Advance VAT Return (UStVA)
The advance VAT return (UStVA) is the recurring, usually monthly or quarterly filing through which a business reports its collected output VAT and deductible input VAT to the tax office, declaring the resulting payment due or a refund claim.
The advance VAT return (UStVA) is a business’s in-year, electronic filing to the tax office in which the output VAT collected during the filing period is set against the deductible input VAT. The difference results either in a payment due that must be remitted to the tax office, or in an input-VAT surplus that flows back as a refund. The UStVA is therefore the ongoing prepayment towards the VAT that is only finally assessed after year-end.
In principle, every VAT-liable entrepreneur within the meaning of the German VAT Act (UStG) is required to file. In Germany the filing must be submitted electronically and with authentication via the ELSTER portal, in Austria via FinanzOnline, and in Switzerland via the portal of the Federal Tax Administration. It does not replace the annual VAT return but feeds into it: at year-end the sum of all advance returns for the year is reconciled with the tax actually owed.
At a glance
- In-year prepayment towards VAT – reports output VAT minus input VAT to the tax office
- Frequency depends on the prior year’s payment due: monthly, quarterly or (if exempted) annually only
- Filing and payment deadline: the 10th day after the end of the filing period
- A permanent deadline extension shifts the deadline by one month (for monthly filers against a special advance payment)
- Mandatory electronic, authenticated submission via ELSTER (DE), FinanzOnline (AT) or ESTV (CH)
What goes into the advance VAT return (UStVA)?
The UStVA consolidates all VAT-relevant business transactions of a period. On the output side, the taxable sales – broken down by tax rate, in Germany 19% and 7% – as well as the VAT attributable to them are recorded. Added to this are tax-exempt sales, intra-Community supplies and reverse-charge cases in which the recipient of the service owes the tax.
On the input side is the deductible input VAT: the VAT from incoming invoices of suppliers and service providers, import VAT, and the input VAT from intra-Community acquisitions. The difference between the VAT owed and the deductible input VAT yields the payment due or – if input VAT predominates, for instance during investment phases or for exporters – a refund amount.
The official code numbers (Kz)
The official form assigns each value to a numbered code (Kennzahl). Well-known examples are Kz 81 (sales at 19%), Kz 86 (sales at 7%), Kz 66 (deductible input VAT amounts) and Kz 83 (remaining VAT advance payment or surplus). An ERP or accounting system maps these codes internally via tax keys and automatically assigns each posting to the correct line.
Deadlines, frequency and permanent deadline extension
The filing period is determined by the prior year’s VAT payment due. In Germany the rule is: with a payment due of more than EUR 9,000 in the previous year, filing is monthly; up to EUR 9,000, quarterly. If the payment due falls below the statutory de minimis threshold, the tax office may waive the advance return so that only the annual return remains. Start-ups were previously generally required to file monthly; this special rule has since been suspended.
The advance return must be submitted by the 10th day after the end of the period, and the payment due falls due on the same date. With a permanent deadline extension, both shift by one month. Monthly filers must make a special advance payment of one eleventh of the prior year’s payment due, which is offset against the last advance return of the year; quarterly filers receive the extension without a special advance payment. If the deadline is missed, a late-filing penalty applies, and late-payment surcharges apply for delayed payment.
Distinction: UStVA, annual VAT return and EC Sales List
The UStVA is often confused with other VAT filings. The most important distinction is from the annual VAT return: the advance returns are provisional prepayments during the current year, while the annual return is the final assessment. If the annual calculation results in more than was already paid via the advance returns, an additional payment arises; otherwise a refund.
To be distinguished from this is the EC Sales List (Zusammenfassende Meldung, ZM), which reports intra-Community supplies and certain other services to businesses in other EU states – it serves EU-wide monitoring, not tax payment. Also to be distinguished is VAT itself as a type of tax: the UStVA is merely the reporting and payment procedure through which this tax is handled during the year.
Small businesses and the UStVA
Anyone making use of the small-business scheme under § 19 UStG does not charge VAT and generally does not have to file a UStVA. The price for this is the lack of input-VAT deduction. As soon as a business switches to standard taxation or exceeds the turnover thresholds, the obligation to file advance returns begins.
The advance VAT return in the ERP system
Modern ERP and inventory management systems generate the basis for the UStVA automatically. Every outgoing invoice, every incoming invoice and every posting record is assigned via a tax key to the matching tax rate and the associated form code. From the financial accounting, an evaluation can thus be pulled at the push of a button, delivering the totals per code – the UStVA itself no longer has to be manually added up from documents.
In practice there are two routes for submission. Either the ERP exports the posting data via a DATEV interface to the tax adviser, who prepares the advance return and submits it via ELSTER. Or the system has an integrated ELSTER connection and files directly from within the software. A prerequisite for correct figures in both cases is a clean tax-key and chart-of-accounts model as well as audit-proof, GoBD-compliant bookkeeping, so that the reported values remain traceable at all times.
Accrual versus cash taxation
Whether an invoice becomes liable for VAT already upon issuance or only upon receipt of payment depends on the taxation method. Under accrual taxation (Sollversteuerung) the invoice date counts; under cash taxation (Istversteuerung) the receipt of payment. The ERP must map the chosen method correctly, because it determines into which filing period a transaction falls.
DACH particularities
The basic principle of the advance return is comparable in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but the details differ. In Austria the equivalent is called Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung (UVA); it is filed via FinanzOnline, the frequency is predominantly monthly, quarterly for smaller turnovers, and the deadline runs until the 15th of the second following month. In Switzerland the VAT return to the Federal Tax Administration is by default quarterly, with differing tax rates and its own methodology.
For businesses with cross-border operations in the DACH region this means: an ERP system must be multi-tenant capable and able to map several tax regimes in parallel. This information provides a general overview and does not replace tax advice; deadlines, thresholds and rates change and must be clarified with a tax adviser in each individual case.
Example
Example: online retailer with monthly advance returns
An e-commerce retailer with around EUR 2 million in annual turnover had a VAT payment due of EUR 40,000 in the previous year and is therefore required to file monthly advance returns. Its ERP system posts every outgoing invoice generated via shop and marketplaces with the tax key for 19% and automatically records the input VAT from goods purchases and shipping service providers.
At month-end, accounting pulls the UStVA evaluation: EUR 190,000 in output VAT from sales is offset against EUR 150,000 in input VAT, leaving a payment due of EUR 40,000. Thanks to the permanent deadline extension, the return does not have to be submitted via ELSTER and the payment made by the 10th, but only by the 10th of the month after next. Because all values come audit-proof from the ERP, every code number is traceable down to the individual document.
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