VAT Return Preparation

At the end of each VAT period, PRIMA Bookkeeper builds a review pack for the person who files the return. The pack is a cross-check of your ledger’s own VAT report, and it is never the return itself.

Caution

PRIMA Bookkeeper files nothing. Your ledger’s own VAT report is the filing source, and you or your accountant file the return. The pack helps you check that report line by line before anyone files it.

Running It

In Claude Code, run /vat-prep with any date inside the period. From the terminal, run the command below.

prima-bookkeeper vat-prep --date 2026-05-15 --out vat/2026-05-to-06-VAT3-review.md

What Your Agent Does First

1. Checks the period is complete. An unposted or unknown line leaves the pack incomplete. Your agent says what is missing, or runs the bookkeeping cycle first.
2. Reconciles the period. A payment in or out of the bank with no ledger entry means the return is missing an entry, and your agent raises it.
3. Reports evidence coverage. It counts the purchases in each evidence state. For the missing ones, it gives the VAT at stake by supplier.

What the Pack Shows

• The return boxes, with the jurisdiction pack’s meaning of each box, which for Ireland are the VAT3 boxes.
• Totals by VAT treatment. A reverse charge shows here, because self-accounted VAT appears in both T1 and T2. The net for an EU supplier appears in ES2.
• Totals by rate.
• Every warning the tool returned.
• Open questions for your accountant. These cover unmatched lines, treatments the tool marked for review and reclaims with no document. They also cover any unverified pack item that bears on the period.

What the Pack Covers

The figures cover the bank-paid entries PRIMA Bookkeeper posted. Your ledger’s own VAT report also holds the sales invoices, journals and other entries keyed outside the tool. Your agent states this limit at the top of every pack.

Unverified Pack Items

A jurisdiction pack lists every item not yet checked against a primary source in its unverified list, and doctor prints that list. When one of those items bears on the period, the pack names it as an open question for your accountant.