Understand what SamBooks prepares and what stays with your accountant
10 min read
In the Filings area SamBooks calculates, prepares and generates the files: formal review and submission to the authorities always stay with your accountant or a licensed intermediary.
What it's for
This guide draws the line of responsibility before you go into the detail of any single section: what SamBooks calculates on its own, what it produces as a downloadable file, and what a person — you or your accountant — still has to do. It covers the whole Filings area, reachable from the left menu: direct taxes, the annual VAT return, the Single Certification (issued and received), withholdings you've suffered, Intrastat, and the tax calendar. If you're about to use one of these tools for the first time, read this page first: it heads off the single most expensive misunderstanding — assuming that a file downloaded from SamBooks has already been sent to the Revenue Agency.
The general rule
SamBooks calculates and prepares — it never transmits anything to any authority. Whenever a filing produces an XML file, that file is meant for your accountant or a licensed intermediary: the data in it is correct, but it isn't (yet) the official telematic format validated by the Revenue Agency or Customs, and no button in SamBooks sends it anywhere. Telematic submission channels (Entratel, the tax drawer, Intr@Web for Intrastat) are reserved by law to licensed intermediaries — that's a design decision of the platform, not a temporary limitation. In practice, your job with every filing always stops at two things: checking that the data is correct and downloading/handing over the file (or printing it) to the professional who takes it from there.
The one exception is F24 payments: SamBooks generates those as a draft and, once you confirm, registers them and makes them ready to pay — but they're still payments you carry out yourself (from your online banking or your tax drawer), not an automatic submission to an authority.
The seven areas, one by one
From the Filings page (left menu) you'll find seven cards, plus two cross-cutting sections at the top of the page (the reconciliation reports and the general ledger). For each: what SamBooks calculates, what you get, and who takes the last step.
1. IRES/IRAP taxes
SamBooks calculates, in real time, the IRES taxable income and the IRAP production value from your accounting data — general-ledger balances and the tax attributes on your chart of accounts — in an editable statement that tells you whether it balances. You can correct lines and add manual adjustments. When you finalize the return (you need the fiscal year closed and the statement balanced), you get: a locked snapshot of the figures, the F24s for the IRES/IRAP balance and advances, the reconciliation XML files for REDDITI SC and IRAP for your accountant, and — if you choose to record it — the accounting entry for deferred tax assets and liabilities. None of these XML files is the official telematic format: they're material ready for review and submission by the professional.
2. Annual VAT return
With one click (Prepare, specifying the tax year) SamBooks builds the annual VAT return from data already on record — invoices, self-invoices, periodic settlements, VAT F24 payments — across the required sections (VA, VE, VF, VJ, VH, VP, VL, VR). If the balance is a debit, a matching general-ledger entry is created automatically. The balance, when due, is paid with F24 tax code 6099. From here you download the return's XML: it contains the completed sections, but — like every filing — it's material to hand to your accountant, not a direct submission. The flat-rate regime (RF19) doesn't settle VAT and can't prepare this return: SamBooks rejects the operation with an explicit message.
3. Single Certification (issued)
If you've paid professionals subject to withholding tax (TD06 invoices with withholding), SamBooks prepares the CU for those recipients: it requires the invoice to be paid and the payment reconciled in the bank — otherwise that recipient simply won't show up. You get a per-year list with gross amount and withholding, plus a downloadable XML to hand to the intermediary for telematic submission — SamBooks doesn't transmit it, and it doesn't produce a document to hand to the recipient.
4. Received CUs
The other direction: here you record the Single Certifications your own clients-as-withholding-agents have issued to you for the withholding they applied. You can even import them from a PDF (values read by OCR should always be checked). They support the withholding deduction on your income tax return; there's no file to download and send here — it's an archive that backs up your own filing.
5. Withholdings you've suffered
A read-only section: it shows the path of every withholding your clients apply to you, from the TD06 invoice issued through to the accounting entry, with status "Pending" or "Posted". The action that moves a withholding from one status to the other doesn't live here, but in the Banking area (when you reconcile the receipt): this page stays a read-only dashboard.
6. Intrastat
Hidden from the menu by default (turn it on from Settings → Navigation bar, or reach it anyway from the card here on the Filings page). SamBooks calculates the period's rows from invoices to EU customers, intra-EU purchases and intra-EU services, across the four lists (goods sold/purchased, services sold/purchased). Rows start out as drafts and need completing — customs code (CN8), transaction nature, transport details — and then confirming. This is the only filing, among all of them, where the page shows an explicit compliance notice: the XML generated for Intr@Web is ready to upload, but it's your accountant or intermediary who actually files it with Customs.
7. Tax calendar
The agenda of every one of the company's tax deadlines, with amounts calculated where possible and a direct link to the F24 draft. Strictly speaking it isn't a filing, but it's the starting point for almost every obligation on this page: see the dedicated guide, View and manage the tax deadline calendar in SamBooks.
Reconciliation reports and the general ledger
At the top of the Filings page you'll find two cross-cutting sections. The reconciliation reports (annual VAT return and REDDITI SC summary) are readable reports in PDF or CSV, carrying a Draft badge and an explicit reminder: "informational reports to be checked and completed by your accountant, not filings ready for submission." The downloaded file's name starts with the DRAFT_ prefix for the same reason. The general ledger instead generates the PDF of the fiscal year's chronological journal (or of a chosen period), downloadable at any time.
What SamBooks always produces, and what it never does
In short, regardless of the section:
- Always produces: up-to-date calculations straight from your accounting data, reconciliation XML files for your accountant (annual VAT return, CU, REDDITI SC, IRAP, Intrastat), readable PDF/CSV reports, F24 drafts and payments, and — where applicable — the linked accounting entry (the annual VAT balance entry, the deferred tax recognition).
- Never does: it never connects to the Revenue Agency, Customs or Entratel; it never submits any filing on your behalf; it never produces a "submitted / accepted / rejected" status cycle — in SamBooks a prepared filing simply stays "prepared," full stop, because submission is a step that happens elsewhere, outside the platform. Don't expect a notification saying "your return has been accepted by the Agency": that confirmation comes from whichever channel your accountant uses to submit it.
Who can see and do what
The Filings sections are visible to anyone with access to the company's Accounting area. Actions that write data — preparing a return, calculating an Intrastat period, recording a received CU, generating an F24, marking a deadline as handled — require a user with the Manager or Administrative role: a Viewer sees the same data and the same already-generated files but can't perform those actions. A Logistics user finds the Filings entry greyed out in the menu — their sidebar is built around warehouse, delivery notes, orders and shipments — and in any case can't perform the actions that write to the Filings area.
The flat-rate regime (RF19)
If your company is on the flat-rate regime, the Filings and Intrastat entries don't show up in the left menu: the whole apparatus of VAT sections, IRES/IRAP and EU trade doesn't apply to a flat-rate business the same way. The tax calendar stays available, though (see its dedicated guide), because it also covers obligations a flat-rate business still has — contributions, virtual stamp duty, IMU, the chamber-of-commerce fee. If you still try to prepare the annual VAT return — for instance through a direct link — SamBooks rejects the operation with an explicit message: a flat-rate business doesn't settle periodic VAT and doesn't file this return.
Ask Sam
Every action described here also has its own tool for Sam: you can ask, for example, "prepare the 2025 annual VAT return", "calculate June's Intrastat period", "record this received CU", "where do I stand on IRES and IRAP", or simply "what do I need to hand my accountant this year?" Sam reads the same data you see and, for any action that writes, always asks you to confirm before it acts — and every action stays logged and reversible from the history. Talking to Sam doesn't change the boundary explained above: not even Sam submits a filing to an authority, it only prepares the same material you'd get doing everything by hand.
If something isn't working
- I downloaded an XML — have I already sent it to the Revenue Agency? No. Every filing file needs to be handed to your accountant or licensed intermediary, who checks it and submits it through their own telematic channel. SamBooks never connects directly to an authority.
- My filing still shows "prepared," I can't find a "submitted" status. That's expected: that status doesn't exist for any filing in SamBooks, because submission doesn't happen here. Confirm submission with your accountant.
- I'm on the flat-rate regime and can't find Filings in the menu. Correct: that area isn't built for your regime. The tax calendar remains available, with the obligations that still apply to you.
- I tried to prepare the annual VAT return and got an error. If the company is on the flat-rate regime, the operation is blocked by design: a flat-rate business doesn't file this return.
- A Viewer in my company can't prepare anything. That's expected: actions that write require the Manager or Administrative role.
Frequently asked questions
Does SamBooks file returns on my accountant's behalf? It calculates and prepares them, yes; but submission to the authorities always stays with your accountant or a licensed intermediary.
Can I submit filings directly from SamBooks? No: no button transmits a filing to the Revenue Agency or Customs. You download the file and hand it to whoever submits it.
What do I need to give my accountant at year end? It depends on the filing: the XML files for the annual VAT return, CU and Intrastat, the PDF/CSV reconciliation reports for VAT and REDDITI SC, and the REDDITI SC/IRAP XML files once the tax return is finalized.
Does SamBooks connect to the Revenue Agency? No, not for submitting filings. Telematic channels are reserved to licensed intermediaries.
What files can I download from the Filings area? Reconciliation XML files (annual VAT return, CU, REDDITI SC, IRAP, Intrastat), PDF and CSV reports, and the general ledger as a PDF.
Do I still need an accountant if I use SamBooks? Yes: formal review, control and telematic submission stay reserved to the licensed professional.
I'm on the flat-rate regime — which tax features can I use? The tax calendar, with the obligations that genuinely apply to you (no periodic VAT). Filings and Intrastat aren't built for your regime.
Who in the company can prepare filings? A user with the Manager or Administrative role. A Viewer can only look.
What does SamBooks do automatically, and what's left to me? SamBooks calculates the amounts, fills in the sections, generates the files and any related accounting entries; you check the data, download/hand over the files and, with your accountant, take care of submission.
Can my read-only collaborator see the Filings area? Yes, a Viewer sees the data and the already-generated files, but can't perform actions that create or change them.
How do I give my accountant access to my filings? Invite them as a collaborator on your company — see the guide on inviting your team and your accountant.