Review a VAT return

This article explains how to review a VAT return that has been generated in FreeAgent.

FreeAgent prepares your VAT return from the invoices, bills, bank transactions and expenses you enter.

Before you start

Make sure that you’ve entered your business as ‘Registered’ for VAT in your VAT registration settings.

You’ll need to have level 7 access or above to your FreeAgent account to be able to review a VAT return.

Navigating to the relevant VAT return

Navigate to the 'Taxes' tab at the top of the screen and select 'VAT' from the drop-down menu.

You’ll be taken to your VAT ‘Statement of Account’ which shows how much VAT is due for each VAT return.

Bank transactions that you explain as VAT payments to HMRC or VAT refunds from HMRC will appear here. You'll see a running balance of how much is due to be paid to HMRC, or refunded to you from HMRC.

Select a specific VAT return using the ‘VAT’ drop-down menu in the top-left.

Alternatively, you can select a VAT return from the list.

Next, you’ll be taken to the VAT return for that period.

A warning will appear above the VAT return if you have any unexplained bank transactions in a business bank account in FreeAgent for this VAT period. You won't be able to file your VAT return until you have explained all the transactions in all your business bank accounts.

Reviewing your VAT return

You can review a breakdown of the figures that FreeAgent has calculated for each of the boxes on your VAT return.

To do this, select the ‘Full Report’ tab at the top-left.

This will display all of the transactions that are included on the VAT return.

For information on editing your VAT return details, please see this article.