Getting started with VAT

When your company is liable for VAT, there are certain settings that must be defined within Mamut Business Software. If you have chosen VAT registered and the correct number of VAT periods within the wizard for creating your company database, the majority of the company settings will have already been set. In this case, it is only the specific settings for products and contacts that you need to be aware of. If your company has just been VAT registered, or you are unsure of what was chosen in the wizard, you should go through all of the points below.

General settings

Firstly, you need to specify that your company is liable for VAT within the company settings. To do so, go to View - Settings - Company - Financial Settings. Then select Registered in the VAT drop-down list and click OK.

If your company is going to be using four VAT periods, you can move on to the next point where this is the standard setting in the program. If you have yearly reporting of VAT or more than four VAT periods, you can change this in the accounting settings: Go to View - Settings - Accounting, and click on Edit. Select the number from the drop-down list No. of VAT periods, and click OK. You can only change the number of VAT periods if you have not yet entered anything into the accounting module for the current year, and if the ensuing accounting year has not yet been created.

VAT codes

Mamut Business Software comes with pre-defined VAT codes. You will find an overview of these in the VAT register that you will find via View - Settings - Company - VAT codes. If you wish to change the standard settings of the VAT codes (for example standard sales account/cost account) or create new VAT codes, you can do so from here. However, we recommend that you keep the default settings.

With the help of the check box Show in the journal entry in the VAT register, you are able to specify whether a particular VAT code should be available within Journal Entry. In this way you can reduce the number of available VAT codes shown in journal entry and make the list easier to use.

Read more about the VAT codes in About the VAT register.

Account settings

By connecting an account to a VAT code, the VAT will always be calculated when you register a transaction on the account in journal entry. By default, this fee will be deducted from the amount and set aside in the specified account for the VAT codes you choose here. All predefined accounts in Mamut Business Software are already set up with relevant VAT codes, but you must ensure that you set the correct VAT codes on new accounts that you create.

If your company has previously been exempt from VAT, and you chose to set the VAT to None on all accounts, you must now set the VAT codes on the accounts that shall be liable for VAT.

To set/change the VAT codes on an account, go to View - Accounting - Chart of Accounts. Browse to the account to which you wish to apply a VAT code, and select the VAT code from the drop-down list for VAT code. Repeat for all relevant accounts.

Read more about the above account settings Chart of Accounts Properties.

Contact Settings

When you create a new customer and/or supplier via View - Contacts - Contact Management, the contact will automatically be defined as liable for VAT. If the customer/supplier is exempt from VAT or based in another country, click on the Settings tab in the Contact card, and select the Customer or Supplier button, and state the correct VAT conditions in the VAT drop-down list.

If there are customers within the system that were created before you became liable for VAT, you must go through manually and change the VAT codes for each of these customers, where they will be defined as exempt.

Read more about the settings in the customer card in Contact Management Tab: Settings.

Product Settings

When you create a new product via View - Product - Product Register, you must state the VAT for each product in the drop-down list for Output VAT and Input VAT. In the company settings for product you can also state the default value for new products. If the majority of the products that you buy and sell usually have the same value you are able to define this here. This will save you time and work when creating products. Go to View - Settings - Company - Settings per Module - Product, and select the Default values tab, and state the desired default VAT in the drop-down lists.

If there are products within the system that were created before you became liable for VAT, you must go through manually and change the VAT codes for each of these products, where they will be defined as exempt.

If you wish to state other posting accounts than those that are defined as default within the system, you can do so within the Settings tab in the product card.

Read more about the different settings in the product register in Product Register: Settings .

Posting VAT

When you register an order/invoice and or purchase, the program will automatically post to the correct account. When posting directly in the journal entry, select the VAT from the drop-down list in the journal line. The VAT will then automatically be processed to the account that is connected to the VAT code. If you wish to change the account the different VAT codes are posted to, you are able to do so in the VAT register. Read more in Editing the VAT codes.