Five businesses and their walk-through of the program

A freelancer who invoices companies

What it looks like and what hurts. He works alone and invoices ten or twelve companies. Every invoice carries a 15 % withholding the client deducts, and he is not always sure whether he has been paid the net or the gross. At the end of each quarter he gathers his expenses from three folders and a photo on his phone. And from 2027 he will have to issue with software that complies with VeriFactu, which his Word template does not.

The walk-through. He sets up his clients with the withholding rate as default and creates the series F26-0001. Every invoice comes out with its taxable base, its VAT, its withholding and the total to collect, and the VeriFactu record is generated on its own. Expenses go in with their document attached, except the new computer: that is not an expense, it is a fixed asset and it is depreciated.

What he gains. Form 303 worked out box by box and the record books ready for his accountant. Since more than 70 % of his income carries withholding, he does not file form 130: the program tells him so instead of leaving him wondering.

What he still does himself. File his returns, which is his business, and chase the people who do not pay, though now he knows how many days overdue each invoice is. More on Cairos for the self-employed.

A car repair shop with a stockroom

What it looks like and what hurts. A limited company, three mechanics and a front desk, with a stockroom out the back and consumables down in the pit. Quotes are written by hand at the counter and afterwards nobody knows whether they were accepted. At year end the stock does not add up, because parts leave the stockroom without being logged. And the margin they think they have is not the one they have.

The walk-through. He sets up the parts catalogue with its references and costs, and creates two stock locations. Every repair starts with a quote that becomes an invoice without retyping the lines, and stock is deducted automatically when it is invoiced. Purchases come in as a supplier order: whatever does not arrive stays outstanding instead of vanishing.

What he gains. A warning when something drops below its minimum, transfers between locations and stock counts. The margin comes from the full cost of the part, and in corporation tax the stock figure comes from the movements, not from a guess.

What he still does himself. There is no barcode scanner and no till. The trade is covered on car repair shops; the module, on inventory.

An association with fees and grants

What it looks like and what hurts. Two hundred and forty members, a quarterly fee of €30, two grants and a volunteer treasurer with an inherited spreadsheet. Every quarter the receipts have to be prepared and taken to the bank, and returns get written in by hand in red. At the general meeting someone asks how many members there are and the answer depends on which tab you look at.

The walk-through. The members' register is built from joinings, withdrawals and dates: the sequential number is never reused and withdrawals are dated rather than deleted, because the history is part of the register the law requires. Fees are not invoices: they are VAT-exempt, and issuing them as invoices would throw out form 303 and form 390. Every quarter the SEPA file for the bank comes out.

What he gains. Returns that put the fee back to outstanding. Donations with their certificate and form 182. And the grants, with what was awarded, what has come in by instalments and what is still to be evidenced.

What he still does himself. File whatever is due with the register of associations, and decide which activities are exempt when the association invoices someone who is not a member. In full, on associations.

A worker cooperative

What it looks like and what hurts. Seven worker-members. Each put in capital on joining, and one who has left has to be paid out her share. They invoice like any other business, but the surplus is not shared out as the meeting pleases: there are compulsory allocations to the reserve fund and the education fund, at percentages that depend on which cooperatives act applies. No ordinary invoicing program knows any of this.

The walk-through. The invoicing is the usual: customers, series, VeriFactu, quarterly VAT. What changes is the year end. Share capital is kept per member, with her contributions and her movements, and the application of the surplus works out the allocations at the percentages of whichever act is selected, leaves the return to be distributed and stores the resolution.

What she gains. A capital table per member that reconciles with the accounts, and corporation tax prepared on books that already told cooperative from non-cooperative results apart.

What she still does herself. Choose which act applies and at what percentages — no program guesses that — and keep the minute book. The module is on cooperatives.

A sports club with a bar

What it looks like and what hurts. Youth football: three hundred players on a monthly fee, a bar that opens at weekends, two sponsors and gate money at matches. Four activities with different VAT treatments, and mixing them is what turns an inspection into a bad afternoon. Sponsorship is not a donation however much people call it one, and nobody on the board knows whether corporation tax has to be filed.

The walk-through. Fees go through as member receipts, exempt, and are collected by SEPA batch. The bar is an economic activity with its own VAT and its own margin, with consumption deducting stock. Sponsorship is invoiced with VAT. And gate money goes on its own, at its own rate.

What he gains. A form 303 that picks up only what is taxable, and what a non-profit's annual report asks for: governing body, minute book and volunteering with its insurance.

What he still does himself. Decide with his accountant whether the special tax regime of Law 49/2002 applies and whether he has to file. The detail is on sports clubs.