Form 231 is the monthly VAT return filed by registered dealers in Maharashtra. You can generate this return form along with supporting annexures in Tally.ERP 9. Further, to help you verify the tax details before generating the returns, a report is available to display the tax computation for the return period.
All transactions, whether recorded correctly, incorrectly or inadequately, are captured and categorised in this report. Additionally, the report design allows you to verify, resolve exceptions and finalise the return for filing. You can save the original returns, and in case changes are made to the periodic returns after saving, the information can be overwritten or saved as revised.
To display the report
1. Go to Gateway of Tally > Display > Statutory Reports > VAT > Form 231.
Form 231 report appears as shown below:
The different sections of the report are:
● Returns Summary
● Particulars (computation details)
● Payment Details
You can drill down from any of the sections to display incrementally detailed information at subsequent levels.
This section provides a summary of all transactions recorded in the reporting period. The transactions are further classified based on the presence of VAT details in the vouchers, and their effect on the returns and annexures.
● Total number of vouchers for the period: Displays the total number of vouchers recorded in the reporting period. Drill down from this row to view the Statistics report, which displays the list of voucher types, with the corresponding voucher count.
The statistics report on drill down from Total number of vouchers for the period appears as shown below:
● Included in returns/annexures: Displays the count of all vouchers that have the mandatory information in corresponding masters and transactions to comply with requirements of filing returns. These vouchers will be a part of VAT and/or CST forms, as applicable. Drill down from this row to view the Vouchers included in Returns/Annexures report, which displays a transaction type-wise voucher list with corresponding voucher count.
Vouchers included in Returns/Annexures list appears as shown below:
Purchases: Displays the count of all purchase transactions recorded in purchase, journal and payment vouchers.
To display the list of purchase transactions
Select Purchases.
Press Enter.
The Voucher Register screen appears with all the purchases transactions considered in Included Transactions count. To display the voucher, select the required Voucher and press Enter.
To exclude a voucher, select it and click X: Exclude Vouchers.
Sales: Displays the count of all sales transactions recorded in sales, journal and receipt vouchers.
To display the list of sales transactions
Select Sales.
Press Enter.
The Voucher Register screen appears with all the sales transactions considered in Included Transactions count. To display the voucher, select the required Voucher and press Enter.
To exclude a voucher, select it and click X: Exclude Vouchers.
VAT Adjustment: Displays the count of all journal vouchers recorded for VAT adjustments.
To display the list of journal vouchers
Select VAT Adjustments.
Press Enter.
The Voucher Register screen appears with all the journal vouchers which are recorded by selecting the following:
Nature of Adjustments: The required Nature of adjustment and additional details need to be selected for the transaction to be included for returns.
VAT ledger: On selecting VAT ledger, a sub-screen appears in the voucher to provide assessable value, tax and/or commodity details. Only when these details are provided, it gets considered in the Included Transactions count.
To display the voucher, select the required Voucher and press Enter.
To exclude a voucher, select it and click X: Exclude Vouchers.
Sales Returns: Displays the count of sales returns recorded in journal and credit note.
To display the list of transactions of sales returns
Select Sales Returns.
Press Enter.
The Voucher Register screen appears with all the sales returns transactions considered in Included Transactions count. To display the voucher, select the required Voucher and press Enter.
To exclude a voucher, select it and click X: Exclude Vouchers.
Purchase Returns: Displays the count of purchase returns recorded in journal voucher and debit note.
To display the list of purchase returns
Select Purchase Returns.
Press Enter.
The Voucher Register screen appears with all the purchase return transactions considered in Included Transactions count. To display the voucher, select the required Voucher and press Enter.
To exclude a voucher, select it and click X: Exclude Vouchers.
Drill down from any transaction type to display the list of transactions.
The Voucher Register appears as shown below:
● Not relevant for returns/annexures: Displays the count of all vouchers which are not part of returns, as VAT and CST details are not provided in these transactions, there will be no implications on forms and annexures. Drill down from this row to view the Vouchers not included in Returns/Annexures report, which displays a transaction-type-wise voucher list with corresponding voucher count.
The Vouchers not included in Returns/Annexures list appears as shown:
● Vouchers Excluded by Users: Displays the count of transactions which have been manually excluded from the list of included or uncertain transactions. If any transaction has been inadvertently excluded, it can be moved back to included or uncertain transactions by clicking the I: Include Vouchers.
● Contra: Displays the count of contra entries which involve only bank and cash ledgers.
● Payroll Vouchers: Displays the count of transactions recorded using payroll and attendance vouchers. VAT does not apply to these transactions.
● Order Vouchers: Displays the count of sales order, purchase order, job work in order and job work out order vouchers as VAT is not applicable while placing an order.
● Inventory Vouchers: Displays the count of receipt note, stock journal, delivery note, material in, material out, rejections in, rejections out and physical stock vouchers as they are purely inventory in nature, and do not attract VAT.
● No VAT Implications: Displays the count of receipts and payments.
● Other Vouchers: Displays the count of memorandum and reversing journal vouchers.
All the categories and voucher types are not displayed, by default. Based on the voucher type used and the exclusions done by user, the relevant categories appear with the transaction count.
● Incomplete/mismatch in information (to be resolved): Displays the count of all vouchers with insufficient VAT related information. These are exceptions that need to be resolved for the vouchers to be included in the returns. These vouchers are not listed under Included in returns/annexures or Not relevant for returns/annexures row. Drill down from this row to view the list of exception types and number of exceptions under each type. These exceptions can be resolved right away, without having to alter vouchers or update masters one by one.
This section displays the transaction values considered in the returns and annexures along with the amount of liability, input credit, adjustments and VAT/CST payable or refundable. The assessable value of sales and purchases, and the tax applicable, if any, are displayed under respective columns for the specific period. Drill down reports are provided for local purchases, interstate purchases, local sales and interstate sales, and VAT adjustments up to the transaction-level.
● Sales: Displays the total sales (local and interstate), which include the assessable value of taxable and exempted sales, and the corresponding tax amount. The total local and interstate sales are divided into Taxable and Exempt and are further classified tax rate-wise. The tax rate-wise rows appear in italics only in detailed mode (F1: Detailed).
To view all the sales transactions
1. Click F1: Detailed to display the report in detailed mode.
2. Select any of the rows displayed in italics, under Local Sales or Interstate Sales.
3. Press Enter to display the Voucher Register screen with item-wise sales value for selected VAT rate, as shown below:
You can view this report ledger wise, commodity wise, or voucher wise using the button options L: Ledger wise, C: Commodity wise and V: Voucher wise respectively.
Similarly, item-wise sales value for other VAT rate can be viewed by selecting and drilling down on the respective VAT rate row in the report.
● Purchases: Displays the total purchase (local and interstate) which include the assessable value of taxable and exempted purchases, and the corresponding tax amount. The total local and interstate purchases are divided into Taxable and Exempt and are further classified tax rate-wise. The tax rate-wise rows appear in italics only in detailed mode (F1: Detailed). Additionally, purchase tax liability created on purchase of goods from unregistered dealer is also displayed under Purchase tax liability (not recorded) and Purchase tax liability (as recorded) for each tax rate.
To view all the purchase transactions
1. Click F1: Detailed to display the report in detailed mode.
2. Select any of the rows displayed in italics, under Local Purchases or Interstate Purchases.
3. Press Enter to display the Voucher Register screen with item-wise of sales value for selected VAT rate.
4. Select an item and press Enter to display the transaction-wise list.
You can view this report ledger wise, commodity wise, or voucher wise using the button options L: Ledger wise, C: Commodity wise and V: Voucher wise respectively.
Similarly, item-wise sales value for other VAT rate can be displayed by selecting the respective VAT rate row in the report and drill-down.
● VAT Payable or Refundable: Displays the aggregate of taxes payable or refundable for a particular period. Using this information, the required adjustment entries can be recorded. Excess input tax credit remaining after nullifying the output VAT against the input VAT is displayed as refundable.
● VAT Adjustments: The various types of VAT adjustments recorded can either increase or decrease the liability/input credit. The VAT adjustment entries display only the aggregate value of input and output VAT. Drill down to view the list of VAT adjustment transactions.
The list of VAT adjustment vouchers appears as shown below:
● VAT Payable or Refundable after Adjustments: Displays the amount available after considering the adjustment entries recorded against the VAT payable or refundable amount.
● CST Payable: Displays the CST payable on interstate sales, after considering the input VAT offset against the CST dues.
This option is provided to display break-up to help view the calculations used to arrive at the final value. The final (nett) values for each tax rate are displayed in the report after deducting rejections and adjustments. The assessable value and tax amount for gross value, rejections and adjustments are displayed by enabling this option.
To view break-up of nett value
1. Click F12: Configure to display Configuration screen.
2. Enable the option Show break-up of nett values?.
3. Press Ctrl+A to accept.
The rows Gross Value, Returns, and Addition/Deduction are displayed below each tax rate in detailed mode of the report. You can drill down from any row to view the list of vouchers with assessable value and tax amount.
On drill down from Gross Value row, the purchase/sales transaction that are part of gross value are displayed in Voucher Register report. Similarly, to view the purchase return/sales return transactions with assessable value and tax amount deducted from gross value, drill down from Returns row. Further, drill down from Addition/Deduction to view the debit note/credit note transactions recorded for escalation or de-escalation in price. The assessable value and tax amount from these transactions are added to or deducted from gross value to arrive at net value.
Note: For some states delivered in 5.4 and 5.5, stock item wise report is displayed on drill down. Further, you can use the options provided to view the report ledger wise, commodity wise or voucher wise for these states.
This section contains statistics of all VAT and CST payment vouchers of the current period. Payments made to party, petty expenses, or statutory payments other than VAT or CST are not displayed here.
Tax Payments (Included): Drill down from this row to view all payment vouchers recorded for VAT, CST and other dues like interest and penalty (using the Stat Payment feature), made for annual returns by selecting the entire financial year as statutory payment period in the payment voucher.
Tax Payments (Not Included/Uncertain): Drill down from this row to view tax payment vouchers with insufficient information.
Summary of Exceptions screen displays the count of payment vouchers which are not considered in the VAT return due to insufficient information.
The Summary of Exceptions screen appears as shown below:
Unable to determine the duty type of ledgers: Displays payment vouchers in which the Type of duty/tax of tax ledger is set to Others.
In payment voucher recorded using Stat Payment feature, if the tax ledger used is predefined with the tax type, Others (Type of duty/tax option of tax ledger set to Others), the voucher appears under this exception.
To solve this exception
1. Select Unable to determine the duty type of ledgers and press Enter.
2. Click S: Set Duty Type.
3. Select the Type of Duty/Tax from the list.
4. Press Ctrl+A to accept the Update Duty Type screen.
Unable to determine the payment period/type of tax payment: Displays the count of payment vouchers recorded without using the Stat Payment feature.
Payment vouchers recorded with tax ledger predefined with tax types - VAT or CST, appear under this exception when the Stat Payment feature is not used.
To solve this exception
1. Select Unable to determine the payment period/type of tax payment and press Enter.
2. Click S: Set Details.
3. Select the Tax Type from the list.
4. Enter the dates in Period From and To fields.
5. Press Ctrl+A to accept the Stat Payment Details screen.
Conflict in Tax Type of Ledger against Payment: Displays the count of payment vouchers in which ledgers predefined with other tax types like CENVAT and service tax are used.
In a payment voucher recorded by selecting VAT or CST as the Tax Type in Stat Payment Details screen, if the tax ledger used is predefined with tax types - CENVAT, Service Tax, TDS or TCS, the voucher appears under this exception.
To solve this exception
1. Select Conflict in Tax Type of Ledger against Payment and press Enter.
2. Select the transaction and press Enter.
3. Replace the incorrectly selected tax ledger with VAT or CST ledger.
4. Press Ctrl+A to accept the voucher.
VAT Paid: Displays the amount of VAT paid in the financial year. Drill down from this row to view the list of payment vouchers recorded by VAT remittance.
The list of payment vouchers appears as shown below:
You can enter the details of bank and challan no. of payment by clicking V: Alter Details.
CST Paid: Displays the amount of VAT paid in the financial year. Drill down from this row to view the list of payment vouchers recorded by VAT remittance.
Balance VAT Payable: Displays the balance VAT payable for the period.
Balance CST Payable: Displays the balance CST payable for the period.
'VAT Form 231 (Maharashtra)' has been shared with