Bridging: uploading a 9-box file

Bridging is for businesses whose bookkeeping already produces the nine VAT return figures, for example from accounting software or a spreadsheet that totals the period. You export those nine figures as a file and upload it; VATflow submits them to HMRC. Nothing is retyped, which is what keeps the digital link that Making Tax Digital requires.

If you want VATflow to work the figures out from individual transactions, use the record-keeping spreadsheet or in-app entry instead. See Keeping digital records.

Download the template from the upload panel on the prepare page (Download the xlsx). It has one sheet, VAT_Return:

• Column A holds the box labels, box_1 to box_9. Leave them as they are.
• Column B holds the values. Enter Boxes 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
• Boxes 3 and 5 are formulas and are locked: Box 3 is Box 1 plus Box 2, and Box 5 is the difference between Box 3 and Box 4.
• Boxes 1 to 5 are in pounds and pence. Boxes 6 to 9 are whole pounds with no pence.
• All values are positive. Box 5 is always the size of the difference, never negative.

If your software exports a CSV instead, use the same two columns: the box label in the first column and the value in the second, one box per line. Labels such as Box 1, BOX-1 and box_1 are all accepted. A CSV version of the template is on the same upload panel. Either file must be under 1 MB.

1. Open the VAT period from VAT Returns and choose Prepare.
2. Choose Upload a completed 9-box return and pick your .xlsx or .csv file.
3. VATflow reads the boxes and shows them back to you, with Boxes 3 and 5 recalculated on the server.
4. If your file’s Box 3 or Box 5 differs from the calculation, a notice shows both figures. The calculated figure is the one that is filed; the notice does not block you.
5. Review the pre-submission checks, tick the declaration and submit. See Preparing and submitting a return.

HMRC requires that the figures travel from your records to your return without being keyed in by hand. A file you export and upload is a digital link. Reading numbers off a screen and typing them into another program is not. VATflow has no screen for typing the nine boxes, so every return it files came from a file or from transaction records.

Keep the source file with your records. HMRC describes digital links in VAT Notice 700/22 (opens GOV.UK).

• That file is empty. The sheet has no values in column B. Fill in the boxes and save before uploading.
• That file is too large. A 9-box file should be a few kilobytes. You have probably picked a full set of transactions; use the record-keeping import for those.
• That file could not be read as a spreadsheet or CSV. Save as .xlsx (not .xls or .numbers) or as plain CSV, then try again.
• That file type is not supported. Only .xlsx and .csv are accepted.
• Some box values are not valid. Each box is listed with what is wrong: a missing figure, a negative amount, more than two decimal places in Boxes 1 to 5, pence in Boxes 6 to 9, or a figure larger than HMRC accepts. Fix the cell and re-upload.
• This period is not an open VAT obligation with HMRC. The period has already been filed or is not one HMRC is expecting. Check the VAT Returns list.
• Confirm with your authenticator app to upload. Enter the code from your app when asked and try again.