VAT automation and validation
The VAT treatment worked out from what the transaction is, applied before the invoice posts, with the rule and the document kept together.
VAT errors are rarely errors of knowledge. Someone in the business knows the rule. The problem is that the rule has to be applied to every invoice, by whoever is processing that day, at the speed the invoices arrive — and the treatment on most invoices is copied from the last one that looked similar.
SyncWise determines the VAT treatment on each sales document from the facts of the transaction: what was supplied, where it moved from and to, and what the customer's status actually is. The treatment is applied to the invoice before it posts, and the rule that produced it is filed with the document.
What the 59 rules cover
The rules cover UK, EU and international place of supply for goods and services, including the cases that most commonly go wrong: reverse charge on cross-border services, the One Stop Shop and Import One Stop Shop regimes, triangulation across three member states, the Northern Ireland Protocol, and the Crown Dependencies — Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man — which are outside the UK for VAT purposes in ways that catch people out.
These rules are applied to sales documents. SyncWise does not apply them to supplier bills; input VAT on purchases is handled through the coding and review process on the payables side.
Place of supply from where the goods actually moved
Place of supply is decided from the movement of the goods and the status of the customer, not from a country field someone typed on a customer record two years ago. A customer with a UK billing address taking delivery in Spain is a different transaction from one taking delivery in Manchester, and it is the delivery that decides the VAT.
VAT numbers checked, not assumed
EU VAT numbers are validated live against VIES at the point the treatment is decided. A zero-rated intra-community supply relies on the customer's number being valid on the date of supply; a number that has been cancelled is the difference between a zero-rated sale and an assessment.
Evidence that survives an enquiry
Every VAT decision is stored against the document it was made on, with the rule that produced it. Those records are append-only and protected from deletion for seven years, including from us. If HMRC asks why a supply was treated as outside the scope, the answer exists in the form it was made, on the date it was made.
SyncWise is software, not a tax adviser. It applies published rules and shows its working; responsibility for your VAT returns and filings remains yours.
Questions people ask about this
Do the 59 VAT rules apply to supplier bills as well?
No. The 59 rules are applied to sales documents. Supplier bills go through coding, duplicate checking, purchase order matching and human approval instead.
Is SyncWise giving tax advice?
No. SyncWise is software. It applies published VAT rules and records which rule it applied to which document. It is not a firm of accountants or tax advisers, and responsibility for your VAT returns remains yours.
What happens if a VAT number fails validation?
The invoice is held rather than posted, with the reason stated, and waits for a person to decide.
See it run on your own documents
The demo uses a sample of your own invoices and bills, not a canned one. Plans are £30, £50 and £90 a month per client, with setup from £200. There is no free trial, and there is a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Book a demo