rate of tax (currently 20%). Refer to the HMRC guidelines for further details.
E. Total finance costs that can be claimed as an expense The full amount to be claimed as an expense, calculated as the sum of non-residential finance costs (box A) and the proportion of residential finance costs that can be claimed as an expense (box C).

For full details of the changes to finance cost relief see the following HMRC publications:

Additional Notes

  • Once you have completed adjusting income and expenditure records for a Financial Period, you should close the Financial Period so it no longer becomes possible to change or add records to it. To close a Financial Period, click on the Admin link at the top of the page, then click on the Financial Periods link to see a list of all your financial periods. Click on the Edit icon next to the financial period you wish to close and uncheck the Open? checkbox.
  • You should refer to the HMRC's instructions on how to complete the UK Property section of the tax return. In particular, you should ensure your rent income and expenditure are correctly accounted as described in their instructions and in accordance with recent legislative changes to areas such as mortgage interest relief, wear and tear allowances, etc.

    HMRC Property Income Manual
    SA105 UK Property Form
    SA105 UK Property Form Notes

VAT

If you have a VAT registered business then the system can help you track VAT elements of transactions.

Setting up VAT Tracking

You can enable VAT tracking as follows:

  • Click on the Admin link at the top of the page.
  • Click on the Business Setup link to access details of your business.
  • Navigate to the VAT tab of the Business Setup dialog.
  • Check the Enable VAT checkbox.
  • Enter the VAT Registration No. for your business.
  • For more details, refer to the help for the Business Setup dialog.

Recording VAT

Once VAT tracking has been enabled, you will see the following additional fields in a number of dialogs (Income dialog, Expenditure dialog, Tenancy Charge dialog, etc.):

Attribute Description
Show VAT Fields This option controls whether or not VAT fields are displayed. If VAT fields are not displayed, then any new record will have zero VAT recorded for it.
Net Amount The Net Amount for the record (i.e. the amount prior to VAT being added).
VAT Rate The VAT Rate for the record.
VAT Amount The amount of VAT - this is automatically calculated from the Net Amount and VAT Rate.

VAT Management and Making Tax Digital

Clicking on the VAT Management link under the Finances menu will take you to the VAT management page where you can connect to HMRC's Making Tax Digital gateway and produce VAT statements.

Introduction to Making Tax Digital (MTD)

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a key part of the UK government’s plans to make it easier for individuals and businesses to get their tax right and keep on top of their affairs. The aim of the initiative is to make tax administration more effective, more efficient and easier for taxpayers, through the implementation of a fully digital tax system.

From April 2019, VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold of £85,000 are now required to keep records digitally and to use software to submit their VAT returns through the Making Tax Digital service.

Making Tax Digital for income tax and corporation tax will come into effect once the VAT scheme has finished a successful rollout. This is currently projected to be from April 2020.

See the following HMRC guide for more details:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-tax-digital/overview-of-making-tax-digital

VAT Management page

When you first access the VAT Management page you will see links to learn more about the Making Tax Digital initiative, to sign up your business for Making Tax Digital and a link to authorise connecting to your HMRC account. Follow these instructions to connect to your HMRC account through the Making Tax Digital gateway.

Once you are connected, the VAT Management page will display the following information live from your HMRC account:

  • Open Periods
    • Displays the VAT periods that HMRC considers open for your business.
    • Use the Go Statement button to navigate to the VAT statement for the period. You can review and edit VAT statements and, once you are happy that the figures are accurate, you can submit a VAT return to HMRC through the MTD gateway. See the VAT Statement Page section below for further details.
  • Submitted Periods
    • Displays the VAT periods that have been submitted to HMRC for your business.
    • Use the View VAT Return button to show the figures that were submitted for a period.
  • Liabilities
    • Shows the list of open liabilities that HMRC has recorded for your business - i.e. VAT payments that HMRC consider are due from your business.
  • Payments
    • Shows the list of payments that you have made to HMRC.

Important notes:

  • The information displayed for your business is fetched directly from HMRC through their Making Tax Digital gateway. It will only show information from the point you sign up for Making Tax Digital and will not include any information prior to that point.
  • When you submit a VAT Return it can take several working days for liabilities to be reflected through the Making Tax Digital gateway.
  • When you make a payment for a VAT Return it can take several days for the payment to be reflected through the Making Tax Digital gateway.
  • If you have waited more than 5 working days for liabilities or payments to appear and they are still not displayed then you should check your Business Tax Account or contact the VAT General Enquiries helpline.
VAT Statement Page

The VAT Statement Page displays summary VAT return figures for a selected period as well as the detailed transactions that contribute to the statement.

The VAT Statement Page supports two accounting methods to determine the rental income to include on the page:

  • Cash Basis: The VAT statement will include actual income transactions received.
  • Accruals Basis: The VAT statement will include expected income transactions as per tenancy charges.
In both cases, the VAT statement will include actual expenditure records recorded during the selected date period.

The summary section displays the headline figures used on a standard HMRC VAT return. If you are connected to your HMRC account and the VAT Statement is for an open HMRC VAT Period, then you can submit these figures as a VAT return directly from the system.

The detail transaction section of the VAT statement displays the effective VAT classification for each transaction. You can override this by editing the transaction and setting the VAT Classification field. See the Transactions help topic for further details.

The VAT statement can be exported to PDF, Excel or Word formats. It is recommended you export the statement after submitting to HMRC.

Reporting VAT

Once VAT tracking has been enabled, you will see the Net Amount, VAT Rate and VAT Amount fields displayed on the following reports in addition to the VAT Statement page described above:

  • Statements
  • Landlord Statements

Additional Notes

  • The VAT Tracking feature is only available to upgraded customers.
  • Although the system makes the task of recording and reporting VAT much easier, we always recommend the use of a professional accountant or tax advisor to ensure you meet the requirements of the HMRC.
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