Documentation/ Checking the line items/ Account and VAT on the line
Nominal account and VAT on the line
As well as the item, a line can carry a nominal account and a VAT rate. Neither is typed freely: the VAT is inherited from the item and the account is picked from a list. What changes between one account and another is which of them are required.
Document › items tab › the line › ERP item assignment › ERP data
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The ERP purchase VAT
The ERP purchase VAT field in the assignment dialog is read only. It is not decided on the line: it shows the rate configured on the item you picked. Changing a line's VAT therefore means changing the item, or correcting the item's record in the catalogue.
The rates your own catalogue handles are the four in force in Spain:
| Rate | Usual use |
|---|---|
| 21 % | The standard rate. |
| 10 % | The reduced rate. |
| 4 % | The super-reduced rate. |
| 5 % | Applied to certain supplies. |
Where the account works against an ERP that runs its own rates, the percentage shown is whatever that system has defined for the item, not the scheme above. It is shown already converted to a percentage so it reads as one.
When the VAT shows as not configured
The field can say not configured. It means exactly that: the item you picked has no VAT rate defined. The application does not assume 21 %, deliberately, because an invented rate produces a wrong entry.
You settle it in the item catalogue, by giving the item's record its VAT rate. From then on, every line using that item shows it.
If the message appears just after you created the item in the ERP, refresh the item list with the dialog's refresh action: the data may not have arrived yet.
The line's nominal account
On accounts integrated with SAP, each line has a SAP account field. It is a search over the chart of accounts: you type part of the code or the name and pick from the list, which shows both code and description.
The account sits alongside the item: they are not alternatives. A line can carry an item, an account, or both, depending on what the document type requires.
What happens if the account is left empty
The screen says so under the field: leave it empty and SAP works the account out from the item or uses its default account.
So leaving it empty is not in itself a mistake. It is the right thing to do when the item already has its account in the ERP and you do not want to override it. You fill it in when that particular line has to go somewhere other than the item's usual account.
What each document type requires
Line requirements are not the same for every type. This is the rule the send applies:
| Document type | Item | Account | Batch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase invoice | Required | Required | Depends on the item |
| Transport invoice | Required | Required | Not applicable |
| Expense invoice | Not asked for | Required | Not applicable |
Which answers one of the questions we get most often: why an expense invoice sends with no items assigned and a purchase invoice does not. It is not a fault; it is each type's rule.
The particular case of expense invoices
On expense invoices integrated with SAP, the dialog does not even show the item search or the reference code. All you see is the nominal account.
That fits the model: an expense goes to an account, not to a stock item. Looking for the item field on that document type is looking for something that, by design, is not there.
Line VAT against document VAT
Two things worth keeping apart, because they get muddled:
| What | Where it lives | What for |
|---|---|---|
| The item's VAT rate | On the line, inherited from the catalogue | So the ERP posts the line at the right rate. |
| The document's VAT breakdown | In the header | Making the invoice's nets, tax amounts and total agree. |
The document's tax breakdown, nets by rate, tax amounts, withholding and surcharge, is checked in the header, not on the lines. The lines supply the amount; the header supplies the tax.
Which is why the item list has no VAT column in its selector: the figure you have to make agree is in the header.
Things that come up
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The line's VAT shows as not configured | The catalogue item has no VAT rate. | Set it on the item's record. It affects every future line. |
| The account search returns nothing | Too few characters typed, or the chart of accounts is not synchronised. | Type more of the code or the name; if it is still empty, check the ERP connection. |
| The line posts to an account you did not expect | The account was left empty and the ERP worked it out from the item. | Give the account outright on that line. |
| The item field is not there | It is an expense invoice: only the account is asked for. | That is correct. Fill the account in. |
| The send is refused for missing line data | Some line does not meet its document type's requirements. | Go through the lines for item, account and, on purchase invoices, the batch. |