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VAT in practice

VAT from the first invoice to the finished return: rates, invoices, tax points, the VAT account, the boxes of the return and the special schemes.

Medium5 of 5 modules open25 rooms

This path is practice in how the records and the sums work. It is not tax advice. Any rate or allowance in a question is an example for that question, so check GOV.UK for the current figures.

Module 1

How VAT works

Output tax and input tax, the three rates, what is exempt, who has to register, and how to take VAT out of a price.

  1. 1Output tax and input tax: which is which?10 min, easy
  2. 2Standard, reduced and zero rate: which applies?8 min, easy
  3. 3Exempt or outside the scope: what is the difference?9 min, medium
  4. 4Who has to register for VAT?10 min, medium
  5. 5How to get from a VAT inclusive price to the net10 min, medium
Recap this moduleSix questions, starting with the ones you got wrong.
Module 2

VAT invoices

What a VAT invoice has to show, the date its VAT falls due, the short form for small sales, credit notes and rounding.

  1. What a VAT invoice must show9 min, easyPremium
  2. Tax points: when is the VAT due?10 min, mediumPremium
  3. Simplified invoices: when a till receipt is enough8 min, mediumPremium
  4. How VAT works on a credit note9 min, mediumPremium
  5. How to round VAT on an invoice9 min, mediumPremium
Module 3

VAT in the books

Follow VAT from the day books and the cash book into the VAT control account, and deal with VAT that cannot be claimed.

  1. How VAT is recorded in the day books10 min, mediumPremium
  2. When does VAT go in the cash book?10 min, mediumPremium
  3. The VAT control account: what do you owe HMRC?11 min, mediumPremium
  4. VAT you cannot reclaim10 min, mediumPremium
  5. Relief for a debt that is never paid10 min, hardPremium
Module 4

The VAT return

The nine boxes of the UK VAT return: what goes in each one, how to work the figures out from the books, and who pays whom at the end.

  1. What each box of the VAT return means7 min, easyPremium
  2. How to work out box 1 and box 49 min, mediumPremium
  3. Net VAT: pay or reclaim8 min, mediumPremium
  4. Sales and purchases totals: boxes 6 and 79 min, mediumPremium
  5. A whole VAT return from the books12 min, hardPremium
Module 5

VAT schemes and rules

Cash accounting, the flat rate scheme and annual accounting, how to put a mistake right, and the digital records that HMRC expects.

  1. Cash accounting: VAT when the money moves10 min, mediumPremium
  2. The flat rate scheme: a percentage of turnover10 min, mediumPremium
  3. Annual accounting: one VAT return a year9 min, mediumPremium
  4. How to correct an error on a VAT return10 min, mediumPremium
  5. VAT records and Making Tax Digital9 min, easyPremium