Tax & Compliance
Tax positions you can evidence, in whichever regime you file under
Indirect tax, withholding tax and statutory reporting run on the same transaction data, with the rules of your jurisdictions configured rather than assumed. Every figure on a return traces back to the document that produced it, which is the difference between filing a position and defending one.
The problem
The tax you booked and the tax you can defend are different numbers
Tax is decided on the document and proved somewhere else entirely. Indirect tax is derived from a rate, a place of supply and a registration status, then recovered only if a counterparty reports the same transaction. Withholding depends on who is being paid, what for, and whether a threshold has been crossed this year. The rules differ by jurisdiction, the deadlines do not move, and the reconciliation that ties the two together is usually a spreadsheet built under time pressure — one per registration, per entity, per period. When an assessment asks how a figure was reached, the working has to be rebuilt from scratch.
Pillar one
Indirect tax
VAT, GST or sales tax, depending on the regime. Rates are derived from the transaction and cross-checked against what the document itself states, registration numbers are validated before they reach a return, and recoverable input tax is reconciled against what suppliers have reported.
Rates derived and cross-checked
The rate is determined from the goods or service, the parties and the place of supply, then compared against the tax the document states. A document charging something other than what the rules produce is raised as a difference to resolve rather than posted and reported.
Tax registration numbers validated
A counterparty's tax registration number is validated for structure, status and consistency with the name on the document — at onboarding and again when a document is processed. An invalid or lapsed registration is caught at the invoice, where it is a correction, rather than at the return, where it is a problem.
Recoverable input tax reconciled
Where a regime makes recovery depend on what the supplier reported, purchase records are matched against supplier filings document by document, and differences are classified by cause — not reported, reported in a later period, reported at a different value, or reported against a different registration. Each of those needs a different conversation.
Reverse charge and place of supply
Cross-border services, imports and domestic reverse-charge categories are identified from the transaction rather than from a flag somebody remembered to set, and the resulting self-assessment is posted on both sides so the ledger and the return agree.
Pillar two
Withholding tax
Withholding tax deducted at source, calculated per counterparty and per payment type. Most regimes have a version of it and each names it differently — TDS in India, deductions under the UK construction industry scheme, non-resident withholding reported on a US 1042-S — so the mechanism is modelled once and the local categories, rates and thresholds are configured on top of it.
Deduction determined, not remembered
The rate is determined from the counterparty, their tax status and residency, the nature of the payment and any relief or treaty position held on file. A payment that should have been deducted from is caught before it is released rather than corrected at year end.
Thresholds tracked across the year
Where a regime only requires deduction once a counterparty crosses an annual or per-transaction threshold, the running total is held per counterparty and per category, so the first payment after the threshold is treated correctly rather than the tenth.
Certificates and challans through to filing
Every deduction is tracked through to the remittance that discharges it and the return that reports it, with the certificate or challan tied to the same record. A deduction with no matching remittance is visible while it can still be corrected.
Counterparty statements that reconcile
What was deducted, what was remitted and what the counterparty was told are reconciled against each other, so the statement a vendor queries and the return you filed come from one set of records.
Pillar three
Statutory reporting
Audit-ready registers prepared in the format the local regime requires, per entity, per registration and per period, with every figure traceable to the transaction that produced it.
Registers in the local format
Sales, purchase, input tax and withholding registers are produced in the layout the regime expects, so preparing a return is a review of something already assembled rather than a reformatting exercise done against a deadline.
Every figure opens to its source
Any number on a register opens to the transactions beneath it and the checks that cleared them. The working paper and the filed return are the same records, which is what makes a position defensible years later.
E-invoicing and e-reporting mandates
Where a regime requires documents to be cleared or reported to an authority as they are issued, the identifiers that come back are held against the transaction and reconciled with the register, so what was reported and what was booked are never two separate stories.
Multiple entities and registrations
Each registration is its own reporting unit with its own registers and its own reconciliation, while the group view rolls them up. Transactions between units of the same group are identified so they are not counted twice.
Regime coverage
Mechanisms, not a list of countries
Tax regimes differ in their rates and their paperwork far more than in their mechanics. VapusFin models the mechanisms below, and the local regimes you file under are configured during onboarding rather than hardcoded — which is why adding a jurisdiction is a configuration exercise rather than a release.
Rate determination
Rates derived from the goods or service, the parties, their registration status and the date, then checked against what the document states.
Reverse charge
Categories where the recipient accounts for the tax, self-assessed and posted on both sides so the ledger and the return agree.
Place of supply
Where a transaction is treated as taking place, and what that means for which registration reports it and at what rate.
Threshold rules
Registration, deduction and reporting thresholds tracked as running positions rather than checked once at the point of setup.
Periodic returns
Monthly, quarterly and annual cycles, each with its own register, its own cut-off and its own retained evidence.
How it works
From transaction to filed position
- 01
Consolidate
Sales and purchase documents are gathered across entities and registrations for the period, alongside whatever the local authority or your counterparties make available for the same period.
- 02
Determine
Indirect tax is derived and compared against the document, and withholding is determined from the counterparty, the payment type and the thresholds already crossed.
- 03
Validate
Registration numbers are checked, treatment is tested against place of supply and rate, and documents that cannot support a recovery are separated from those that can.
- 04
Reconcile
Recoverable input tax is reconciled against supplier filings, and deductions are reconciled against the remittances and certificates that discharge them. Every difference is classified by the reason it differs.
- 05
Follow up
Unreported and misreported documents become a counterparty worklist naming the specific document and period, so the follow-up is one message rather than a reconciliation the supplier has to repeat.
- 06
File and retain
Registers are prepared in the format the regime requires and retained with their supporting evidence, so a position taken in a period can be reconstructed later instead of rebuilt.
Questions
Frequently asked
- Which tax regimes do you support?
- The mechanisms — rate determination, reverse charge, place of supply, threshold rules, periodic returns and withholding at source — are part of the platform. The regimes you file under are configured during onboarding against your own registrations, rates and categories. We scope each jurisdiction explicitly at that point rather than advertising a list of countries nobody has been configured for.
- Does VapusFin file our returns for us?
- It prepares and reconciles the registers you file from, and keeps the supporting evidence tied to each line. Filing stays with your tax team or your advisers, through the channel you use today. We are not a substitute for professional tax advice on a position.
- How is withholding tax handled outside India?
- Withholding tax deducted at source is the generic mechanism: a rate determined by counterparty, payment type, residency and threshold, then tracked through to the remittance, the certificate and the return. TDS is India's name for it; other regimes use different categories, rates and forms. Those are configuration, not a different product.
- What happens when a supplier has not reported a transaction we are claiming?
- The document is separated from the credit you can currently claim, and the supplier appears on a follow-up list with the specific document, value and period named. When they report it in a later period the match is picked up and the position updated, rather than the earlier work being repeated.
- We file Indian GST and TDS. Is that covered here?
- Yes, and in more depth than this page goes into. GSTIN and PAN validation, input tax credit reconciled against GSTR-2B, e-invoice IRN handling and TDS challan tracking are set out on the GST portal integration solution, which is written specifically for the Indian regime.
- How do multiple entities and registrations work?
- Each registration is treated as its own reporting unit with its own registers and its own reconciliation, while the group view rolls them up. Transactions between units of the same group are identified so they are not double counted, and a unit's position is only ever assembled from its own records.
Reconcile a real filing period
Send us a period of purchase records and whatever your regime gives you to reconcile against. We will show you the recoverable tax, the differences, and the counterparty list they produce.
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