Your tax return figures, ready to copy

Every few months, most registered businesses fill in the same small government form: how much tax you collected, how much you paid, and the totals behind them. The form has a different name in every country — the BAS in Australia, the VAT Return in the UK, the SST-02 in Malaysia — but the pain is identical: working out which of your numbers goes in which box, for which exact dates.

The Tax summary report now does that translation for you.

The filing card

Open Reports → Tax summary. If your workspace's country is one we support, a card appears above the rate tables showing your return's own labels — for an Australian business, that's G1, 1A and 1B; for Singapore, the boxes of the F5 — each with the figure for the period you're viewing. Copy them across when you file. A quiet line at the bottom points at your government's filing portal.

Papertools never submits anything for you — the card gives you the numbers, and the filing stays in your hands.

The exact filing windows

Above the boxes you'll find your recent filing periods as one-tap chips — cut exactly the way your return cuts them, including two-month periods and assigned quarterly cycles. The running period is marked, because you normally file the one that just ended. Tap a chip and the whole report re-cuts to that window.

Two settings feed this, both under Settings → Tax:

• How often you file — monthly, every 2 months, quarterly, and so on. If you haven't set it, the card follows your country's usual rhythm and says so.
• Which months your periods end in — only shown in countries where the tax office assigns you a cycle (the UK's staggered VAT quarters, for example). It's on your registration letter.

The pre-filing checklist

When you're viewing a completed period, the card may show a small blue note: "Before you copy these figures." It only appears when it has something true to say, and every line links straight to the fix:

• Drafts dated in the period — draft invoices and bills aren't in the figures (drafts never are). Issue or delete them first, or they'll change your books after you've filed.
• Expenses awaiting approval — only approved expenses count. Approve them before filing so you claim everything you're entitled to.
• Unmatched bank lines — money that moved in the period without a document behind it yet. Matching them first means nothing is missing from the return.
• Lock the period after filing — once a return is submitted, lock those months so the figures can't drift under it. The reminder links to Locked months.

When everything is clean, the note simply doesn't appear.

Ask Paper-Ai

Paper-Ai knows your return by its local name. Ask "how's my BAS looking?", "what goes on the VAT return?" or "when is my SST-02 due?" and she'll answer from your own books and point you at the report page.

The honest fine print

• Figures are invoice-dated (accrual basis). If your business elected cash-basis filing, your numbers will differ — check with your accountant.
• The card is a starting point, not tax advice. Verify against your own filing requirements before you submit, especially adjustments the card notes it doesn't track.
• In the UK, VAT returns must be submitted digitally through compatible software — use the report's CSV export to feed your bridging tool or agent.

Supported at launch: Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Malaysia, and Bosnia & Herzegovina — with more countries added as we verify each one's form. Everywhere else, the Tax summary keeps working exactly as before, grouped by rate for you to map yourself.