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How to Set Up VAT and Withholding Tax

Written by the SellarPro team · Published 10 October 2026 · 1 min read

Short answer

Add your tax rates under Accounting → Tax Rates, with the type (VAT, Withholding Tax, Levy) and the payable and recoverable accounts. Then open the VAT Report or Withholding Tax report, choose the period and click Generate to see what you collected, paid and owe.

Accounting keeps track of the tax you collect on sales and pay on purchases, so the figures for your returns are ready when you need them.

Step 1: add your tax rates

  1. Open Accounting → Tax Rates.
  2. Fill in the Name, Code and Rate (%), and choose the Type: VAT, Withholding Tax, Levy or Other.
  3. Choose the Tax Payable GL Account (tax you owe) and the Tax Recoverable GL Account (tax you can claim back).
  4. Tick Compound Tax if it applies on top of other taxes, and Set as Default for your usual rate. Click Save Rate.
    The Add Tax Rate form for VAT at 15 percent with its payable and recoverable accounts
    A VAT rate, with the accounts its tax posts to.

Step 2: run the reports

  • VAT Report: choose From and To and click Generate. It shows VAT Collected (Output), VAT Paid (Input), Net VAT Payable and Total Taxable Sales, with a breakdown by rate.
    The VAT Report for October with its four totals and the breakdown by rate
    Net VAT payable is output VAT less input VAT.
  • Withholding Tax: the tax withheld on payments in the period, by category, with the gross payment, the amount withheld and the net paid.

The VAT report reminds you that the return is filed with GRA by the 30th of the following month.

Common questions

My VAT Report shows zero.
Either no taxed sales or purchases were posted in that period, or the VAT mapping row on Transaction Mapping has no account. Set it and sync again.
Is this the same as Reports → Tax?
They count the same sales but from different places: the Tax reports read your sales and purchases directly, while the VAT Report reads what has been posted to your books.

Related articles

How to Set Up Accounting

Open Accounting → Transaction Mapping and click Set All Defaults, so sales, purchases, expenses and payments know which accounts they post to. Then use the Import / Sync tab to bring in past transactions. From then on they post themselves every hour.

Accounting · Updated 11 Oct 2026 · 2 min read

How to Read Your Financial Statements

Open Accounting → Profit & Loss, choose From and To and click Generate to see revenue, cost of goods sold, expenses and net income. The Balance Sheet, Cash Flow and Trial Balance work the same way, and each can be downloaded.

Accounting · Updated 11 Oct 2026 · 1 min read

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