How to Upload Purchase Transactions in Kintsugi

Upload your purchase transactions so Kintsugi can calculate what you owe or can recover on the buy side. In the US this means consumer use tax, where the vendor did not charge the full tax due. In the EU and UK it means input VAT, the VAT you paid your own suppliers.

Time required: about 10 minutes for a prepared file

You will need: a Premium plan, a purchase CSV that follows the standard transaction template, and either use tax enabled for your organization (for US purchases) or EU or UK VAT enabled (for input VAT)

Before You Start

Each row's ship-to address must be the place where the purchase is used, not the billing address. If a purchase, such as software or a service, is used across several locations, split it into separate rows and allocate the amount across those locations before you upload. Kintsugi does not split purchases for you.

The purchase template uses buy-side column names, so some columns differ from the sales template. Vendor replaces customer, place-of-use replaces ship-to, and there is a ship-from field for where the goods or services came from. Fill in the ship-from country on EU and UK rows, since cross-border purchases are treated differently from domestic ones. Supply your vendor's VAT ID where you have it, as it affects how the purchase is classified.

How to Upload Purchase Transactions in Kintsugi

Step 1: Open the upload flow.

1. Go to Data Sources.

2. Click on the File Upload section.

Step 2: Select the Source.

Select the platform your transaction data comes from.

Step 3: Set the transaction type to Purchases.

Sales remain the default. So, you need to change it and set the transaction type to Purchases. Purchases are transactions where you are the buyer, and selecting this means you are uploading these purchases, which may be subject to Use Tax or Input VAT.

Step 4: Download the template.

Download the template for your selected source. Use the template, fill it with your transaction data. Follow the template to avoid upload errors.

Step 5: Upload your CSV.

a. Upload the CSV by either clicking Choose File or by dragging and dropping the file to the dropbox.

TIP: Confirm each row's ship-to address is the usage location and that any multi-location purchase is already split and allocated.

Step 6: Confirm the upload registered as purchases.

Open your upload history and check that the file is marked as a purchase upload.

How to Confirm it Worked

1. Go to Transactions.

2. Choose the Purchases section.

3. View the details of your purchases.
   Your purchases appear there, with total purchase transanctions, total purchase amount, total use tax owed, and total tax already paid, and line list of details. Your sales figures do not change.

For EU and UK purchases, open an individual purchase to see the VAT paid or self-assessed on it and how much of that you can recover, shown in the currency of the country. A purchase where you paid 210 EUR of VAT might show 168 EUR as recoverable, with the difference explained by the two factors described below.

QUICK TIPS:

1. If you’ve uploaded a large number of purchase transactions, use the search bar or filters to quickly narrow down results and locate the transaction you need.

2. You can also export your purchase transactions by clicking on the export button.

3. Adjust the columns to display the detail, set them up the way you like.

What Happens to EU and UK Purchases

If your purchase rows are in a country where you hold an EU or UK VAT registration, Kintsugi works out how much of the VAT on them you can recover and applies it for you.

Domestic and cross-border purchases

Kintsugi treats a purchase as either domestic or cross-border, based on its origin country, and the VAT it starts from is different for each.

• Domestic purchases use the VAT on your vendor's invoice, which is the VAT paid amount on your row

• Cross-border purchases are treated as reverse charge, and use the VAT Kintsugi calculates rather than the invoice amount. This applies even if your vendor charged you VAT

How much you can recover

Two things decide how much of that VAT you can claim back:

• Recoverability. In some countries, certain products do not allow you to recover all of the VAT you paid. Kintsugi holds a recoverability percentage for each combination of product category and country, anywhere from 0% to 100%. Where no percentage has been set, the purchase is treated as fully recoverable. These percentages are maintained by Kintsugi, and you cannot change them yourself. If one looks wrong for your business, contact us

• The pro rata coefficient. If you make both exempt and non-exempt sales, the VAT you can claim back is reduced by the ratio of non-exempt sales to total sales. Kintsugi sets a provisional ratio for the year from your prior-year sales, or 100% if there are none, applies it across the year's filing periods, and corrects it once your actual full-year sales are known. Businesses with no exempt sales are unaffected

Recoverability and the pro rata coefficient never change the VAT amount recorded on the purchase itself. They only change how much of it you can reclaim.

On your filing

Once your purchases are uploaded, go to Filings and open the filing for the period to review the result. The Tax Overview in Filing Details shows two rows from your purchases:

• Self-assessed VAT, the VAT you account for yourself on reverse-charge purchases, which is added to what you owe

• Input VAT recovered, the VAT you can claim back, which is subtracted from what you owe. All of it is combined into this one line rather than broken out per purchase

Credits Utilized shows any credits applied to the filing, and Total Liability is what remains due. For example, 2,000.00 GBP of Output VAT, plus 200.00 GBP of Self-assessed VAT, less 400.00 GBP of Input VAT recovered, gives a Total Liability of 1,800.00 GBP.

Kintsugi works through each period in this order:

1. The period's recoverable input VAT is netted against the VAT you owe

2. Any Input VAT Credits you already hold are applied to what is still due

3. If recoverable input VAT is greater than the VAT you owe, the filing stops at zero and the surplus becomes a new Input VAT Credit for a future period

A filing never drops below zero. See How to Add Input Credits for Canada and the EU.

Goods Imported Under Postponed VAT Accounting

If you import goods under postponed VAT accounting, you do not pay VAT at the border, so leave the VAT paid amount on those rows as 0. Kintsugi accounts for the import VAT itself and claims back the recoverable portion on the same period's return, so a fully recoverable import nets out to nothing.

Import VAT you actually paid at the border, and customs duty, stay outside Kintsugi's calculation. Postponed VAT accounting is the exception, because the VAT goes onto your return rather than being settled at the border.

Things to Know

• Purchases enter Kintsugi through CSV upload only. Syncing purchases from an accounting or commerce integration is not supported.

• Purchase data is stored and processed separately from sales and never counts toward sales totals

• Kintsugi does not automatically allocate a purchase used across several locations. Split and allocate before upload

• Kintsugi calculates input VAT from its own rates rather than from the VAT amount printed on your vendor's invoice, so the two can differ

• Keep your vendor records accurate. A vendor's VAT ID and address affect how a purchase is classified, and an invalid VAT ID is flagged for you to correct

Things to Know

• Purchases enter Kintsugi through CSV upload only. Syncing purchases from an accounting or commerce integration is not supported.

• Purchase data is stored and processed separately from sales and never counts toward sales totals

• Kintsugi does not automatically allocate a purchase used across several locations. Split and allocate before upload

• For cross-border purchases, Kintsugi calculates the VAT itself rather than using the amount on your vendor's invoice, so the two can differ. Domestic purchases use the invoice amount

• The origin country decides whether a purchase is domestic or cross-border, so fill in ship-from on every EU and UK row

• Do not enter the same reclaim twice. If Kintsugi is calculating input VAT from your uploaded purchases, do not also add that amount as a manual Input VAT Credit

Troubleshooting

You do not see a Purchases tab or the option to upload purchases. Your organization does not have use tax or the EU VAT Accounts Payable setting enabled, or is not on a Premium plan. Contact us to have it reviewed.

A cross-border purchase was not treated as reverse charge. Kintsugi could not find an origin country for it, so it was treated as domestic. Add the ship-from country to the row and upload it again.

The VAT you can recover is lower than the VAT on the invoice. This is expected when the product category is not fully recoverable in that country, or when your exempt sales reduce your pro rata coefficient.

The filing shows zero, but you expected a refund. Kintsugi never files a negative amount. The surplus is stored as an Input VAT Credit and applied to a future period.

If you are still stuck, contact us with the purchase or upload involved and the filing period.

FAQs

Q: Can I sync purchases from QuickBooks, Shopify, or another integration?

A: No. Purchases are supported through CSV upload only. Connected integrations continue to sync sales transactions.

Q: What if my file mixes sales and purchases?

A: Rows that carry their own transaction type are processed as labeled. Rows without one follow the transaction type you selected during upload. If you are unsure, upload sales and purchases as separate files.

Q: I do not see a Purchases tab on my Transactions page.

A: The Sales and Purchases tabs appear only if your organization has use tax enabled or the EU VAT Accounts Payable setting enabled. Contact us if you expect to see them and do not.

Q: Do I need to upload purchases if I only sell in the EU or UK?

A: Only if you want your input VAT reflected. Your sales and the VAT you owe are calculated without them. Uploading purchases is what lets Kintsugi reduce that figure by the VAT you already paid your suppliers.

Q: Why does the input VAT Kintsugi calculated not match my supplier's invoice?

A: For a cross-border purchase, Kintsugi calculates the VAT itself rather than reading it off the invoice, so the two can differ. For any purchase, recoverability and your pro rata coefficient can also reduce how much you can claim back.

Q: Does a reverse-charged purchase always net to zero?

A: No. If the product category is not fully recoverable in that country, you still owe the share that cannot be recovered.

Q: Can I change a recoverability percentage myself?

A: No. Recoverability percentages are maintained by Kintsugi. Contact us if a category looks wrong for your business.

Q: I already entered a manual Input VAT Credit. What happens now?

A: Your existing credits still apply, after the period's own recoverable input VAT has been netted. Any unused reclaim still becomes a new credit. Just make sure you do not enter the same reclaim manually that Kintsugi is already calculating from your purchases.

Q: What do I enter for goods imported under postponed VAT accounting?

A: Leave the VAT paid amount as 0, since you did not pay VAT at the border. Kintsugi accounts for the import VAT and recovers the recoverable portion on the same return.

Need Help?

For further concerns, we're always here to help. If you can't find the answer you're looking for, just reach out to us using the chat in the bottom right corner of your screen.