More on this VAT problem

[mike_howles]

I've been doing a number of experiments with an item whose retail price is £2.99

Whichever way it is set up there will be right and wrong results, you just cannot win.

For example if I set the custom tax at 45p and the nett price as £2.54 this gives a retail price of £2.99.

Set tax at Round Order Scientific and it gives the wrong answer, set VAT to normal and it gives the right answer, however when Shipping is added then the answer again, becomes wrong. On top of that I can get it to work for a single item but if the customer wants 10 then it's a penny out again.

Ok, more changes.
We have a shipping charge of £3.50 (for orders below £20.08). I have set VAT on shipping to VAT(Normal) and this makes things a little better.

For 1 item it is correct, for 10 items it is correct but for 3 items it is wrong.

Does anyone know where there is a very good online VAT calculator that will give me a definitive answer on how much an item *should* cost to the customer?

Mike

[Mike Hughes]

Each tax type has a number of options telling actinic what to calculate the tax on.

For example:

Round Item Scientific - Says to round the tax on each item. This way multiple items get rounded invidually and then added together - Good for retail where the price inc VAT for each items has already been shown.

Round Line Scientific - Says to round the tax at the order 'Line' level. Using this means multiple items might not add up correctly as the tax is applied on the order line total. Not good for retail where the price for each item has already been shown, makes sense for B2B though.

Round Order Scientific - Says to calculate tax on the total order value (for each tax band). Again, doesn't make sense for retail but can do for B2B.

Mike

[mike_howles]

I am using round item scientific for all items and for the items that have a VAT problem I have set a custom VAT amount for those items.

Must be a nightmare for Auditors!!!

It does not matter what you do, you cannot guarantee that VAT is calculated exactly for all items and all combinations of all items. But then who would notice? and accountant maybe?

I guess the best action will be to test as many of the problem cases as I can and wait and see. If we get a lot of queries regarding one particular item or combination of items then I'll need to do something otherwise I'll leave it.

Even our in house accounting software that we use for invoicing cannot cope with certain items which means we have to keep a product (called adjustment) to enable the sales team to ad or subtract a penny from invoices where required.

As you can see I am an IT person NOT an accountant!!!

Set VAT at 25% I say ;-)

Mike