As the Revenue Commissioners (Irish Tax Man) have extended the date by which you file and pay your VAT return from the 19th to the 23rd, if you pay and file online, human nature as it is now aims to be ready by the 23rd instead of the 19th. This meant chasing a few clients to be ready no later than the 23rd and those who thought they were late (did not know about extended filing date) actually filed on time. But now that they know about extended filing date will they now wait until the 23rd to prepare their VAT return.
People always seem to be missing purchase invoices that they could be claiming back VAT on. In the current economic situation, every penny counts and so claiming VAT now in the May/June vat period means less VAT to pay over to the revenue commissioners or more VAT to claim back if you are in a repayment situation. If you don’t claim the VAT back now, it wont be until September (July/August VAT return due date) until you can claim back the VAT.
How do you make sure you don’t miss anything out:
1. Run your Aged Creditors Report and look for payments to suppliers that you do not have an invoice for (an unallocated payment)
2. Compare the statement you supplier statement sent you listing all the invocies you have been sent and compare it to what you have. If you are missing any then request a copy invoice from them and collect the VAT.
3. Don’t pay for anything unless you get an invocie form the supplier
4. Examine your credit card statement for purchases that may contain VAT and find the invoice
5. Don’t forget to claim any VAT on expenses
The nice thing about the Irish VAT system is that their is a cash receipts basis of calculating what VAT is payable is based on cash received from customers less any VAT on paid and unpaid supplier invoices. The key difference between the Irish and the UK vat systems, is that in the UK you can only offset VAT on paid supplier invoices, so the incentive in Ireland is to have every purchase invoice, paid or unpaid and claim the VAT back on those purchase invoices.