After reading this, I can't guarantee we will get this fixed very soon, but as we get to the relevant portions of the software, I expect we will be taking these concerns very seriously.
> They can all be worked around to a certain extent, it's just rough: > > - Invoices are "supposed" to have for each line the exact VAT rate in > effect stated (can be a symbol which is looked up in the index, or you can > simply asterisk anything which is non-standard). The net and vat amount for > each line are supposed to be shown. Then at the bottom you need to show > net, vat for each rate in effect, and gross. In fact for 99% of common > transactions the rate will always be 17.5%, but there are some 5% goods > here, and also a peculiarity of some 0% goods... Ok, so we need per-line tax calculation and display. It would be helpful if we can get a feature request submitted for this. If I don't see one by tomorrow evening, I will submit one. > - In particular the invoicing breaks down (in SL!) if you tick the "VAT > Included" box when creating an invoice. The subtotals don't *appear* to > allow the extraction of the net subtotal figure correctly? Can you show some examples of exactly what the problem is? > - The 0% thing is actually interesting because we have both goods at 0% VAT > and vat exempt items. The handling is slightly different for each even > though they are arguably the same thing... It's a historic attempt to cheat > the euro rules - basically it was required that we charge VAT on a whole > bundle of goods that we never charged VAT on before, but we were also > allowed to set the VAT rate, so we simply set a VAT rate of 0% on them > instead... It's technically not the same as being VAT exempt on those items > though... So, how does the software need to behave? > - I think you will already cover shipping destinations as a tax calc, but > in the UK at least tax is charged solely on where the customer is receiving > the goods. Businesses are different, but this is true for indivuals > (basically delivery inside EU charge VAT, delivery outside the EU charge > nothing) So nothing complicated like tax rate set based on the township you are sending to? This is remakrably simple compared to what I have seen here in the US :-( > - Rounding is a pain. Suppose I agree a price of £X for something, there > are several magic numbers where when you go a penny up or down then the > total goes to £X +/- £0.01, but never exactly £X. It's a pain to have to > convert the whole invoice to "VAT Included" due to it not quite printing > correctly, simply in order to get the desired effect of rounding to the > exact amount Exact specific problem scenarios would be helpful in helping to resolve this for you. > - Same problem when entering invoices from suppliers. For sure we can > probably chuck out the odd penny here and there, but really if the supplier > incorrectly calculates tax then we should stick in what the supplier > calculates into the system. For example I have one chap who obviously can't > use his calculator and sends me invoices where the vat on a £20 item is > often £2 out... Hard to imagine it's possible to be that wrong, but it's > impossible to enter this into the system without using multiple transactions > to straighten it all out. Good point. We should allow for specifically entered tax numbers for suppliers. Would make it simpler. > > The only workable solution I see to the last two points is that as per the > "Transaction" pages you have an override box for each line item where once > you tick it there is a (complicated) extra set of fields appear which allow > you to override the tax for that line item. Probably it's a nightmare when > you have lots of tax rates, but I guess most jurisdictions have only a few > in practice...? I think it's a workable solution for the majority of > countries...? My vote (when we re-engineer the invoice system) is to have AP invoices be entered exactly *including* the tax information. In other words, until the tax box is modified, it will calculate for you but once you edit it, you are responsible for the numbers. In the mean time, you will probably need to allow for the calculated amount and if it is different, post an adjusting GL entry. > > At the same time it would make sense to add fields to freeze all the VAT > and address details for a given invoice. Right now they appear to get > calculated each time and if you change something and then pull up an old > invoice and reprint it you do NOT get the old figures!! This is a massive > no no for an accounting system and I simply don't understand why SL ever did > it this way?!! Right,. We need to change this. If you don't file a bug report, I will :-) > The whole invoice should really be stored and nothing ever > recalculated for it... > Agreed..... > > > No, it's easier than that. The "Margin Scheme" is only applicable where > you have a seperate record book and specifically record each transaction, > what you bought it for, what you paid for it and serial numbers, etc. Ok, so we will have to wait until we allow for discrete handling of some objects. > > It's mainly designed for the motor industry, but it can be used in other > areas as well. > > Probably for these transactions you wouldn't give the customer a VAT > receipt either (or else they would be figuring out your profit margin). > It's for individual, unique items (with a serial number generally), so the > manual override discussed above would solve this problem perfectly... > Understood. Now, we just need to figure out how to deal with the locale specific tax handling. My suggestion is going to be to simply catalog those who want to be maintainers of locale-specific modules. But we could bundle them if we have to (I am concerned about being responsible for new releases every time anyone changes a tax rule though). Imagine a changelog for 1.2.1233: Updated tax rules for New Hampshire for June 15th change. Best Wishes, Chris Travers ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web services, security? Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make your job easier. Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache Geronimo http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=120709&bid=263057&dat=121642 _______________________________________________ Ledger-smb-users mailing list Ledger-smb-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ledger-smb-users
