After the VAT return is created and all reconciliations are processed successfully, the VAT return can be send to the tax office using the [Send VAT return] dialogue. This dialogue is available only for the standalone companies and representative VAT group members.
Depending on the country and the activation of modules, there are three different levels of automation for sending the declaration:
Depending on the reporting country, not only data from the declaration is transferred, but also some master data. In Germany, for example, it is mandatory that the company's tax number, tax office number, address and agent (including telephone number and e-mail address) are stored in the master data. Without this information, no electronic transmission can take place. Affected master data in other countries can be found in the section Besonderheiten Ausland#60895824 (Specialties of foreign countries, available in english). |
In the upper part of the dialogue, there is first detailed information on the pending declaration, as well as a document repository, which is filled in the process of creating the declaration. Then, depending on the automation and country, there are different steps that are carried out in the [Send declaration] dialogue.
This step is available at any time, regardless of the status of the declaration.
The declaration can be exported as a PDF file. For the German declaration, it is also possible to export the declaration as an Excel file. In Germany and Austria, the XML file can also be downloaded, which is also used when sending the declaration to the tax office. This serves to support an error analysis in the event that a dispatch should not be feasible.
This function is only available if the respective tax office provides an interface for a test transmission. This is the case for Germany and Austria. This step is only enabled when the declaration is closed. Depending on the country, there are up to 3 functions here:
The options offered under production transmission are the same as for test transmission, but only for the production case.
As in the test transmission, the same function [Check data] is also offered here for Germany.
When sending in the live case, the XML file is sent with the authentication stored in the VAT@GTC. This differs depending on the country. The log files transmitted by the tax administration are transferred to the VAT@GTC and stored in the database. The log can then be downloaded from the document repository. When the real case is executed, the milestone for this period is set to sent for the company, so that it is no longer possible to open the declaration. Changes to the notification data can only be made via corrections.
Export of declaration
As in countries with direct interface, there is also this step for all countries with XML download function. The XML file can be downloaded here for audit.
This step also offers the download of the XML. However, only the download in this step changes the status of the declaration. The milestone is set to "sending" (green-blue milestone). At the time of the download of the XML file, the milestone is not set to sent, because it cannot be assumed that this file has been received by the tax office.
Since there is no information on whether the file has been received by the tax office when the XML file is downloaded, this step can be maintained manually. With this function, the status of the declaration is set to sent (blue milestone). Only when a declaration is considered to have been sent can a correction be created. This is therefore a necessary step.
If neither the function for direct transmission nor the XML download function is available or activated for a country, the same steps as for downloading an XML file can still be followed in this dialogue. The difference to countries with XML function is that these forms can only be downloaded as a PDF-file in each case. However, steps 2 (export of declaration for sending) and 3 (mark declaration as sent) in particular are also available here and are important so that the change in status of the company can be documented and tracked.
Regardless of the degree of automation during dispatch, additional functions can always be configured per country via the dialogue [Settings → Countries].
If the review before or after transfer is configured, it can be carried out not only in the Month Overview dialogue but also in the Send declaration dialogue.
If the review before transfer is configured, this step is placed before the step [Export declaration for sending] or [Send declaration via web service (productive)] and must be ticked off so that the following step can be carried out.
The review after transfer can only be set after a declaration is considered to be transmitted and is therefore placed after [Mark declaration as sent] or [Send declaration via web service (productive)].
Compared to the Month Overview dialogue, the Send Declaration dialogue has another review function, which, however, must be configured additionally. For both review variants, it is possible to document the review by uploading a document.
If the VAT return has been sent successfully, a payment document can be saved in the VAT@GTC. To use the payment voucher function, this must be enabled in the country settings. If this step is configured, it is the last step in the Send Declaration dialogue.