Seeing the transactions behind your VAT figures

Summary

Your VAT report gives you Box 4 and Box 7. Input VAT transactions shows you every purchase behind them, with the evidence that supports each one. It is the screen to open when an inspector asks where a figure came from, or when a number looks wrong and you need to find out why.

Select See the transactions behind this figure from either box on the VAT summary.

Prerequisites

• Your organisation registered for VAT and on the accrual basis. The view is not available on cash basis, on the Flat Rate Scheme, or for an unregistered organisation, and each says why.

Steps

Read the list

Each row is a purchase. The columns that matter most:

1. Net (Box 7) and VAT (Box 4), the two figures this purchase contributed.
2. In Box 7 and In Box 4, yes or no. A purchase can be in one and not the other.
3. Evidence status: standard purchase, awaiting VAT invoice, VAT invoice on file, or closed out.
4. Evidence received, the date the invoice arrived.
5. Document issue, flagging a row whose supporting document cannot be opened.

The totals at the top match the VAT summary for the same period.

Understand why Box 7 and Box 4 differ

This is the thing that looks like a bug and is not. The cost and the reclaim do not always fall in the same period. A purchase counts towards Box 7 in the period it was bought, and towards Box 4 in the period its VAT evidence arrived.

The Membership column names which case each row is:

1. Cost and reclaim here. The ordinary case.
2. Cost here, reclaim elsewhere. You bought it this quarter but the VAT invoice has not arrived, or arrived later.
3. Reclaim from an earlier purchase. The invoice arrived this quarter for something bought earlier.

So the two boxes can legitimately cover different sets of purchases, and an effective VAT rate calculated across them would describe neither. The screen says so rather than printing a misleading percentage.

Check the evidence

Two flags are worth looking for before you file.

1. Evidence held, no stored document. The VAT invoice exists, on paper or in an email, but there is no copy in Torqueflow. That is a filing gap, not a figures problem.
2. Stored document link broken. There should be a copy and it cannot be opened. That one needs fixing.

Filter by either to work through them.

Export it

Export CSV gives your accountant the list with the period, the basis, the totals and any filters you applied written into it, so the export explains itself.

Expected Outcome

• Every purchase behind Box 4 and Box 7, with its evidence.
• An answer to “where did this figure come from” without opening thirty invoices.
• A pre-filing check on missing and broken documents.

Notes

• “Not a purchase invoice” rows. A credit note or a proforma can appear here, and a note says how many. These rows are currently added into Box 4 and Box 7 as positive spend. The totals shown are exactly what the VAT return uses, and this view does not change them. It is a known issue and it is being fixed separately. The totals above the table are the real return figures.
• Evidence dated before the purchase. Each of these is still claimed exactly once, but in a period earlier than its own cost, and that earlier period may already have been filed. Check them before filing.
• Reclaims arriving from an earlier cost period restate that earlier period. Attaching the evidence changed the earlier Box 7 total. The audit trail on each purchase records the figures before and after.
• Reclaims given up. Where a purchase was closed out, its cost stays in Box 7 and nothing on the VAT return itself marks it. This view does mark it, which is the point.

Troubleshooting

Problem: A quarter’s figures are different from the last time I looked, and nothing explains it. Cause: Most likely a purchase in that period was voided. A void removes the invoice from both Box 4 and Box 7 in every period, retroactively. The row is not shown as removed, it is simply absent. Fix: This is deliberate: a voided invoice is not a purchase and must not sit in a VAT return. But it means voiding an invoice in a filed period puts the on-screen figures out of step with what you filed. Treat a void in a filed period as a conversation with your accountant, not a quiet correction. The audit trail for the void is on the purchase invoice.

Problem: “This view is not yet available on the cash basis.” Cause: On cash basis, input VAT is apportioned across payments rather than taken from the invoice, so a list of invoices would not reconcile to the report. Fix: None. The entry point is still there so the explanation is reachable, but the figure links are not.

Problem: “We could not confirm this organisation’s VAT scheme.” Cause: The scheme lookup failed, so the list is withheld rather than shown against figures it might not match. Fix: Refresh and try again.

Problem: A row says the VAT invoice is on file but I cannot open it. Cause: Either there is no stored copy, or opening it needs purchase scan access. Fix: The row says which. If it is a permission, ask an owner.

Problem: The effective VAT rate says “Not meaningful this period”. Cause: The cost and the reclaim in this period cover different purchases. Fix: Correct behaviour. The amounts themselves are right.