What is VAT on an invoice calculated - New VAT rate

[JimboS]

When an invoice is printed does this show the VAT rate that was current online at the time, or what is current in the software?

So, if someone places and order Sunday at 10pm and then I upload at midnight with the new VAT rate but do not down load the order until the following day, will the invoice I then print for the 10pm order use 17.5% or 15% VAT.

Or, if I hadn't uploaded but changed in the software ready to upload and then download the order will it use the rate from the online order, or the rate in the software?

Hope somone can answer this ASAP as I am away Sunday/Monday so will not be able to download and print orders but would like to update the website while I am away.

James

[Darren B]

As far as im aware, it is the VAT rate on your site, not the one in the software, it is only if you decide to add stuff to orders or change things that it will start to screw things up.

Have you read this http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=40128

[Runner]

The email I receved from actinic states "PLEASE NOTE we have identified one issue with Actinic taxation, which means that if you edit an order line of an existing order (by double-clicking on the order line) the tax will be changed to the wrong rate."

Surely this is at the desktop level.

I have changed the VAT to 15%. Created a new order that adds 15% as expected.

Opened some existing orders by double-clicking them. The VAT rate in those orders stays as it was at 17.5%.

Maybe I have not understood that statement from Actinic, but my exisitng orders at 17.5% do not appear to be affected by the new rate.

[Duncan Rounding]

They won't unless you then add or remove items from the existing order. If you do then the new rate of tax will be applied. The post gives a way to lock the order to stop this happening.

[Mike Hughes]

I think the article suggests that just opening the product line (not the order) is enough for the VAT to change. I'm not sure you actually have to change anything on the order line.

Mike

[Darren B]

I read it as

"DONT mess with existing orders" Process them normally, do not add, change or delete anything

As i mentioned the knowldgebase also has information about editing existing orders and its effects

[brucet]

TBH we have not had time to test every action that may or may not cause a tax rate change in an existing order, and even if we had, it would probably be too complicated to describe!

But basically, don't double-click on any order line in an existing order, unless you follow the instructions in the Knowledge Base article before you change the VAT rate in Actinic.

In summary, the workaround we have given is to set up a separate new 17.5% tax rate for existing orders; then we provide a SQL query that will apply that tax rate to them, so that when you change the standard rate of tax to 15%, it won't affect them even if you edit the order lines.

The workaround won't cover every possible scenario and you may still have to use some manual intervention in special cases, but it should reduce discrepancies to a minimum. It's the best we could come up with in the few days that we had available.

Hope this helps.

[NormanRouxel]

The KB article regarding fixing this ( http://kb.actinic.com/activekb/quest...T+Rate+Changes ) displays with a lot of condional HTML gibberish exposed if I look at it in IE7. It seems OK in Firefox.

E.g.

To apply the ‘VAT (17.5)’ rate to the orders follow these instructions:

<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->Close Actinic
<!--[if !supportLists]-->Open Windows Explorer
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->Browse to your Actinic Site folder
<!--[if !supportLists]-->To open ‘ActinicCatalog.mdb’ in Access, right click on it and

[brucet]

I apologise for the display issue - very odd. I can't explain it, except it seems to be a browser compatibility issue. As you say, it displays OK in Firefox, also in Opera, and in Chrome (and therefore probably in Safari)

Funny how text pasted from a MS Word document displays OK in everyone else's browser, but not Microsoft's own...

I'll get someone to look at it first thing Monday morning, in the meantime the fix is to ignore everything in comment tags or use a browser other than IE
:-(

[siwalker]

It's the best we could come up with in the few days that we had available.
Hope this helps.

Shame nobody thought to issue one for Enterprise users. Came in yesterday to do the VAT change, to be greeted with the Actinic email telling me my problems were worse than I thought.

simon

[NormanRouxel]

That KB article is woefully incomplete.

It doesn't actually talk the user through running the query.

There are no useful steps documented after pasting in the SQL that do anything with it!

If you're not an Access guru able to read between the lines you'll have achieved nothing.

[guccij]

Norman - can you fathom what steps should be taken after pasting in the SQL? I haven't the foggiest when it comes to stuff like this. I'm not a programmer, have no knowledge of SQL and have only tinkered at the edges with Access and Actinic, am a beginner really.

I was planning on doing the change in about two hours time, having assumed (it now appears wrongly) that the KB article contained all I needed to know and do. Now I am worried.

I know it's not your responsibility to enlighten the community, of course it isn't. So if you'd rather ignore this post, then that is of course fine

[pinbrook]

I didn't even get the email....

my only source of info is this community

[Duncan Rounding]

...what steps should be taken after pasting in the SQL? ...

With the Query window open go to Query - Run on the top menu.
Yes, to run the Query.

That's it, you can then close the window. You don't have to save the Query.

Close Access.
Open Actinic.


** Incidentally I also didn't get the email, even though I've asked before to be included in the email list.

[NormanRouxel]

Sorry - went out just after my last posting. Duncan's put you right.

PS you'll know it is going to do its stuff if the Run Query reports that it will affect nnn records, where nnn could range from a few to thousands.