This video series shows how to configure the plugin, create submissions and finally submit returns to HMRC

• Configure the plugin and select the e-commerce package
• Add submission definitions for each reporting period
• Submit a return to HMRC

The plugin is installed the same way as any 3rd party plugin: download the plugin zip from your account after purchase; use the WordPress plugin manager to upload and install the plugin.

General

The general settings allow you to define the information that will normally appear on the VAT EC Sales List from (VAT101) such as a default VAT number, submitter, branch and post code that will be used in a submission definition. It it also allows you to enter your HMRC credentials used to access the EC Sales List service on the HMRC web site.

Checking your HMRC credentials

After you have entered to your HMRC sender id and password you will be able to check the credentials are valid. The plugin does this by sending your credentials to our site where a request is prepared and sent to the UK government gateway. If the credentials are correct the request will succeed and this success will be reported to you. If the credentials are not valid the request will fail and the failure will be reported. Of course there could be other errors that cause a failure such as the gateway being inaccessible or if there is a fault with the gateway. These kinds of issue will be identified so you know to try again later.

Integration

Choose the plugin you use to host your shop. In the unlikely event that you use more than one shop plugin you are able to select and work with more than one shop at the same time.

Submission List

Existing submissions are listed in summary form and indicate the status of the submission: not submitted, acknowledged (pending), submitted or failed. If the submission if not submitted or the submission has failed, the details can be edited. If the submission is acknowledged or successfully submitted the details of the submission can be viewed.

Add New/Edit

New submissions are defined by clicking on the Add New button on the submission summary (above). When defining a new submission, default header information is retrieved from the settings but you are able to override any setting. You are able to set the period for the submission and then select the sales transactions to include in the submission.

The transactions listed will be those: which have not been included in another submission; that include no VAT; are associated with a valid VAT registration number; and fall with in the time window specified in the dates filter. You can select one or all of the sales transactions up to a limit imposed by HMRC of 9999.

Once a submission is defined, it can be edited until it is submitted or is in a failed submission state.

Logs

After any attempt to submit an EC Sales list return, the requests made to HMRC and responses received from HMRC are made available as a series of logs. The logs can be viewed by clicking on the ‘Logs’ button of the respective submission summary record.

What happens when you press the submit button?

When the submit button is pressed the sales transactions you have selected to be included in the submission will be retrieved and sent to our web site along with the submission definition header information such as your HMRC credentials. Our web will use the information received from you to prepare a request to submit your return to HMRC. As part of this preparation, various checks will be made to confirm the integrity of the data and to make sure a valid submission credit key is used or the request is in test mode. If there are any issues with the request or the transaction data, the request will be stopped and any problems reported to you.

If there are no issues the information sent to our web site will be packaged in the form required by HMRC and the packaged sent to the government gateway. Our web server will follow the protocol required by the government gateway which will respond with any problems it has encountered with the data submitted or with an acknowledgement of the submission. If an acknowledgement is received, then following the protocol, our web site will poll the government gateway for up to 10 seconds (the period is specified by the government gateway).

If during this period a successful submission is confirmed, this information will be reported to you. If at the end of the polling period no confirmation of a successful submission has been received, this status information will be returned to you and the plugin will then allow you perform further checks until either the submission is confirmed or an error is reported. The error will document the reason for any failure so you are able to fix it.

Storing your information

The EC Sales List return data you send to our web site so we are able to process your submission will be stored on our web site along with the request sent to the UK government gateway and response from the gateway. The information will be stored on our web site so you have a backup of this important information and so we are able to trace any problems that might arise during the submission process.

Whether you have not bought any credits and just want to check how the plugin works or you have bought credits but want to be sure a submission will work the way you expect then test mode is for you. If no submission credit key is included in a submission definition or it is and the ‘Test mode’ box is checked then the application will be in test mode.

In test mode any submission you attempt will be sent to a test server on the HMRC web site. The test server behaves in all respects like the live server except that the submission is not recorded against your HMRC account.

To submit a live EC Sales List return to your HMRC account you purchase a credit from our web site. The credit is supplied in the form of a submission license key. A single license key can be good for more than one submission and each license key is applied to one or more submission definitions. You are able to test the validity of a license and the result of a validation will report the number of credits remaining for the key.

When is a credit consumed?

A submission credit is only consumed once a submission has completed successfully. The evidence for this is the response from the HMRC web site which is returned to your site and manifests itself by showing ‘Submitted’ in the respective record in the submissions list.

Each line reported in an EC Sales List submission includes an indicator where zero or blank is for goods, ‘3’ is for services (including digital services) and ‘2’ is for triangulated sales.

By default the plugin will assume an indicator of ‘3’. However the plugin adds a metabox that appears on EDD downloads and Woo Commerce products so the indicator can be set to appropriate value if necessary.