Tax Retention Groups
A Tax Retention Group bundles one or more tax withholdings (income-tax withholding, VAT/sales-tax withholding, or any other withholding specific to your country) under a single name, so you can apply them all at once on your purchase transactions instead of picking each withholding separately every time you pay a vendor.
This screen manages the groups (the combination of withholdings). Each individual withholding that makes up a group (its name, percentage and calculation method) is created and maintained separately in the Tax Withholdings module, which shares the same form as the Taxes catalog but is documented on its own.
What it is and what it's for
In many countries, when you pay a vendor your company is required to "withhold" part of the payment (for example a percentage of income tax or VAT/sales tax) and remit it directly to the tax authority instead of handing it over to the vendor. A Tax Retention Group represents that combination of withholdings you need to apply to a vendor or to a specific purchase line.
When you pick a group on a Vendor Bill, Expense, Vendor Credit or Debit Note, Reception or another purchase document, AdmCloud automatically calculates the amount for each withholding in the group: on the line's tax (VAT/sales tax) amount if the withholding is of the "VAT" type, or on the line's amount (income) if it's an "Income Tax" or another income-based type. You can also assign a default group directly on the Vendor record, so it's suggested automatically on their new purchases.
Screens in this area
| Screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| List | Shows your groups with their name and the total percentage resulting from adding up their withholdings, split into Active and Inactive tabs. From here you add a new one, check several to delete them in bulk, or open one to view or edit it. |
| New Group / Edit Group | Form to capture the group's name and the list of withholdings that make it up. The list of withholdings can only be set when the group is created; once editing an existing group, you can only change its name or mark it inactive, the list of withholdings shows read-only. |
| Details | Read-only view with the group's name and the detail of each withholding it's made of (name, percentage and calculation type), with shortcuts to edit or delete it. |
How to create a retention group
- Open the Tax Retention Groups module and click Add.
- Enter a descriptive Name for the group (for example "Professional Services Withholding" or "Standard Income Tax + VAT"). The name is required and must be unique against the other retention groups and the Tax Schedules already registered.
- In the withholdings table, pick a Withholding Tax from the catalog on each row (previously created in the Tax Withholdings module). Use the insert-row button to add more withholdings, or the delete button to remove one you don't need. The group must have at least one withholding.
- Click Save. Double-check the combination of withholdings before saving: once the group is created, its list of withholdings can no longer be changed.
Key capabilities
- One-pick application: instead of choosing each withholding separately, you pick a single group on the purchase line and AdmCloud calculates all of its withholdings at once.
- Calculation based on each withholding's type: VAT-type withholdings are calculated on the line's tax amount; Income Tax (and other income-based) withholdings are calculated on the line's amount.
- Default group on Vendors: you can pre-assign a group on a vendor record so it's suggested automatically on their purchase documents.
- AI-assisted suggestion: while typing a Vendor Bill line, AdmCloud can suggest the most likely retention group based on that vendor's and item's purchase history, when this AI feature is enabled for your account.
- Used across the whole purchase cycle: the same group can be applied on Vendor Bills, Expenses, Vendor Credit and Debit Notes, Receptions and other purchase documents, and it's reflected on the purchases VAT and income-tax withholding fiscal reports.
- Active and inactive: mark a group as inactive to stop offering it on new transactions or when assigning it to a vendor, without losing the history of transactions that already used it.
Key fields
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Name | Descriptive name of the group. Required and unique against the other retention groups and the company's Tax Schedules. |
| Withholding Tax (per row) | The individual withholding that's part of the group, taken from the Tax Withholdings catalog. Can only be set when the group is created. |
| Retention % (per row, read-only) | Percentage configured on the selected withholding; shown for reference, not editable here. |
| Retention Type (per row, read-only) | Indicates whether that withholding is calculated on the tax (VAT) or on income (Income Tax or other), also defined on the individual withholding. |
| Inactive | Hides the group when creating new transactions or assigning it to a vendor, while keeping its existing history. |
| Relationships Detail | Name a specific Vendor or Customer uses for this group in AdmCloud Xchange. Unlike the withholdings detail, it can be edited after the group is created. It's filled in automatically the first time it's missing when receiving a document from that relationship, but you can also register it ahead of time here. When viewing the Withholding Group, this detail shows in its own "Relationships" tab, with a filter by relationship name and paging. That tab only shows up if AdmCloud Xchange is enabled for your company. The same Vendor/Customer can have several references, but the same Vendor/Customer and reference pair cannot repeat, neither within this record nor in another retention group: if another one already uses it, saving tells you which. Duplicating the record does not copy this detail. |
Validations when saving
- The name is required and must be unique, against the other retention groups and the Tax Schedules already registered in the company.
- The group must have at least one valid, active withholding from the Tax Withholdings catalog.
- The list of withholdings cannot be changed when editing an existing group; the edit form only lets you change the name and the Inactive status. If you need a different combination of withholdings, create a new group.
- A group cannot be deleted while it's assigned as a Vendor's default withholding, while it appears on a line of an existing purchase transaction, or in its Relationships Detail; you must remove it from those places first.
Availability and permissions
- Access to this module is controlled by the "Taxes" (SA_TAXES) permission on your user group, with separate levels for viewing, adding, editing and deleting.
- For the withholding columns to show up on your purchase documents, your company must have the "Purchases Retention Application" preference (under Company Preferences) set to Bill, Payment, or both; if it's set to Disabled, these columns stay hidden.
- The automatic AI-based group suggestion is an optional feature that depends on it being enabled for your account; if it isn't, you simply pick the group manually.
Tips and common issues
Do you withhold the same combination on most of a certain type of vendor? Assign the default retention group on the Vendor record: it will then be suggested automatically on their new bills and expenses, without picking it line by line.
Can't add or remove withholdings from an existing group? That's intentional: the combination of withholdings stays fixed so it doesn't alter the printing or history of transactions that already used that group. Create a new group with the right combination and, if it applies, mark the old one as Inactive.
Can't delete a group? AdmCloud blocks it if it's still assigned as a Vendor's default, or if it appears on any existing purchase transaction. In that case, it's safer to deactivate it (mark it as Inactive) instead of trying to delete it.
Looking to create or edit an individual withholding (income tax, VAT withholding)? That's done in the Tax Withholdings module, not in this Groups catalog. Here you only group already-existing withholdings to apply them together.