Reconcile and file using Returns

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This article applies to:Avalara Returns

After our compliance team reviews your scheduled returns, you're nearly ready to file. First, though, you should review the calculations, reconcile your returns with your business application and AvaTax, and check for any deductions or prepayments.

Before you begin

Make sure you've set up your returns and that they're active (which means Avalara has approved them).
Review the monthly returns cycle. You approve returns for the previous month between the 5^th and the 10^th of the current month.

Some jurisdictions might mail you a blank return form to fill out. If Avalara is filing on your behalf, you don't need to do anything with those blank forms.

Steps

In AvaTax, go to Returns > Manage and Approve Returns. Choose the state whose returns you want to review and then select Manage Returns.
Details about your returns—including forms, filing frequencies, monthly sales activity, and tax amounts—are displayed.

Review this information. To see more details, including a comparison of tax remitted to Avalara and tax remitted to the jurisdiction, select Tax Details and Adjustments.

Looking for quarterly, semiannual, or annual returns? Select Returns Accruing for a Future Filing Period to see these longer-term returns during months when you don't file them.

Add adjustments, if you have them, to what your company owes:
1. Go to Returns > Manage and Approve Returns. Find the region where you want to adjust tax liabilities and then select Manage Returns.
2. Find the return you want to adjust and then select Tax Details and Adjustments.
3. Select Adjustments to Taxes and Fees or Adjustments to Remittance to see the adjustments:
  - Prepayments are adjustments that Avalara remits in addition to what's normally filed.
  - Prior payments are adjustments you've already paid on your own, outside AvaTax.
  To edit a prepayment, prior payment, or other adjustment number, select Edit. To add a new prepayment or prior payment, select Add Adjustments. (Keep in mind you can't add a prepayment until after period when it occurs; for example, you would add a prepayment for Q4 on January 1.)
  
  If these adjustments occur regularly, it's a good idea to automate them.
Reconcile your returns. Depending on what you see on your returns, you may need to:
- Reconcile with your general ledger
  Make sure the totals on your returns match what's in your business application.
- Reconcile with AvaTax transactions
  Compare the returns to what's in AvaTax.
- Reconcile with consumer use tax
  Check for consumer use tax discrepancies.
The deadline for adding or making any changes to transactions included on returns is the 10^_th of the month at 5 p.m. PST.
When you're finished, select Approve.
If you do not approve a return by 5 p.m. PST on the 10th of the month, Avalara automatically approves it on your behalf.
Repeat these steps for each jurisdiction where you file returns.

After you approve your returns, Avalara files them for you. You can see the completed returns at the end of the month. Returns where you don't actually owe the tax authority anything may still be filed, depending on the jurisdiction.

If you need to make changes to your returns after approving them, contact Avalara Support to unlock them again. Changes are still possible after the approval deadline on the 10th of the month, though we do charge you an additional fee for the trouble. If your changes are very late, it's still possible to amend returns after they've been filed.