Prepare the Egyptian VAT return

This page applies only to organisations whose country is Egypt. Kluvan works the same everywhere without it.

Books gathers the VAT on your invoices, credit notes, supplier bills and expenses into a return for each period, section by section. Your accountant checks the figures and files the return on the Egyptian Tax Authority's portal. Kluvan does not submit anything to the tax authority.

Before you start

• Books must be switched on and your chart of accounts created in Set up Books.
• To change the settings and record a filing you need the Books right Set up Books and lock periods. To record the payment you need Manage banking. See roles and rights.
• Agree with your accountant whether you file every month or every three months. Books does not assume either.

Steps

Set up the return once

1. Open Books → VAT return → Tax return settings.
2. Choose Monthly or Every three months.
3. In First filing-period month, enter the first month of one of your filing periods. For quarters, this is the month your quarters start.
4. Select Save.

Prepare each period

5. Open Books → VAT return, choose any Month of the period and select Show.
6. Read the sections: Output VAT, Recoverable input VAT, Reverse-charge output VAT, Reverse-charge input VAT, Sales taxed at zero, Exempt sales, Outside VAT scope and Purchases excluded from input recovery. Each shows the Amount excluding VAT, the VAT and any VAT adjustment. The totals are Output VAT, Recoverable input VAT and Net.
7. To see the documents behind a section, open its Journal link for the month.
8. If a red banner asks you to review, open the entries listed, select Review classification, choose the right Type, write the Reason and select Save. If older entries still need indexing, select Index older entries for that month.
9. Under Download this page, choose CSV or Excel and give the file to your accountant.

After your accountant files

10. Type the filing reference from the tax authority's portal in Reference.
11. Tick the confirmation box and select Record external filing.
12. When you pay the VAT, fill in Record tax payment: Date, Amount, Paying account and Reference. If the period ends in a refund, use Record the refund instead.

Good to know

• Nothing is submitted. These are prepared figures for your accountant, not a statutory filing. Your accountant must review them before you file.
• Recording the filing locks the period. It posts the VAT settlement and locks every month of the period. A nil return locks the months without a journal.
• You can record the filing only after the period has ended, when nothing waits for review, when the VAT figures match the ledger and when the Month-close checklist is complete for each month.
• No amendments yet. Once recorded as filed, the months stay locked for tax, even if you reopen them for other entries. A late entry dated in a filed month is refused. Correct mistakes in a later period with your accountant.
• Payments can be partial. A payment must be dated after the period ends and not in the future.
• A reclassification adds correcting lines; the original documents and the tax they booked do not change.
• Table tax is not calculated.
• For tax withheld on receipts and supplier payments, see Record Egyptian withholding tax. For the rest of the pack, see Egypt.