Prepare a VAT201 and download it

The steps

Find it

1. Every screen is in the menu on the left. Under FINANCE, tap SARS Returns. On a phone, open the menu with the button at the top left first.
2. Tap VAT201. Every return here is worked out from your books; Ledgr hands you the file and never sends anything to SARS.

Prepare the return

1. The VAT201 opens on your most recent VAT period for your category. To choose another, change From and To.
2. Tap Load Period and read down: output VAT from your invoices, input VAT from your expenses and bills, then what is payable or refundable.
3. Read anything under Read before you file. Each warning has an innocent explanation and a suspicious one; check which before you submit.
4. Tap Download PDF. It lists every VAT201 field in eFiling's own order, so you read straight down it into eFiling.
5. Submit on SARS eFiling yourself, then tap Filed it on eFiling? Note it in the register and Note as filed.

Scenario: the input VAT looks too low

1. Input VAT comes from the expenses and bills you captured. On Bills, check every supplier invoice for the period is here, with its VAT.
2. Tap New Bill for any that is missing. Without a valid tax invoice from a VAT-registered supplier, you may not claim its VAT.

Scenario: the bank is not reconciled for the period

1. Tap Unmatched. A payment still here can be a purchase nobody captured, and its VAT is then missing from the return.

Scenario: SARS asks what you filed and when

1. On Filing Register, every return you noted is listed with its period, amount and Ledgr reference.
2. That reference is Ledgr's own: quote the one eFiling gave you to SARS. Tap Tax Calendar to see what is due next.

More detail is in the guide.

Check yourself

1. Who submits the VAT201 to SARS?

   • Ledgr, automatically at the end of the period
   • Ledgr, when you tap Note as filed
   • You do, on eFiling, using the figures you downloaded
   Show the answer

   You do, on eFiling, using the figures you downloaded

2. Where does Ledgr take input VAT from?

   • The invoices you issued
   • The expenses and supplier bills you captured
   • Your bank balance
   Show the answer

   The expenses and supplier bills you captured

3. Why reconcile the bank and capture supplier bills before loading the period?

   • Unreconciled bank lines and missing bills are what make a VAT201 wrong
   • The return cannot be downloaded on a weekend
   • Reconciling sends the return to SARS
   Show the answer

   Unreconciled bank lines and missing bills are what make a VAT201 wrong