VAT-inclusive prices, per document line
There are two ways to write a price on an invoice, and both are correct:
- excluding VAT (excl.) — you type 1000, the system adds the VAT on top, the customer pays 1200;
- including VAT (incl.) — you type 1200, exactly the price on the label, and the system works out which part of it is VAT.
The second is the natural one when you sell at shelf prices: the number you quote the customer is the number you type. Nothing to work out on paper, and no one-cent disagreements.
Switching it on
Setup → Sales. That is where you decide whether the mode is available at all, and what a new row starts as: excluding or including VAT.
Pick what you do most of the time. If your prices are nearly always VAT-inclusive, make that the default — otherwise the first row of every invoice will ask you to choose by hand.
What it looks like on the invoice
On every line, next to the tax, you get two variants of the same rate:
excl. 20% ← the price is net, VAT is added on top
incl. 20% ← the price already contains VAT, it is extracted
You choose once, on the first row. The rows after it inherit that choice.
The rule, in one line
The item supplies the RATE. The previous row supplies the MODE.
The two are independent, and that matters in practice: if the last row is 20% incl. and you add an item taxed at 8%, the new row comes out 8% incl. — the rate comes from the item, the way you write prices stays yours.
Switch a row to excl.? The next one follows it there. A mixed document is still possible: switch exactly the row that needs it, and the rest flows on from there.
What the totals show
The Amount column and the subtotal show the taxable base — the net figure — with VAT listed separately, as on any invoice. The document adds up the way an accountant expects, even though you typed gross prices.
The VAT on a gross-priced line is computed as the remainder: full price minus base. It sounds like a detail, and it is the reason a hundred-line invoice adds up exactly instead of drifting by a cent at the end.
If something does not match
"I chose incl. and the following rows still come out excl." — fixed in v10.8.1. Check your version and ask for the update if it is older.
"I do not see the incl./excl. variants at all." — the mode is not switched on in Setup → Sales, or your install predates the feature.
"I pick an item from the catalogue and nothing fills in." — report it; that is a server-side error visible only on some installs, also fixed in v10.8.1.