Sales Tax or VAT Return Sanity Check
Check the shape of a return, as an education exercise.
Added October 15, 2026. Written with AI assistance and checked for clarity and placeholders; not reviewed by a lawyer, accountant, clinician or other professional. How these prompts are made
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[VERIFY] is an editorial flag, not a blank to fill. Wherever the prompt shows [VERIFY], check that item against a reliable source before you use it (what [VERIFY] means).
Check the reasonableness of a sales tax or value-added tax return summary. Sales, purchases, tax collected and tax paid for this period and the last four, with notes on unusual items: [TAX_RETURN_SUMMARY]. Rates I believe apply: [RATES_BELIEVED]. Changes in the business: [CHANGES]. Compare periods, check that the tax collected is plausible relative to sales at the rates I stated, look for items that might be misclassified, and identify differences needing explanation. Do not file anything or give tax advice. Return a table with Line, Current, Previous, Ratio and Question for the accountant. Rates, rules and deadlines are [VERIFY] for [JURISDICTION] and must be confirmed with a qualified professional. Treat ratios and benchmarks as rough rules of thumb that vary by industry. Ask me for the sector before comparing, and tag any benchmark you cite [VERIFY] with its source. Add a short checklist I can reuse next time, drawn from the problems found here, so that the same issues are caught earlier and with less effort.
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