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Daniel Andrews edited this page Apr 5, 2019 · 22 revisions

VAT-API FAQ

Testing in Sandbox

Q. How can I test different scenarios in Sandbox for an endpoint that returns canned data?

A. If the endpoint is stateless, multiple Gov-Test-Scenarios will be provided. The testing scenarios section can be found at the bottom of the endpoints specific documentation.

Q. Can I have a test user in Production?

A. It is not possible to have any test users in production.

Q. I feel a key testing scenario has been missed, can I request that one is added to Sandbox?

A. Yes! Raise an issue with the team, detailing the scenario / expected outcome and the team will look into it.

VAT Obligations

Q. Are the to and from dates inclusive or exclusive when matching an obligation period?

A. The To and From dates are Inclusive

Q. Will partially matched periods be returned?

A. As long as the period From or period To date falls within selection range, then it would get returned.

Q. Should we surface the Period Key?

A. The period key is an identifier for the obligation, and the obligation data (dates, status etc) provides some information about that obligation for consumption by whoever needs it.

The advice from HMRC - the period key shouldn't be surfaced to customers as the software should manage it, but as always it's not our place as an API delivery team to influence vendor software.

Q. What happens when a user ceases to trade mid period?

A. As part of VAT De-registration, the user's current obligation would have the periodTo date automatically adjusted.

Submit VAT Return

Q. On a successful VAT submission we would like to share a confirmation reference to our users which they can persist for any future communication with HMRC if needed. Which field would be ideal for us to share with our users ?

A. formBundleNumber

View Vat Return

Coming soon...

Payments and Liabilities

Coming soon...

Production Timings

Q. After Submitting a VAT Return, how long is the delay before you can retrieve what was submitted via View Vat Return?

A. This information should be available almost immediately, please allow a couple of seconds

Q. After submitting a VAT Return, how long before View Obligations will show that PeriodKey as being fulfilled?

A. The vast majority of transactions will be completed within 5 seconds however in some cases the delay may be a lot longer. In the event that this happens the process is as follows: If a submission is made Monday to Thursday during normal working hours, the obligation will be updated by the following morning, this may be earlier in some cases. If the return is received after 6pm on a Friday, then it is possible that their obligation will not be marked as fulfilled until the following Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday if there is a bank holiday). The obligation will be marked as met on the date it is received from the software, so a customer will not receive a penalty if the return was provided within the required time.

Fraud Prevention Headers

Any questions around fraud prevention headers should be directed to [email protected] as the VAT API team does not manage the fraud prevention headers. For a list of all the questions that have been asked before please see: here

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