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VAT audit & financial analytics
TrueBooks Analytics gives you two related views: a VAT Audit breakdown mapped directly to your quarterly return, and a financial summary with performance modes that let you spot trends and cost ratios at a glance.
The VAT Audit page
Open Analytics → VAT Audit. Choose a date range — typically a VAT quarter — and TrueBooks produces a category-by-category breakdown of every transaction it classified during that period, grouped by accounting category and tax rate. The figures match exactly what's in your Xero invoices for the same period, so discrepancies between the audit page and your Xero VAT return point directly to activity that lives outside TrueBooks (manual journals, other-channel sales, prior-period corrections).
What the columns mean
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Category | The TrueBooks classification — Sales, Refunds, FBA Fees, Advertising, Storage, Marketplace VAT, etc. |
| Tax rate | The Xero tax code applied — OUTPUT2, INPUT2, ZERORATEDOUTPUT, NONE, and so on. |
| Gross | Tax-inclusive total for that category in the selected period. |
| Tax | The VAT component extracted from the gross (using back-calculation from the rate). |
| Net | Gross minus tax — the amount excluding VAT. |
Summing the Tax column across OUTPUT categories gives an approximation of Box 1 (output VAT due). Summing it across INPUT categories approximates Box 4 (input VAT reclaimable). The net figures feed Boxes 6 and 7 respectively. These are cross-check figures — your accountant or Xero's VAT centre remains the authoritative source for the actual filing.
The VAT Audit only reflects settlements TrueBooks has imported and classified. Manual journals, non-Amazon sales, and Xero adjustments posted directly outside TrueBooks won't appear here. Use it as a reconciliation tool, not as a replacement for your Xero VAT return.
Why the audit figures might not match your Xero return exactly
- Non-Amazon activity in Xero. Other sales channels or manually-entered bills and invoices won't appear in TrueBooks's audit.
- Prior-period adjustments. A credit note or correction covering an older period will be in your Xero return but outside TrueBooks's date filter.
- Cross-border sales classification. Some non-MF international orders appear in the standard 20% bucket when they should technically be zero-rated — see UK VAT & MF orders for why.
- Rounding. Back-calculation and category aggregation can introduce a penny in either direction. This is normal.
The financial summary
The financial summary view (Analytics → Summary) presents a P&L-style table over any date range you choose: gross income, returns, net sales, each fee category, and net disbursement. It's the same underlying data as the VAT audit, presented as a business performance view rather than a tax-return cross-check.
Key figures the summary shows:
- Gross sales — total order principals before any deductions.
- Returns — refunded amounts, shown as a deduction from gross.
- Net sales — gross sales minus returns.
- Amazon fees — FBA fees, storage, commissions, and advertising summed.
- Net disbursement — what actually arrived in your bank after Amazon deducted everything. This should reconcile to your settlement deposit totals for the period.
Inventory reimbursements appear as a separate line rather than being folded into gross sales. This matters for margin analysis — reimbursements are compensation for stock losses, not product revenue, and including them in sales would overstate your gross margin.
Performance analysis modes
Beyond the standard currency-amount view, the financial summary offers two supplementary display modes that make trends and cost ratios immediately visible without needing to export to a spreadsheet.
Growth Trend mode
Growth Trend mode adds a badge to each row showing the percentage change versus the equivalent previous period. If your selected range is a single month, the comparison period is the preceding month. If you've selected 90 days, it compares against the prior 90-day window.
- Green badge, arrow up — positive movement (revenue increased, or for an expense line, costs fell).
- Red badge, arrow down — negative movement (revenue fell, or for an expense line, costs rose).
- Note the reversal on expense rows: increased advertising spend shows red (costs up), decreased FBA fees show green (costs down) — the colouring is always relative to whether the change is good for your business.
Hover over any badge to see the current period value, the previous period value, and the pound difference alongside the percentage. Useful for spotting fee creep or a revenue dip before it becomes material.
Revenue Ratio mode
Revenue Ratio mode shows each line as a percentage of total net revenue for the period. If your net sales were £10,000 and FBA fees totalled £1,800, the FBA fees row shows 18%. This makes cost-structure comparisons across periods or marketplaces intuitive — you're looking at proportions, not absolutes, so scale differences don't distort the picture.
When revenue is zero (no settlements in the period), ratio values display as 0% or a dash rather than an error.
Only one percentage mode can be active at a time — switching to Growth Trend hides Revenue Ratio values, and vice versa. Switching back to Default removes both percentage overlays. The selected mode persists as you move between the Summary and VAT Audit tabs.
When to use each mode
| Mode | Best for |
|---|---|
| Default (amounts only) | Month-end reconciliation, Xero cross-checking, providing raw figures to your accountant. |
| Growth Trend | Spotting whether revenue is growing or declining period-on-period; identifying fee categories that are increasing faster than sales. |
| Revenue Ratio | Understanding what proportion of revenue each cost consumes; comparing cost structure across quarters or against benchmarks. |
Selecting your date range
Both analytics pages default to the current calendar month. Use the date picker to choose any custom range — UK VAT quarters are typically January–March, April–June, July–September, October–December, though your quarter start may differ if HMRC granted a non-standard quarter.
Dates are matched against each settlement's end date (when Amazon closed the disbursement period), not the deposit date. A settlement whose period ended on 30 June is included in a June query even if the deposit didn't clear until 2 July. This matches how TrueBooks dates Xero invoices, so the analytics and Xero agree on which period a settlement belongs to.
Exporting
Both the VAT Audit and financial summary have a Download CSV button. The CSV contains one row per category per tax rate, with the same gross/tax/net columns as the on-screen view. It's formatted for straightforward import into a spreadsheet or attachment to an accountant email — no reformatting required.