Prepare the VAT 201 return
Generate the VAT 201 return of a period from your posted books, check every box against the ledger, and mark it as filed once you have submitted it on EmaraTax.
The VAT 201 Return page prepares your return for a tax period from the documents posted in your books, box by box, in the layout of the FTA form. You submit the return yourself on the FTA's EmaraTax portal. Then you mark it as filed in Verasol: that records the filing, books the VAT you owe (or are owed) and locks the period.
You need the permission Tax: prepare and file returns, record tax payments to use this page.
Choose the period and generate the return#
- Open VAT › VAT 201 Return in the main menu, or click New Return on Filed VAT Returns.
- Enter the Tax Period Start and Tax Period End, as on your FTA tax registration. The page opens on the current calendar quarter.
- Check the Filing Due Date. Verasol fills in the 28th day of the month after the period ends. You can enter a later date; an earlier one is not kept, and the 28th stays.
- Click Generate Return.
1 Tax Period Start, 2 Tax Period End, 3 Filing Due Date, 4 Generate Return.
Verasol calculates the return and saves it as a draft. A draft books nothing: you can generate it again at any time, and it is recalculated from the books as they are then. To come back to a draft later, open it from Filed VAT Returns with Edit in the row's menu.
A few rules keep your periods clean:
- A period that has already been filed is not generated again: Verasol shows the filed return instead. If its books changed, amend it (see After filing).
- Filed periods never overlap. A new period that overlaps draft returns replaces those drafts, for example when you switch from monthly to quarterly returns; Verasol tells you which drafts it replaced.
- Only one return can start in a given month.
The boxes and where each figure comes from#
The return follows the FTA form: VAT ON SALES AND ALL OTHER OUTPUTS, then VAT ON EXPENSES AND ALL OTHER INPUTS, then NET VAT DUE. Each box shows the amount and the VAT, in AED.
| Box | What Verasol puts in it |
|---|---|
| 1a to 1g | Your standard-rated sales and credit notes, by emirate. The emirate is the invoice's Place of Supply. |
| 2 | Tourist refunds. Verasol does not calculate this box; it shows 0.00. |
| 3 | Bills with the Bill Type Reverse Charge: the amount, and the VAT you account for yourself. |
| 4 | Zero-rated sales, such as export invoices. |
| 5 | Exempt sales. |
| 6 | Bills with the Bill Type Import: the value of the goods, and the VAT you account for yourself. |
| 7 | Adjustments to imported goods. Verasol does not calculate this box; it shows 0.00. |
| 8 | The total of the sales side. Its VAT is your total output tax. |
| 9 | Standard-rated expenses with recoverable VAT: bills, expense claims, bank charges and fixed asset purchases. |
| 10 | Bills with the Bill Type Reverse Charge or Import: the purchases of boxes 3 and 6 again, with the VAT you recover on them. |
| 11 | The total of the expenses side. Its VAT is all the VAT you recover in the period. |
| 12 | The total output tax: the VAT of box 8. |
| 13 | The total recoverable tax: the VAT of box 11. |
| 14 | Box 12 less box 13: the VAT you pay for the period. |
Box 14 is marked PAYABLE, or REFUNDABLE when the recoverable tax is the larger and the FTA owes you the difference.
Every figure is the VAT of posted entries dated in the period, in AED as booked. Credit notes and cancelled documents count as negative amounts in the period they are dated in. For how documents reach each box, see How VAT works in Verasol.
Check the reconciliation with the ledger#
Below the boxes, Reconciliation with the ledger compares the output VAT and input VAT of the return with the movement on your VAT accounts in the period, and shows the same comparison for each kind of document. When everything agrees, it says: "The return agrees with the posted ledger for this period."
1 Reconciliation with the ledger, 2 Save as Draft, 3 Mark as Filed.
Two kinds of messages can appear here:
- Problems that would make the return wrong stop the filing: Mark as Filed stays greyed out until they are solved. The messages name what to correct, for example a document whose booked VAT differs from the document, a sale without an emirate, a VAT rate other than 5% or 0%, a company without a TRN, a period that starts before your VAT registration, or input VAT claimed without the supplier's TRN (listed under Input VAT without the supplier's TRN).
- Warnings, in yellow, do not stop the filing, but you confirm them when you file. They point to things worth checking, for example VAT booked by journal entries made by hand, issued documents that are not in the books, or money received from customers without an invoice.
Correct the documents, then click Generate Return again to recalculate.
The return is already saved as a draft; Save as Draft keeps it that way. Print and Export PDF at the top give you a copy to review or keep with your working papers.
Mark the return as filed#
Submit the return on EmaraTax first. Then come back to the return in Verasol:
- Click Mark as Filed.
- Enter the Filing Date: the day you submitted the return. It must be after the period ends and cannot be in the future.
- Enter the FTA Transaction Reference (Optional) that EmaraTax gave you, and any Notes.
- If the return has warnings, tick I have reviewed the warnings above and want to file this return anyway.
- Click Confirm Filing.
1 Filing Date, 2 FTA Transaction Reference (Optional), 3 Notes, 4 Confirm Filing.
Verasol calculates the return once more from the books before it records the filing, and refuses it if the return no longer agrees with the ledger. When the filing date is after the Filing Due Date, the return is recorded as Filed late.
What Verasol books#
When you mark the return as filed, Verasol moves the period's VAT out of the VAT Output and VAT Input accounts into what you owe the FTA, in one entry dated on the filing date. For example, for the return of April to June 2026, filed on 21 July 2026 with AED 35,550.10 payable:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 2201 VAT Output (Payable) | 91,667.79 | |
| 1201 VAT Input (Recoverable) | 56,117.69 | |
| 2202 VAT Payable to FTA | 35,550.10 |
When the return is refundable, the difference is debited to 1202 VAT Refundable from FTA instead. A return with no VAT at all books nothing. The VAT stays on VAT Payable to FTA until you record the payment: see VAT payments and refunds.
After filing#
The return now shows Filed (or Filed late) and can no longer be changed. Open it again at any time with Open return in its menu on Filed VAT Returns. If something is later booked into its period after all, the return shows a warning with the differences and Amend return; you can also use File Amendment on Filed VAT Returns. See Filed VAT returns. See also How VAT works in Verasol for what the lock means for your documents.