How to run a maker/checker review of your VAT return figures

Why VAT figures deserve a second pair of eyes

Oman's VAT Law, issued by Royal Decree 121/2020 and in force since 16 April 2021, applies a standard rate of 5%. The return is due within 30 days after the end of each tax period. That deadline, combined with month-end and quarter-end closing, puts preparers under pressure, and pressure is when a missing credit note, an unrecorded supplier invoice or a misclassified sale slips through.

A maker/checker review does not slow the process down when it is designed well. It moves the questions an auditor or the tax authority might ask to a point where the answers are still easy to find.

Roles and ground rules

• Maker: prepares the period's figures, resolves exceptions and documents adjustments.
• Checker: someone other than the maker, with authority to send figures back. The checker does not edit figures; they approve or return them with reasons.
• Both roles act in the system under their own login, so the record of preparation and approval is attributable.

Step 1: Close the period cleanly

Before calculating anything, the maker confirms that all sales invoices, credit notes and debit notes for the period are issued, that supplier documents received are recorded, and that no documents are stuck in draft or awaiting correction. A short completeness checklist, signed off in the system, stops the most common error: a return prepared from an incomplete ledger.

Step 2: Calculate the return figures

The figures should come from the tax ledger, not from a separate spreadsheet rebuilt each period. Calculating from the ledger means every box can be traced back to the documents that make it up. The maker reviews the result for anything unexpected, documents any manual adjustment with its reason, and submits the figures for approval.

Step 3: Independent review

The checker works through a fixed set of tests, for example:

• Reconcile output tax to the sales ledger and to issued invoices less credit notes plus debit notes.
• Reconcile input tax to recorded supplier documents, and sample a few against the source documents.
• Compare with prior periods and investigate movements that the business activity does not explain.
• Review adjustments: large or unusual credit notes, and every manual change to the calculated figures.
• Confirm completeness: no gaps in document numbering and no unrecorded supplier documents known to the payables team.

Step 4: Approve or return, and keep the evidence

If the tests pass, the checker approves. If not, the figures go back to the maker with a recorded reason, and the cycle repeats. Once approved, the business submits the return through the OTA's e-services portal within the deadline. Keep the approved figures, the reconciliations and the approval record together for each period, so any later question can be answered from one place.

How Invoice And Tax supports the review

Invoice And Tax helps you prepare and review your VAT return figures with maker/checker approval. Return boxes are computed from the tax ledger, completeness checks run before calculation, and each return moves through a recorded lifecycle: open, calculate, submit for approval, approve. Every step is captured in the append-only audit trail. Filing the return with the Tax Authority remains your business's own step. See the VAT compliance feature page and the VAT knowledge centre for more.