GST Returns

Prosaic drafts a GST return for each of your entities for every reporting period, populates the figures from reconciled transactions, and — once you finalise and file — tracks the return through to settlement with IRD. This article covers the full life of a return: setting up an entity, finding it on the GST Returns page, working inside the return itself, and filing.

Setting Up Returns
List View
Board View
Workflow
The GST Report
Late Claims
File with IRD
Sharing reports

Setting up GST for an entity

Open the entity from the client list, and switch GST Registered on. A panel appears with three fields:

GST Number — the entity's IRD number
GST Period — 1 / 2 / 6 monthly
Start GST Returns From — the first period you want Prosaic to draft from. Pick a date that aligns with the entity's IRD filing calendar

A fourth control, Automate GST return creation, flips on automatically when you mark the entity GST-registered. Leave it on and Prosaic will draft each return as its period closes; switch it off if you'd rather drive return creation yourself.

Changing these later

Edit the entity any time to update the number, period, start date, or automation toggle. Changes to GST Period only affect returns drafted after the change — existing drafts keep the period they were created with, so delete or finalise them if the boundaries no longer make sense. Switching automation off leaves existing returns in place; switching GST Registered off entirely will also turn automation off.

Finding your returns

Reports → GST Returns lists every return across every entity you have access to. In the top right of the page you'll find a view toggle with two options — List and Board. Your choice is remembered per workspace, and the search, status, due date, frequency, and entity filters above the toggle carry across both views.

The list view

A row per return with columns for Period, Status, Entity Name, Reconciled (a tick or a click-through to bank rec if there are transactions still to reconcile in the period), Due Date, Frequency, and Net GST. Click a row to open the return.

The board view (accountants only)

The board organises returns across columns that mirror the lifecycle of a return:

Draft — being prepared. Reconcile the period's transactions and review the figures before finalising
Finalised — figures are locked in and the return is ready to file
Filed — submitted to IRD and waiting on a response, or recorded as filed outside Prosaic. Rejected returns sit at the top of this column so they don't get missed
Awaiting payment — accepted by IRD and the entity owes money. Prosaic checks the IRD balance once a day and flips returns into this column automatically once the assessment is confirmed
Completed — the return is done. Refunds, nil returns, and accepted returns with nothing left to pay all land here automatically once IRD confirms; you can also mark a return as complete by hand at any time

Within each column, returns are ordered to surface what needs attention. Draft and Finalised put the most overdue returns first, followed by the closest due dates. Filed pulls rejected returns to the top.

If you haven't connected IRD filing yet

The board still works — you just won't see the IRD-driven automation. The Awaiting payment column is replaced by a panel inviting you to set up the connection. Filed stays as a normal column so returns you've filed outside Prosaic still have somewhere to live.

Moving returns through the workflow

You can finalise, file, mark as complete from the rMost steps in the workflow are a drag and a drop. Grab a card anywhere on its body and drop it into the column you want to move it to. Click without dragging to open the return.

The moves you can make are:

Draft → Finalised — finalises the return. If there are unreconciled transactions in the period, you'll be asked to confirm
Finalised → Draft — reopens for editing
Finalised → Filed — files the return. If you're connected to IRD you'll see a short confirmation of entity, period and net GST before submitting. From that same dialog you can choose Mark as filed externally instead if you filed this one outside Prosaic. If you're not connected to IRD, dropping into Filed records the return as filed externally
Finalised → Completed — marks the return done outside the IRD flow
Filed (externally) → Finalised — undoes an external filing
Filed (externally) → Completed — wraps an externally-filed return up
Awaiting payment → Completed — an escape hatch for when the IRD balance lingers; the daily check normally moves these for you
Completed → Finalised — moves a return back if it was completed by mistake

Cards already accepted by IRD or sitting in Awaiting payment are driven by IRD's responses, so you generally don't need to drag them. Drop a card somewhere it can't go and nothing happens — the card stays put.

Tidying up historic returns

If you've been using Prosaic for a while you'll likely have a stack of older returns sitting in Finalised — filed long ago, but never moved out of the column because the Completed stage didn't exist yet. A Tidy up historic returns? banner sits at the top of Finalised for advisors when there are returns finalised before the Completed stage shipped and now over 30 days past their due date. Tap Review to open a dialog listing every eligible entity and return; everything is selected by default. Untick anything you'd like to leave in Finalised, then Mark X returns as completed to move the rest in one sweep.

Inside a return

Click a card (or list row) to open it. The return has five tabs and an Actions menu in the top right.

Summary

The GST101A form, box by box. In draft you can edit Box 9 (Debit adjustments) and Box 13 (Credit adjustments) directly — the totals in Boxes 10, 14 and 15 update as you type. Click any amount to copy it for myIR, and click the highlighted figures in Boxes 5, 11 and 15 to drop into the General Ledger pre-filtered to the period. Box 15 reads either "GST to pay" or "GST refund" depending on whether you're in debit or credit.

Transactions

Every journal line contributing to the return, grouped by box. Click a transaction to open the underlying journal.

Flagged

Only appears when there are transactions where GST was applied but the account defaults to No GST (or vice versa). These often deserve a second look before finalising — Prosaic surfaces them so you can decide whether the override is intentional.

Unreconciled

Bank statement lines from the period that haven't been reconciled. While these exist, the relevant boxes show as provisional with an orange banner; figures update automatically once you reconcile. The "X to reconcile" button at the top of the return jumps straight to bank rec, pre-filtered to the period and entity.

History

A time-stamped audit trail of everything that's happened to the return — created, finalised, reverted, submitted, accepted, rejected, amended, marked as filed externally, auto-completed by the IRD balance check.

Late claims

If a transaction with GST is dated before the current period started but hasn't been picked up by an earlier finalised return — a bill you reconciled this week that was actually from last quarter, say — Prosaic treats it as a late claim and adds it to the current return automatically. Late claims always land on the oldest unfinalised return for the entity; once you finalise that return, they're considered claimed and won't reappear.

In the Summary, late claims appear as their own row:

Box 9.2 if the late claim is on the sales side
Box 12.1 if it's on the purchases side

They roll into Box 9 or Box 13 the way IRD expects. Open the late claims section under Transactions to see which specific journals are involved.

Finalising

Click Finalise in the top right of the return (or drag the card to Finalised on the board). If the period still has unreconciled transactions you'll get a confirmation prompt first — figures may be incomplete. Finalising locks the boxes and posts the GST journal. A purple "Return Finalised" banner appears with the net position and a Revert to draft button if you need to keep editing.

Filing with IRD

Filing direct from Prosaic needs an IRD connection — set up once in Settings → Integrations. From a finalised return, click File with IRD. The return goes to IRD and the status moves to Filed with IRD. Once IRD assesses it, the status flips to Accepted by IRD (or Rejected by IRD with the reason). Settlement is tracked automatically: the badge flips between Awaiting payment and Settled as IRD's balance updates.

Marking a return as filed outside Prosaic

If you filed through myIR or another system, drag the finalised card into Filed and confirm Mark as filed externally (or use Mark as filed externally from the Actions menu inside the return). The card carries a small "Filed externally" badge so the audit trail is clear. Revert it any time to undo.

If IRD rejects a return

A red callout at the top of the return explains why. Common reasons include an authorisation issue with the IRD delegation, a period that doesn't line up with IRD's records, or a return that's already been filed. Sort the underlying issue, revert to draft, finalise, and file again.

Amending an accepted return

Once a return has been accepted by IRD you can still correct it. Open the return → Actions → Amend. Pick a reason — Incorrect amount, Calculation error, Transposition error, or Other — and describe what's changing. The return reopens as a draft with an "Amendment in progress" banner. Make your edits, finalise, and File amendment with IRD.

Actions → Export offers PDF (mirrors the IRD form), CSV, or Excel Advisors can also email the return directly to a client from Actions → Share → Share with email.

When sharing a report (csv, pdf) both the report summary, reconciled and unreconciled transactions can be shared with a client