VAT measures during COVID - How can I stay up to date?
A good way to track news and changes are industry specific newsletters or the Coronavirus tracker from avalara.com (global VAT COVID-19 tracker).
What does my accounting and finance department have to pay attention to?
apaleo posts revenues daily during the night audit applying the VAT rate applicable for the current business day. For a revenue account we create a sub-account for each combination of VAT type and VAT percentage, e.g. RevenueAccommodation_Day-Normal:19.
Revenues: When a service is re-classified or the VAT rate for a VAT type changes, then revenues will automatically be posted to the respective revenue account, from the day of the change. Please check with your tax advisor, how reservations with stay dates crossing the day of change need to be treated from a VAT perspective.
Liabilities: Shortly after the announcement of a VAT rate change, apaleo will apply this change and liabilities for reservations that have stay dates after the effective date will be re-calculated. At midnight of the day you configure new VAT types for services, rate plans or custom fees, apaleo will also re-calcuate the liabilities for any affected reservations. This will be reflected in an increased number of postings from one liability account to another. You do not have to make any recalculations yourself.
Refunds: If a charge from the past needs to be partially or fully refunden, this should be done via the context menu (three dots to the right). In that case the original VAT type and rate will be used for the counter-booking. In these cases you will receive accounting transactions in your main ledger that are still using accounts and VAT rates that are not valid anymore in your current period, but accessing the old settings.
Regarding my finance connector, how are account mappings affected?
For revenue accounts, it depends on the set-up of the accounts in your finance system. They can either be separate accounts for each tax rate or it could be one account with VAT tax keys changing on the effective date. Please consult with your tax advisor for details!
E.g. the Datev Connector app will return a warning, if transactions with non-existing tax rates for the selected time period are showing up in the export. You need to check and read those warnings.
Example for a tax rate change on the 1st of January in Germany: In January 2021 you decide to refund an accommodation charge from Dec 12th 2020 via the context menu, so you will find a refund transaction in 2021 correctly using the original but not current VAT rate for December.
Each liability account needs to be mapped to the tax rate specific accounts in your finance system. Please consult with your tax advisor!
What does our front-office have to consider?
When your front office posts services directly to the folio, then apaleo will always apply the currently active VAT settings of the service. Any booked services for future reservations will also automatically use the then active VAT settings. For staff with the user role senior front desk, who can post manual charges by freely defining service type and vat type, you should inform them about new rules that apply to certain services regarding the taxation.
Specific allowances for charges will always create a counter-booking using the original service type, VAT type and VAT percentage. If a senior front desk person wants to post a global folio allowance (Actions > Refund..), then only the currently available VAT types and VAT rates are selectable. Do not use the global folio allowances when you want to give an allowance for charges, that were done with a VAT rate that is not available anymore.
Can I use the previous tax rates for charges after the day of change?
No, you cannot. The previous tax rates are not available anymore for posting charges, not via a direct post on the folio, nor via adding a service. We recommend you to check transactions prior of the effective date of a change and correct transactions if needed.
What do I have to consider when issuing invoices?
apaleo will use the VAT details for each of the charges on the folio, which will be the VAT applicable for that specific business day. If for a service or rate plan the VAT rate changes during the period that is invoices that will also be reflected on the invoice document. You will see charges with the old VAT rate and from the effective date onwards charges with the new VAT rate.
In some countries there might be special rules on how you need to handle such situations. Will the taxes applicable on a daily base or should the tax rates of the beginning or end of the invoice period be applied? Please consult your tax advisor to clarify the situation!