HMRC have informed me that they wish to carry out a VAT visit to my business. As part of it they require me to submit to them, in advance, the last 4 years records electronically, although, as yet, they have not specified in which format.
My Solar file contains transactions since 2010.
Is there a way to just extract and send the 4 years records required or would I have to send the whole file, and also, in which formats can Solar save the information for HMRC to use?
Hi Robert,
I don't know exactly what electronic format HMRC require. If they don't provide more details about their requirements, I recommend you produce the following reports:
Nominal Ledger
Profit and Loss
Balance Sheet
You can configure each report to specify a date range and export to a spreadsheet.
In addition, I imagine that HMRC will want to see the VAT Return Detail for each VAT period in the last 4 years. When you use the 'Prepare VAT Return' feature in Solar Accounts it prompts you to save the VAT Return Detail report to a PDF file. You should save these PDF files for HMRC to show how the Box 1 to 9 return figures were calculated. In addition, use Solar Accounts to produce the same VAT Return Detail reports and export to a spreadsheet. Then compare the PDF report with the spreadsheet and look for any differences. If there are any differences you will probably need to explain why (e.g. a supplier issued an invoice for a previous VAT period, so it doesn't appear in the figures on the VAT return you submitted to HMRC, but does appear on the VAT Return Detail report in Solar Accounts for that period).
Please let me know how you get on with the VAT visit.
