For your accountant
For whoever does the books
What the quarter looks like today
There is a spreadsheet open next to the accounts software. The receipts are in a drawer, or a carrier bag, or the glovebox of a car that has already sold.
Half the job is chasing. What did that car cost? Was the £180 for tyres on the Focus or the Astra? Did the valet get paid in cash? The trader knows, roughly, but he is on the forecourt with a buyer.
Then the VAT has to be worked out car by car, by hand, before any of it goes to the accountant.
What changes
Every cost on the reg it belongs to
A cost is logged against the car it was spent on, by whoever spent it. Photograph the receipt and the form fills itself: supplier, total, VAT and category (Professional). Or just type the amount. Cash prep with no receipt still counts.
Each cost carries its own VAT treatment, so MOT fees and road tax are never counted as reclaimable. You can search and filter costs by month, category or car, and export them as CSV or in the shape Xero’s bill import takes.
Margin-scheme VAT worked out as cars sell
When a car is sold, the margin-scheme VAT on it is worked out there and then: a sixth of the margin between what it was bought for and what it sold for. A car sold at a loss has nil VAT, and the loss is not set against other cars. Prep costs don’t reduce the margin. Our margin scheme guide works one car through by hand, with HMRC’s sources.
The accountant pack
At the end of the quarter you download one file. Inside are spreadsheets of the sales (with the VAT on each car), the purchases, the costs (with their VAT treatment) and the stock at the end, with the totals on top. That is what goes to the accountant.
You can see it. The trader can sell.
Everyone gets their own login, so nobody shares a password. Starter covers 2 people and Professional covers 5.
Staff logins run the stock, the customers and the invoices
The money screens (profit, VAT and reports) stay with owner logins
An activity log shows every change, who made it and when
Costs go in from the pitch as they happen, not from memory at the end of the quarter
What your accountant gets
One download for the period, with five files in it.
README
The period, whether you are VAT registered, and the totals on top: cars sold and what for, margin-scheme VAT due, profit on cars sold, cars bought, costs logged, and stock at the end.
sales.csv
Every car sold in the period, with the margin-scheme VAT on each.
purchases.csv
Every car bought in the period.
costs.csv
Every cost logged in the period, with its VAT treatment.
stock-at-end.csv
What was in stock on the last day, at cost.
Not tax advice. It is the working your accountant asks for; they check it and file the return.
Questions
- Is it a VAT return?
- No. It is the working behind one. The pack shows the margin-scheme VAT on each car sold and the VAT treatment of each cost. Your accountant checks it and files the return.
- Does it do Making Tax Digital?
- No. Forecourt CRM does not file VAT returns, so it does not submit anything to HMRC. Your accountant files from the pack, using their own software.
- Do I need to be VAT registered to use it?
- No. If you are not registered, the VAT columns in the pack are zero and the rest works the same: what each car cost, what it sold for and what it made.
- Can the trader see the profit figures?
- Only if you want them to. Staff logins run the stock, the customers and the invoices. The money screens stay with owner logins.
See what your next car really makes
Forecourt CRM is opening up to a handful of dealers at a time. Put your name down and we'll be in touch.
- No card
- No contract
- Export everything as CSV
Free to use first: profit per car calculator · the VAT margin scheme, explained