Special cases of tax posting

We have discussed recently the details related to types of tax codes and  tax category assignment of the GL account. In that article SAP Expert mentioned that usually you do not post amounts directly to tax accounts. But sometimes you still do.

Let’s discuss these cases in details.

Tax-only invoice

Normally the system automatically generates a line item for the tax account (i.e. GL accounts with tax categories “<” or “>”) when you enter a tax-relevant document, for example a vendor invoice.

However, there are cases when you have no other option but to enter a document directly onto the tax account. The best example is a vendor tax-only invoice. This is usually an invoice from a logistics company that deals with your imports and charges VAT on goods you bring into the country from abroad.

You can enter this document either in “classic” or “Enjoy” transactions in Finance. The difference from a normal entry process is that you must enter both tax amount and tax base when posting directly to the tax account. Or you can let SAP do the automatic reverse-calculation of tax base.

When entering the document via the “classic” transaction, there is a tax base field and “Determine tax base” checkbox directly on the entry screen.

When entering the document via the “enjoy” transaction, the special button “Tax base” appears at the bottom of the document entry table. Clicking that button calls up a special pop-up window with tax base field and yet another button for auto-calculation.

You need also to ensure that checkbox “Post automatically only” is not ticked in the GL account details.

Direct entry on input and output tax GL accounts

Each time a document is posted to the tax account, it must have a tax code. As mentioned in the article about tax categories, a tax code in the document means that this document will be shown in the tax return.

However, there are cases when you have to enter a document directly onto the tax account, but this document isn’t relevant to tax return. It is literally the tax return posting itself: transfer between the tax accounts and the tax reconciliation account. SAP Expert has mentioned this posting when we discussed the tax return functionality. Program RFUMSV00 can do it for you. But in certain cases you may wish to post such a document manually.

Can you do this? Yes, there is a transaction code FB41 for this purpose. This transaction allows you to enter the document line item for the tax account, but without tax code in it. Because of that, your document will not show in the tax return. Transaction code FB41 is used by program RFUMSV00 for the batch input session, but you can also use it manually.

You need to also ensure that checkbox “Post automatically only” is not ticked in the GL account details.

What are other cases when you need to post to tax accounts an unusual way?