VAT handlin

You can handle VAT (Value Added Tax) two ways:

1.- Use the Tax field to write the VAT amount and then select the tax type pull-down menu. As you know we have the VAT we pay and the VAT we collect. That is the easiest and fastest way to add simple VAT information as you only need to create a single transaction. iCash Query panel lets you search that field and VAT tax report is created thanks to it. The drawback is when the invoice includes more than one VAT type, other government taxes, shipment, shipment VAT and so on. In such case second method is far more powerful.

2.- Write 2 transactions and group them. First transaction corresponds to the amount without VAT and second transaction to the VAT itself. Needless to say you have to add two new accounts, 'VAT payed' and 'VAT collected' to the 'Liabilities' category. Usually you will get the 'VAT payed' refunded and owe 'VAT collected' to the government.

An outgoing invoice will look like this:

Day	Type	Origin Account	Target account	Amount
1	Sale	My client	My bank	500.00
1	Sale	My client	VAT Collected	80.00

An incoming invoice will look like this:

Day	Type	Origin Account	Target account	Amount
1	Transfer	My bank	My provider	500.00
1	Transfer	My bank	VAT payed	80.00

That way you can add as many VAT types, taxes, shipment or whatever. Once all the transaction have been created, select and group them ('Transaction | Group' menu). As a result you will get a single transaction for the total amount you can expand to see details. This is known as a split. Note that conventional accounting use this approach as well. Again you can Query transactions using VAT accounts and create reports using the account statement and selecting the VAT account.