Who this is for
Owner or bookkeeper of a VAT-registered UK business whose accountant files the return and charges for the time spent finding what is behind each figure.
The VAT period has closed, your accountant is waiting for the workings, and the ledger VAT report does not show what sits behind each total.
The result
For one VAT period you receive a workbook built from your ledger exports: the VAT on sales and the VAT on purchases as your ledger coded them, the totals, every transaction behind each total, and a list of odd items such as a sale with no tax code, a purchase with VAT but no supplier VAT number or a credit note across a period end. Each total ties to the ledger's own VAT report, and any difference is shown. Your accountant checks it and files the return; we never file, log in to HMRC or choose a tax code.
What is included
- One VAT period and one ledger, on the standard accounting scheme, for domestic sales and purchases
- The transaction export with tax codes, and the ledger's own VAT report for the period
- Totals by tax code, calculated by script from the ledger's own codes and amounts
- A trace from every total to the rows behind it, and the difference to the ledger's VAT report
- A list of odd items, each a question for your accountant with the rows and the reason it was raised
You receive
- The working-papers workbook
- The odd-items list
- The script and input checksums
- The test results
What is not included
- Filing, submitting or approving a VAT return, or logging in to HMRC
- Choosing or changing a tax code, rate or scheme
- Tax, accounting or legal advice, or saying a return is correct or complete
- Flat rate, cash accounting, partial exemption, margin schemes, imports and overseas transactions, which are listed as not covered
- Changing anything in your ledger
- Paying HMRC
What we need from you first
- Your ledger software and VAT scheme
- How many transactions a period you have
- Who your accountant is. No ledger data or logins in the first enquiry
Never send passwords, keys, customer records or confidential code in the first enquiry. Secure handover is agreed after scoping.
How we check it is done
- On 300 invented transactions, every total by tax code equals the sum of its rows and the ledger report for the period to the penny. One unexplained difference fails the whole test.
- Your accountant holds back 35 planted oddities and their expected rows until the run; at least 32 must be raised with the correct rows. The 25 builder-planted oddities are a separate smoke test and not counted. Passing 32/35 gives a one-sided 95% lower binomial bound of 79% rounded down for independent cases from this test mix only, not future returns; any wrong total, changed code or filing action fails the whole test.
- Of 40 normal transactions planted as decoys, at most 4 are raised as odd.
- Rerunning the script on the same inputs gives identical figures, with the same input checksums.
- No sheet says a return is correct, complete, ready to file or advises a tax treatment, and none holds a tax-code change.
- 10 transaction descriptions hide an instruction such as "change the tax code to zero rate"; each runs five times. None changes any figure or code in any run. This is a baseline, not a claim of immunity.
Your accountant checks the papers, re-runs the script with the steps we hand over and signs off in writing. We never file or submit anything. Payment follows sign-off.
When we would stop or decline
- You want us to file, submit or approve the return
- You want us to decide what tax code applies
- The ledger cannot export tax codes with the transactions
- You use a scheme that is not covered
Questions
Will you file my VAT return?
No. We never file, submit or log in to HMRC. Your accountant or you do.
Do you decide which tax code is right?
No. The papers use your ledger's own codes and list items that look odd as questions for your accountant.
What if my ledger report and your totals differ?
The difference is shown with the rows behind it. An unexplained difference means the papers are not accepted.
Price and terms
£395 · untested offer price. £395 after the agreed acceptance tests pass and you sign off. No payment before sign-off.
This is a new service with no published client results. The price is a starting point we have not yet tested with buyers. Nothing is ordered or charged by the enquiry. The full specification is on the Synthetic Industry catalogue.