Hi Kelly
I have a similar (ish) one. My clients do not use excel but issue invoices to customers which are kept in books of 50 (and look like standard receipts). On each they have a tickbox so I know whether its vatable or not under the different schemes, although then I have to raise an excel spreadsheet and get them to complete the costs so I can work out the profit on the margin scheme. The spreadsheet just makes it look tidy and makes it easy to add up especially when there are 50 at a time. Still it all seems very messy to be but they have NO intention of introducing EPOS, in fact they had one but the owners prefer pen and paper. (VAT man was happy with their system cos they showed they had one!)

So you could effectively draw a line in the excel and enter the bulk totals weekly/monthly/quarterly or whichever suits. Be careful to get everything in during the correct VAT quarter!

You mention ''margin scheme then the sale is zero rated and no VAT is calculated'' - Surely their is VAt on the profit of the margin scheme items?

So down to the input to Sage - I key all the sales, with the relevant tax codes into a cash account (code 1230 or another if you prefer in sage). When sales monies come into the Bank account, (via cash paid in or credit/debit card sales) I just transfer this from cash to Bank as a Bank transfer. No VAT issues to worry about from the Bank keying, as the VAT is done from the excel ( or in my case the receipt books). Be careful in case their payins include other things so always check their paying in book (eg for insurance claims received etc)

Just another word of caution - the VAT man did pick up that on my clients invoices it should state that the item was sold under a margin scheme, which they do now have printed under the appropriate box in their invoice books.

Hi
I dont do it as a journal - just as a receipt to cash account with n/code as sales. When you use T1, ensure the VAT amount is correct by over-keying it if neccessary.

Re the other tax codes - If you go to your configuration tool and click on tax codes you can see a list of default codes. I use T9 for non -EU sales (eg to USA/Singapore) as these are outside scope of VAT. For EU Sales you may have T3 or T4 (mine is T4) - these will put the transaction in the correct boxes for the VAT return. A good way to try it - do a backup/run the VAT return and note the totals but do NOT save/then try entering something with eg T4, then run the VAT again - you can see the impact. Restore the sage if you need to/to be sure youve not kept any of your trail figures

Do they separate out the deposit sales and financed sales on their spreadsheet? You may wish to process these through a separate 'Bank account' - you can set up quite a few on that same Bank section of sage and call them whatever you like eg ''Customer deposits'' - I Have an 'unallocated' Bank for another customer that is used occasionally when Im still waiting for info from my customer (rare but Ive found it easier to do it that way - its whatever suits).

Someone else on here might have other suggestions.

Hi Steve
Doesnt that then put them on the VAT return when they are outside scope, so shouldnt be reported?

I'm pretty sure that somewhere on HMRC website it states that goods bought and sold outside the EU are outside the scope and therefore don't go on the VAT return. I have never put them on and it hasn't been questioned on an inspection.