VAT rates and VAT-inclusive prices

Reference

Every order line works out its VAT from two things: the VAT rate of the goods, and whether the price it was sold at already includes VAT. Both are fixed on the line when it is created, so later changes never alter past orders.

Overview#

The VAT rate belongs to the SKU: each SKU carries its own rate, because VAT differs by type of goods. Fuel is the exception: all fuel SKUs follow one dated fuel VAT schedule. Whether a price includes VAT is declared on each price row, not inferred from the type of goods. Tenants and merchants have no VAT rate of their own.

The VAT rate#

The SKU form says so under the rate: "For fuel SKUs the Fuel VAT Schedule applies by date; this rate is only the fallback when no schedule entry covers the date." A fuel SKU the platform creates when government prices are confirmed starts at 10 %. The SKU fields are on SKUs and services.

The fuel VAT schedule#

• One schedule applies to every fuel SKU of every merchant.
• Each entry is a rate with an Effective from date and an Effective to date; the latest entry is Open-ended. Entries never overlap.
• The platform team keeps it on the Fuel VAT Schedule page with Add Rate Change. A change starts today or later, after the latest entry's start, and closes the entry before it. Past entries are never edited or deleted, and each change is recorded in the audit log.

VAT-inclusive or VAT-exclusive prices#

Each price row has a Price includes VAT checkbox, which is off unless ticked. Any SKU or service can be priced either way; for example a spare part on a contract price that already includes VAT. Adding prices for many stores sets it per line. Price rows are described on Price lists.

Calculations#

For a line of quantity × unit price at VAT rate r %:

• The subtotal and the VAT are each rounded to two decimal places, and the total is their sum, so the parts add up to the total.
• On a VAT-inclusive price the total is the price the customer pays; VAT is the part taken out of it. On a VAT-exclusive price VAT is added on top.
• An order's subtotal and VAT are the sums of its lines' already-rounded amounts, so lines at different rates add up with no rounding drift.
• An order's total always includes VAT.

Worked example, 100 litres at 20,000 per litre with a VAT-inclusive price at 8 %: total 2,000,000; VAT 2,000,000 − 2,000,000 ÷ 1.08 = 148,148.15; subtotal 1,851,851.85.

What an order line keeps#

When a line is created it records the VAT rate used and whether its price included VAT, alongside its subtotal, VAT and total. This applies to purchase order lines and to refuel orders.

• A line keeps its price basis when it is recalculated, for example when the merchant confirms the actual quantity or a draft is edited.
• A refuel order also keeps its recorded rate, so a later fuel VAT schedule entry or SKU change does not re-price it. Editing the order's fuel or moving it to another day works the rate out again for the new fuel or day.
• Static-QR and integration refuel orders are priced at the government fuel price, which is always treated as including VAT.
• When a supplier's VAT invoice is matched to a refuel order, the invoice's VAT and subtotal replace the order's, and the recorded rate becomes the rate those amounts imply. The total is not changed, so after a match the subtotal and VAT come from the invoice rather than adding up to the order total. See VAT invoices.

Where VAT is shown#

Related#

• SKUs and services
• Price lists