Recording HMRC VAT refund after starting a new financial year

1

Hi,

I’m setting up a new Manager Desktop file for our football club.

Our new financial year started on 7 July 2026 and I entered opening bank balances as at the end of 6 July.

On 9 July, HMRC paid us a VAT refund of £11,796.56. This refund relates to the April–June VAT return, so it belongs to the previous accounting period, but the cash was received after the new financial year started.

When importing the bank statement, the receipt is left in Suspense.

I enabled the UK VAT functionality, but:

  • I can’t select Tax Payable/VAT Payable as an account when editing the receipt.
  • Settings → Starting Balances → Balance Sheet Accounts is empty and offers no accounts to select.

What is the correct way in Manager to record this HMRC VAT refund so that:

  1. It does not appear as income.
  2. It correctly clears the opening VAT receivable/payable.
  3. Future VAT returns remain correct.

Is the recommended approach to create an opening VAT balance, or is there another Manager-specific method? v26.7.6

Thank you.

2

You should have the Vat refund amount in your Vat account as a starting balance in the asset section of your opening balance sheet

Vat amounts never appear in Income nor Expense accounts - only in asset or liability accounts

3

Thank you. That makes sense.

The problem I’m having is that Settings → Starting Balances → Balance Sheet Accounts is empty, and when I click New Starting Balance, the Balance Sheet Account dropdown says “No matches found.”

I have already enabled UK VAT.

How do I create or expose the VAT asset account so I can enter the opening balance?

4

Screenshots would be helpful

5

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6

This is after enabling UK VAT. I expected to be able to enter an opening VAT receivable balance, but no Balance Sheet accounts are available to select."

7

I cannot reproduce this unfortunately. The only way I can put this under bugs is when I’m able to verify it but yes, it should never act like that.

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8

Thank you.

I’m running Manager Desktop 26.7.6.

The file is a brand-new file created for the new financial year, UK tax features are enabled, and opening bank balances have been entered.

However, Settings → Starting Balances → Balance Sheet Accounts is completely empty, and the Balance Sheet Account dropdown says “No matches found.”

Is there another step required before balance sheet accounts become available, or does this look like a bug?

9

Presumably you have created Balance sheets accounts

10

I think you’ve identified the issue. I have created all of my Profit & Loss accounts, but on the Balance Sheet I only have the default groups (Assets, Tax Payable, Equity etc.). I haven’t actually created any Balance Sheet accounts under those groups. Is that why the Starting Balance account list is empty?

11

Thanks, that’s now resolved. I created a Balance Sheet account called HMRC VAT Receivable, entered the opening balance, and allocated the HMRC refund against it. The account has now cleared to zero.

Is this the recommended method for bringing an outstanding VAT refund into a new Manager file at the start of a financial year?

12

You don’t need to create a new business for each year - in fact, this is positively nuts

Manager is a perpetual accounting system - you just keep adding transactions

Adjust or create reports for each period or year as required

13

Cheers, we don’t but the previous treasurer had a very old version that didn’t work so we upgraded and wanted to start from afresh - cheers all for the assistance