When to read this
You're preparing a quarterly VAT return and need a clean summary of your input VAT (what you paid suppliers) and output VAT (what you charged customers) broken out by rate. The VAT Return Preparation page is the right surface in TaxItEasy for that summary. This article walks through what it shows, how to interpret the numbers, and the edge cases where the output needs human judgment before filing.
For the underlying multi-currency conversion that feeds the totals, see multi-currency and official ECB rates. For exporting your full records, see export your records for year-end.
How to open it
From Invoices, open VAT Return Preparation.
Pick a period with the quarter buttons — every quarter of the current and the previous year (Q1–Q4) is available. The view recomputes from your invoices for the selected quarter.
What you see
Summary tiles
- Input VAT (Vorsteuer) — VAT on your incoming invoices; the VAT you can typically reclaim.
- Output VAT (Umsatzsteuer) — VAT on your outgoing invoices; the VAT you've collected and owe.
- VAT Payable (Zahllast) — the bottom line: output minus input. Positive = you owe the tax authority for the period; negative = a refund is expected.
The payable figure is your headline number when filing — most VAT return forms ask for exactly this.
Breakdown by VAT rate
A table with one row per VAT rate that occurs in the quarter: the rate, the number of invoices at that rate, and the total net, VAT, and gross. A quarter with only 19% and 9% invoices shows just those two rows; a quarter spanning several countries' invoices shows every rate touched.
Export buttons
Three downloads for the selected quarter:
- CSV — the invoice-level data (including multi-currency base amounts at ECB rates).
- Posting-batch file — a CSV in the format your accountant's software imports.
- PDF — a formatted invoice-list report with totals.
See CSV and PDF export status for the full export overview.
Multi-currency handling
Amounts are aggregated in your base currency, using the per-invoice exchange-rate conversions (see multi-currency and official ECB rates). A USD invoice converted at the invoice-date rate contributes its EUR equivalent to the aggregate.
This matters for tax filing: most EU tax authorities expect base-currency totals on the VAT return, with ECB reference rates as the conversion source. The view's totals match that expectation.
What the view does NOT do
The VAT Return Preparation page is a reference summary, not a filing tool. Specifically:
- It doesn't file your VAT return. It shows you the numbers; you (or your accountant) submit through the tax authority's official portal.
- It doesn't decide what's deductible. Every invoice with a VAT amount contributes to the aggregate. Deductibility judgment calls (private-use portions, non-deductible hospitality shares, and similar) are yours or your advisor's to make before filing.
- It doesn't produce an official VAT form. No country-specific form output exists — the page prepares the numbers; the form is filled in at the authority's portal.
- It doesn't validate against your tax authority's expectations. If the totals look off, the cause is at the invoice level (a wrong rate, a missing invoice), not a view-level computation.
If your tax advisor is connected, they have their own period view with a VAT breakdown, an advance-VAT card, and a pre-export checklist — see tax advisor multi-client cockpit overview.
EU special cases
Reverse charge (intra-EU B2B)
Incoming invoices flagged as reverse charge carry 0% VAT from the supplier — the VAT is self-assessed on your side. Most VAT returns require reverse-charge positions to be reported in separate boxes; work through those rows with your advisor before filing. The extraction detects reverse-charge invoices automatically where the invoice says so, and you can correct the flag on the invoice if it was missed.
OSS / MOSS (digital services to EU consumers)
OSS reporting (One-Stop-Shop) is a separate, per-destination-country regime and is not broken out by this view. If you sell digital services to EU consumers under OSS, prepare that return from your sales records with your advisor.
Distance selling
Per-destination-country reporting for goods above the EU's €10,000 threshold isn't broken out by this view either — filter your invoice list by customer country and aggregate from the export.
Troubleshooting
VAT total in the view differs from what my accountant filed. Most likely one of: (1) an invoice with a wrong VAT rate (e.g. extracted as 9% but should be 19%) — the per-rate breakdown makes these easy to spot; (2) a missing invoice you forgot to upload — compare the invoice count against your bank statement; (3) different period conventions (invoice date vs payment date) between you and your accountant. Correct the invoices, then re-check the quarter.
I want the numbers for a month, not a quarter. The page works in quarters. For any other period, use the invoice CSV export with a custom date range (see export your records for year-end) and aggregate in your spreadsheet.
Net + VAT in the aggregate doesn't equal gross by a few cents. Rounding accumulates across many invoices. Per-invoice the math is consistent; the aggregate's net + VAT can differ from aggregate gross by small rounding amounts when summed over hundreds of invoices. Tax authorities expect this and have their own rounding conventions.
My business is outside the euro area (UK, Switzerland, Norway). The per-rate aggregation works for whatever VAT rates appear on your invoices — Swiss MwSt, UK VAT, and Norwegian merverdiavgift aggregate the same way, in your base currency.
Related
- Export your records for year-end — the full export flow
- Multi-currency and official ECB rates — what drives the base-currency aggregation
- VAT reverse charge for EU businesses — billing-side reverse-charge for your TaxItEasy subscription
- CSV and PDF export status — the export formats