Practical checks to ascertain whether your accounting records and filings are falling behind (Cyprus filing requirements)
Tips to check your accountant's work:
VAT Returns
The correct way of performing the vat returns is by processing all accounting records of the company. This will ensure that any expense invoices or sales invoices are booked correctly in the correct period and thus reflected correctly in the quarterly VAT returns of the business.
How to check this?
The way to assess this is by checking if your accountant requests the following information from you before preparing and submitting your VAT returns:
- All Expense Invoices
- All Sales Invoices
- All Bank Statements to date
- All cheque books
- Suppliers statements (they may be requesting them directly, so check this as well)
Payroll
Are they using a software? This is usually charged extra but given the latest Cyprus payroll developments payroll is becoming increasingly difficult and all payroll clients for an accountnat should be registered and work should be performed by a specialised Cyprus payroll software. Especially if the employees pay PAYE tax.
Taxes
Do they ask you to pay taxes? Provisional tax payments on current years profits?Corporation tax after the completion of the audit? VAT tax?
If you are running a business and not paying taxes there is something wrong as really it implies that you are loss making so where do you find the money to keep financing your business year on year?
Audit - "closing of the books"
The timing of the audit is important as Cyprus has now introduced expensive penalties and fines for non compliance.
Usually your audit should be 1 or maximum 2 years "back".
For instance, we are in 2021 your audit for 2019 should be completed and all filings performed.