Skip to main content
Docs

VAT (Germany) overview

Not sure about a term? See the Glossary.

What VAT support in Valutra is for

Valutra can help you plan VAT payments and understand the liquidity impact.

It is not a tax filing tool.

Availability (countries)

VAT planning is currently Germany-only (DE).

If your selected country does not support VAT (e.g. OTHER):

  • VAT UI is hidden.
  • VAT is automatically disabled.

Country works like a user-level default (similar to default currency): changing it does not retroactively rewrite existing data and does not convert amounts.

Key idea

  • Valutra can create VAT-related plan items so that your forecast includes expected VAT outflows.

Prerequisites & settings (User settings)

VAT features depend on your configuration in User settings.

Key options:

  • Show sales tax separately: enables VAT logic and VAT-specific UI.
  • Accounting method:
    • Accrual basis: VAT is assigned based on invoice/service timing.
    • Cash basis: VAT is assigned based on payment date.
  • VAT reporting frequency: monthly / quarterly / yearly (defines the periods used for calculation).
  • VAT payment day (1–31): due day in the following month (end-of-month is handled as “ultimo”).
  • Default / reduced tax rate (%): presets for per-amount VAT selection.
  • VAT category: category used for auto-generated VAT advance payment plan items.

VAT per amount (business)

For business amounts you can (when VAT is enabled) select VAT handling per amount:

  • no tax
  • default or reduced (based on your user settings)

Depending on the context, the UI shows a breakdown (e.g. net/tax or gross/tax) so it’s clear what portion is VAT.

Automatic VAT advance payments (planned VAT payments)

If “Auto-generate VAT advance payments” is enabled, Valutra creates/updates planned VAT advance payments automatically.

Important details:

  • Planned VAT payments are generated per reporting period (monthly/quarterly/yearly).
  • Periods that are already paid (planned VAT payments that have a linked payment) are not overwritten.
  • The forecast horizon is the later of:
    • current period + 5 years
    • the furthest VAT-relevant business date (e.g. last contract end / last planned instance)

This keeps VAT forecasting stable even with contract gaps.

What happens when VAT is disabled

When VAT gets disabled (explicitly or because you switch to a country where VAT is not supported):

  • Unpaid VAT plan items (VAT payments without linked payments) are removed.
  • Paid/historical VAT plan items (with linked payments) remain unchanged.

VAT modal

The VAT modal shows a VAT summary for a selected period and explains how the amount is derived.

You typically open it from Payments & reconciliation for a month (and depending on context also for quarter/year).

The modal includes:

  • A disclaimer: only transactions recorded in the system are included.
  • Monthly/quarterly/yearly summaries with their date ranges.
  • Optional “Forecast included” warning: planned business instances without matching payments are shown separately.
  • Breakdown by tax rate:
    • Income (net) + VAT
    • Expenses (gross) + Input tax
    • Balance (liability / refund) per rate
  • Total totals for VAT/input tax and the resulting liability/refund.
  • If automatic generation is disabled: a manual “Create VAT payment” action for the displayed period.

How VAT is calculated (short)

  • Payments override planned instances (no double counting).
  • Planned business instances without payments can be included as forecast.
  • The accounting method (accrual/cash basis) primarily affects which period income/expenses are assigned to.

Truncation rule for German VAT returns

For German VAT advance returns in Valutra:

  • The net tax base is truncated to full euros per period and per tax-rate group.
  • VAT is then calculated from that truncated net base.
  • Valutra does not truncate one single aggregated total across all tax rates.

How to interpret results:

  • The sum of monthly/quarterly values can differ slightly from a separately calculated yearly view.
  • Small differences are expected in period-based tax calculations.

Important warning

Always verify VAT results.

  • Your accounting/tax tool is the source of truth.
  • Valutra is planning support.

Troubleshooting

If the VAT numbers look surprising:

  • check your VAT settings (frequency, method)
  • check whether payments already exist (payments override planned instances)

Next topics