Overview
Business Activity Statements (BAS) track your VAT and PAYE obligations for each reporting period. Beeswax automatically calculates the figures from your invoices, expenses, and payroll entries.
Each VAT period covers a date range (monthly or quarterly) aligned to your financial year (typically July to June for UK businesses).
What Is Tracked
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| VAT on Sales | GST charged to customers on invoices |
| VAT on Purchases | VAT on purchases to suppliers on expenses |
| Net VAT | Collected minus Paid (positive means you owe HMRC) |
| PAYE Instalments / Tax Payments | PAYE income tax instalments and other VAT return tax prepayments |
Managing Periods
Use the Manage Periods link to configure your VAT reporting schedule — monthly or quarterly.
Each period shows:
- The period name and date range
- Lodgement status (Lodged or Not Lodged)
- Due date for lodgement
- Reporting basis (Accrual or Cash)
Reporting Basis
Each VAT period uses a reporting basis that defaults from your account's VAT Reporting Basis setting. You can override the basis for individual periods before lodging.
- Accrual — VAT is reported when invoices and expenses are issued
- Cash — VAT is reported when payment is actually received or made
Note: The VAT reporting basis is independent from your Income Tax Reporting Basis. These are governed by separate legislation and operate completely independently. It is very common for businesses to use Cash basis for VAT while using Accrual basis for income tax returns and Profit & Loss reports.
Because of this, the income and expense figures on your VAT return may not match those on your Profit & Loss report or tax return. This is expected and correct — the VAT return should not be used as a reference for preparing your income tax figures when the two methods differ. You can configure both settings separately in Account Settings > Accounting.
VAT is governed by the VAT Act 1994 (Cash Accounting Scheme, Notice 731), while income/corporation tax is governed by ITTOIA 2005 and CTA 2009. Limited companies must use Accrual for corporation tax but can choose Cash or Accrual for VAT.
BAS Journal and Payment Accounting
Paying HMRC is not an expense. The VAT was already recorded, line by line, on your invoices and expenses; the payment only settles what you owe. Entering it as an expense would overstate your costs and distort the next period's figures.
Beeswax keeps two VAT accounts in the chart of accounts, both liabilities:
- VAT Collected — VAT charged on your invoices
- VAT Paid — VAT you can reclaim on your expenses
Settling a period takes two steps:
- Open the period, choose Record VAT Return from its menu and save. This journal clears both VAT accounts for the period and moves the net amount into Trade Creditors, as owed to HMRC.
- On the saved journal choose Record Payment (or Record Refund), and enter the date, bank account and amount. This payment is what you match to the bank statement line when you reconcile.
The journal works in whole pounds, so it can differ from the filed return by a few pence.
Example
| VAT Return Box | Amount |
|---|---|
| VAT due on sales (Box 1) | £4,820 |
| VAT reclaimed on purchases (Box 4) | £1,370 |
| Net VAT to pay HMRC (Box 5) | £3,450 |
Journal
| Account | Debit | Credit | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| VAT Collected | £4,820 | - | Clears the VAT charged to customers |
| VAT Paid | - | £1,370 | Clears the VAT reclaimable from suppliers |
| Trade Creditors / HMRC Payable | - | £3,450 | Creates the amount owed to HMRC |
| Total | £4,820 | £4,820 | Balanced journal |
Payment
| Account | Debit | Credit | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trade Creditors / HMRC Payable | £3,450 | - | Clears the amount owed |
| Bank | - | £3,450 | The line you reconcile on the bank statement |
| Total | £3,450 | £3,450 | Balanced payment entry |
If purchases exceed sales, the journal posts to Trade Debtors instead, and you record the refund when HMRC pays it.
Coming from Xero? Xero keeps a single VAT account and codes the HMRC payment straight to it. Beeswax splits that into VAT Collected and VAT Paid and settles them with the journal above. If your chart of accounts still has a plain VAT account brought over from Xero, don't post the payment to it.
Period Locking
VAT periods can be locked after lodgement to protect the integrity of your lodged figures.
- Locked periods prevent modifications to the VAT return journal entries (the summary accounting entries for that period)
- Invoices and expenses can still be created or modified within a locked period
- If a reconciled payment that applies to an expense or invoice within a locked period is deleted, the period will be automatically unlocked and an email notification will be sent to all users with the accountant role
- Periods can also be manually unlocked if corrections are needed
Note: Locking periods protects the integrity of your lodged VAT figures. If a period is automatically unlocked due to a payment deletion, review the affected transactions before re-lodging.
Filtering
| Filter | Description |
|---|---|
| Search | Filter periods by keyword |
| Status | Show Lodged, Not Lodged, or all periods |
Permissions
- Owners, Super Admins, and Accountants can manage VAT returns, lock/unlock periods, and view tax reports
- Managers, Basic users, and Clients cannot access VAT returns
Note: Available to tax-registered accounts in every region. UK accounts see this page as the VAT Report.