The year, what you are owed, and what the tax is

Reports is the page you check after the job. It shows the year so far, what you are owed and how late it is, and your tax and VAT in one place. Charts come first. A number is shown where the number is the point. The figures match the screens that own them.

What it does

Reports holds three things, in that order:

• The year. Money received since 6 April, the costs, and what to keep back for tax, shown as a ring whose three slices are costs, tax and yours, and whose legend rows are the same figures. Under it is the note An estimate from your records, not a bill.
• What you are owed. The total still out, and the part that is late as one bar, with four bands for how late. Under it is the count and the oldest debt, and any finished jobs you have not invoiced.
• Tax and VAT. The HMRC line and whether it affects you, the tax estimate's monthly figure, and your VAT for this period where you are VAT registered. The pack for your accountant sits under it.

An empty year draws no ring and no slices. It says Nothing to share out yet this year. The money line then says when the first payment arrives the ring will draw.

Who it is for

It is for the sole trader who wants one screen that says where the money is, what is late, and what to keep back.

One person and one phone. Cash basis all the way: money in is payments received, money out is costs paid. A draft bill that is not paid is not money in, and a quoted cost that is not paid is not money out, so neither moves the year, the ring or the tax estimate.

How it works

1. Open Reports. The year card is at the top. The ring's whole is money received this tax year net of VAT when you are VAT registered, which is the same figure the year card prints and the same figure the tax page reads.
2. Read the legend. Costs and For tax and Yours add to that money in. The tax slice is the estimate after any CIS already taken off you, so it matches the figure on Tax. Yours is profit less that tax and is the only green figure on the page.
3. The line under the ring says how many payments are in and since when, with VAT taken out named where it is. The page also keeps the all time figure made since you started.
4. Move to What you are owed. The total is the outstanding part of every bill sent and not paid. A draft that never went to a customer is not owed and is not counted, however old it looks.
5. Look at the bar. The bar counts late money only, not the whole owed. Its four bands are 1 to 30 days, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, and over 90 days past due. Each band is the sum of the outstanding on those late bills. The line above it says the total and how much of it is late, so the bar and the words cannot tell two stories.
6. Use the ageing key to find the late bills. Each band is also a count of bills. The oldest debt line says the number of days the oldest late bill is past its due date. The unbilled line says how many finished jobs have no bill, so money left on the van is not missed.
7. Read Tax and VAT. The Making Tax Digital card prints money received since 6 April against the one line that would catch you, with the plain answer about whether you need to act. The tax note is An estimate from your records, not a bill. Where you are VAT registered, the VAT card prints output VAT, input VAT and net VAT for your own VAT period, with the deadline.
8. Open a record from a report. A row can link to the real job or quote or invoice, so the figure you just read can be checked in place.

The year

The year runs 6 April to 5 April. Every figure in the ring is from that window.

Money in is payments received in that window, net of VAT when you are VAT registered. Costs is costs paid in it, net of reclaimable VAT when you are registered. Profit is the difference.

Tax is what to keep back, after any CIS already taken off you. It is not a fixed share of profit. It is the same estimate the Tax page shows. It has the same bands and the same note.

Yours is profit less tax. It is the only green figure and it is only drawn when there is profit to split. When there is no profit the card prints its empty line and no slice is drawn.

What you are owed and how late it is

What you are owed is the money still out on bills that have been sent. The only money the bar counts is the part past its due date.

The bar's four bands were cut for a trader's work:

• 1 to 30 days late.
• 31 to 60 days late.
• 61 to 90 days late.
• Over 90 days late.

Each band is the sum of the outstanding on the late bills in that slice. The line above the bar states the total and the late total together, so the bar cannot quietly tell a second story. The numbers are the same numbers the Invoices list uses. The card and the list cannot disagree.

Under the bar are two more things the page alone can say: the whole days the oldest debt is past its date, and the count of finished jobs you never invoiced. A finished job with no bill is money on the van and it appears here the moment you press Finish job.

Tax and VAT

The tax section is three cards:

• Making Tax Digital. The figure is money received since 6 April net of VAT, the line is the one that would catch you, and the sentence is the plain answer about whether you need to act. The three staged lines are under Where the line is. For a trader over the line the card also names the next deadline.
• The keep back card. It names the estimate and the monthly figure to put aside, drawn from the same estimate the Tax page and the ring use.
• Where you are VAT registered, the VAT card. It shows output VAT and input VAT and net VAT owed or due back for your own VAT period, with its deadline. That period is your own, set in Settings. An unregistered trader sees no VAT card because there is no VAT to report.

All three say what they are and what they are not. None of them files anything with HMRC.

What it does not do

• It does not show an invoice total as money in. Money in is payments received. An invoice issued but not paid is not money in and it never moves the year or the ring. The bar shows it as owed, because that is what it is.
• It does not show a draft as owed. A draft has not gone to a customer, so it cannot be owed and cannot be late, however old its due date looks.
• It does not draw a confident ring with no profit. When there is no profit the card says Nothing to share out yet this year. A ring with three slices on nothing would be a confident guess, so it is not drawn.
• It does not print a different tax figure from Tax. The ring's tax slice, the tax page's headline and the assistant's tax answer are the same estimate. They cannot disagree because one function works them out.
• It does not hide late money in the whole. The bar counts late money only, and the line above it states the whole and the late amount together. The early drawing that added to the whole is the fault the spec fixed.
• It does not file anything with HMRC. Reports keeps your records and works out totals. Filing is done through HMRC, and your accountant's pack carries the line Not a VAT return.

Questions

What does the ring show?

Money received this tax year net of VAT where you are VAT registered. Its three slices are costs and for tax and yours. The legend rows are the same figures as the slices. The whole is money in, so the three add to it.

What does What you are owed count?

The outstanding part of every bill you sent and have not been paid for. The total is every sent unpaid bill. The late total is the four bands summed, which is the only money the bar counts. A draft is not counted at all.

Why does the bar not add to the whole owed?

Because only late bills are in the bar. A bill not yet due is owed, but it is not late, so the bar would be wrong to include it. The line above the bar states both numbers together, so nothing is hidden.

What are the four bands?

The age of a late bill in whole days past its due date: 1 to 30 days, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, and over 90. Each band is the sum of the outstanding on the late bills in that range.

Why does it say I have finished jobs I have not invoiced?

Because work you marked done with no bill is money you left on the van. The page counts finished jobs with no invoice linked, so you can raise the missing bill. Archived jobs are not counted because you chose to tidy them away.

Does it match my Invoices page?

Yes. Both use the same ageing figures. They are built from the same invoices and the same date. The same bill reads late on both, and its outstanding is the same on both. The count on the Invoices filter and the count in the bar are the same question asked in two places.

What do I send my accountant?

The quarterly pack. It covers payments received and costs paid in the period, with VAT shown where you are registered, and costs broken into HMRC's own categories. It is for your accountant, not a filing.

Related

• Tax: the estimate from your records, in bands, with CIS already deducted.
• Invoices: the bills whose outstanding and age the bar shows.
• Making Tax Digital: HMRC's quarters, the staged lines and whether any of it applies to you yet.
• Every part of the app: the other pages.

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