Cyprus VAT return boxes explained, Box 1 to Box 11B.

01The short answer: every box on one page

The return is filed on Tax For All, usually quarterly, and every box is completed, with a zero where nothing applies. Boxes 1 to 5 are VAT amounts; Boxes 6 to 11B are values excluding VAT, and the two groups have to tell the same story about the period.

The rest of this guide takes the boxes in groups: the VAT boxes, the reverse charge and EU purchases, the value boxes, and the cross-checks that catch a misplaced figure before the Tax Department does. The filing itself, access, deadlines and payment, is in the TFA VAT return guide.

02Boxes 1 to 5: the VAT

Box 1 is output VAT: the VAT on every taxable supply you made in the period, at whichever rate applied to each line. If one invoice carries lines at 19% and 9%, both amounts belong in Box 1; the Cyprus VAT rates guide lists what falls in each band.

Box 2 is the VAT due on goods you bought from VAT-registered suppliers in other EU countries. The supplier charged no VAT, so you account for it here, as output tax.

Box 3 adds the two. Box 4 is the input VAT you are entitled to deduct for the period, the subject of the input VAT recovery guide. Box 5 is Box 3 minus Box 4: what you pay, or what you reclaim.

Box 4 is where most of the work sits, because it is built from the invoices and receipts you received. Every figure in it should trace to a document that supports the deduction.

03Reverse charge: which boxes, and why it still matters at zero

When you buy a service from a business abroad, or construction services under Article 11B, the supplier charges no VAT and you account for it yourself. The self-accounted VAT goes in Box 1 as output VAT and, if the purchase is used for taxable supplies, the same amount goes in Box 4. The value, excluding VAT, goes in Box 7; for a service bought from another EU country it also goes in Box 11B.

For a fully taxable business, Box 1 and Box 4 cancel out in cash. Leaving them out still makes the return wrong, and a missing reverse-charge entry carries its own penalty; see the Cyprus VAT penalties guide. A business with exempt activity deducts less than the full amount in Box 4, so for it the reverse charge is a real cost.

The worked examples, with amounts, are in the reverse charge guide and, for construction, the Article 11B guide.

04Goods from other EU countries: Box 2, Box 4 and Box 11A

Goods bought from a VAT-registered supplier in another member state are an intra-community acquisition. Three boxes move together:

• Box 2: the VAT on the acquisition, which you account for because the supplier charged none;
• Box 4: the same VAT, deducted back if you are entitled to it;
• Box 11A: the value of the goods, excluding VAT, with related costs such as freight when they are part of the invoice or contract.

An acquisition whose VAT sits in Box 2 while its value is missing from Box 11A, or the other way round, is the kind of mismatch that draws a query.

05Boxes 6 and 7: the totals

Box 6 is the total value of everything you supplied in the period, excluding VAT. It includes the values reported separately in Boxes 8A, 8B, 9 and 10: those boxes break Box 6 down, they do not add to it.

Box 7 is the total value of purchases and other inputs, excluding VAT, reverse-charge purchases included.

Read together, the value boxes and the VAT boxes should be consistent. If Box 1 is far below 19% of Box 6, your working papers should show why: reduced-rate, zero-rated or exempt sales, for example.

06Boxes 8A, 8B, 9 and 10: sales that carry no Cyprus VAT

• Box 8A: goods supplied to VAT-registered customers in other member states, excluding VAT.
• Box 8B: services supplied to business customers in other member states, where the customer accounts for the VAT.
• Box 9: other zero-rated supplies, such as exports outside the EU, that are not already in 8A or 8B.
• Box 10: supplies outside the scope of Cyprus VAT that still carry the right to deduct input VAT, other than those in 8B. Triangular transactions go here.

Boxes 8A and 8B have a partner outside the return: the VIES statement. For a quarterly filer, the three monthly statements for the quarter should add up to what 8A and 8B say, and a correction to one needs a correction to the other. The VIES declaration guide covers the statement line by line.

07Box 11B: services received from other EU countries

Box 11B is the value of services you received from VAT-registered suppliers in other member states. It is the purchase side of the reverse charge described in section 3: the VAT is in Boxes 1 and 4, the value in Box 7 and again here.

A subscription billed by a software company in another EU country, a marketing agency in Greece, a consultant in Germany: each is a Box 11B line, even when the invoice total is small, and each is easy to miss because the invoice shows no VAT.

08Checks to run before you file

• Box 3 equals Box 1 plus Box 2, and Box 5 equals Box 3 minus Box 4. The arithmetic is simple; a hand-built return still gets it wrong.
• Every reverse-charge purchase appears twice, in Box 1 and Box 4, with its value in Box 7 and, for EU services, in Box 11B.
• Box 2 and Box 11A move together for goods acquired from the EU.
• Boxes 8A, 8B, 9 and 10 do not exceed Box 6, because they are part of it.
• Boxes 8A and 8B agree with the quarter's VIES statements.
• No box is left blank: a zero where nothing applies.
• Each figure traces to a schedule in your VAT working papers, so a query can be answered from the file.

09Where Pileform fits

Most of the thirteen boxes are built from documents: the invoices and receipts you received, and the invoices you issued. Pileform reads received invoices and receipts with the VAT decided per line across all five Cyprus rates, detects reverse charge from the invoice wording, and keeps the source document beside each row, so the figures behind Box 4, Box 7 and the reverse-charge entries come from the documents rather than retyped totals.

From the posted books, Pileform prepares a VAT return draft and generates the VIES declaration, so Boxes 8A and 8B and the statements come from one set of figures. Both are drafts for a person to check and submit: Pileform never files anything with the Tax Department. See VAT return automation for how the draft is built, or Cyprus VAT software for the wider picture.

References. Cyprus Tax Department, the VAT guide to filling in the return and the VAT Law.