Entering Invoices with GST or VAT

Contact Innovative to enable the option to pay taxes either at the line level or from a dedicated fund. If you set this option to pay taxes from a dedicated fund, you must supply the name of the fund to use. Note that this option can be set separately for each accounting unit, if applicable. Otherwise, the setting is system-wide.

Not Available at U.S. Sites

Because GST and VAT are not US tax types, this functionality is not available at U.S. sites.

By default, Sierra processes tax at the summary level and prorates the tax amount across all line items in the invoice. To accommodate invoices with Goods and Services Tax (GST) or Value Added Tax (VAT), however, Sierra offers an option to enter tax amounts at the line level or to pay tax from a dedicated fund. By entering tax amounts at the line level, your library can accommodate taxes applied at different rates (for example, different VAT rates for different material types). Paying tax from a dedicated fund allows libraries to easily track taxes that are eligible for reimbursement. Once your library has chosen a dedicated fund, this fund is used for the GST or VAT on all invoices entered manually.

In addition to manually-created invoices, this option also enables your library to process EDIFACT invoices with GST or VAT at the line-level or applied to a dedicated fund.

For instructions on applying these taxes during the invoicing process, see one of the following sections.

Entering Tax at the Line Level

To enter invoices with tax at the line level:

  1. Follow the steps to create an invoice.
  2. When entering a line item, enter the tax amount in the column labelled GST or VAT. (The name of the column depends on how your library sets up this option.)
  3. Continue entering the invoice as described under Creating Invoices.

Note that the system displays a tax subtotal at the bottom of the screen. This amount is not prorated across items, but rather supplies a running subtotal of GST or VAT entered on the invoice.

Sierra stores line item tax amounts in the LINE ITEM fields and the type of tax (GST or VAT) in the TAX TYPE field of the invoice record.

Paying Tax from a Dedicated Fund

To pay tax on an invoice from a dedicated fund:

  1. Follow the steps to create an invoice.
  2. When entering the totals for the invoice (for example, shipping, service charges, and so on), enter the tax in the field labelled GST or VAT. (The exact field label depends on how your library sets up this option.) To the right of this field, the system displays the dedicated fund selected by your library while setting up this option.
  3. Finish the invoice as described under Creating Invoices.

Sierra stores the tax amount in the INV TOTALS field in the invoice record. The system also stores the tax type (GST or VAT) and the code for the dedicated fund in the TAX TYPE field of the invoice record.