How much to set aside for tax: the tax dashboard
Quarterly VAT, stamp duty, upcoming deadlines and open items: how to read your tax figures without waiting for the accountant to call.
The three questions everyone asks on the 10th
Anyone self-employed asks the same three: how much do I set aside, when is it due, and what am I missing. Simple questions that usually get answered late, because the data lives in three different places.
Bink's tax dashboard answers them from the documents you already issued: invoices, VAT, stamp duty, payments. You find it under "Payments and tax", in the Tax tab.
How much to set aside, and how certain it is
Every line states how reliable it is, and that is the most important thing in the whole section. Some numbers are exact: quarterly VAT on sales is computed from the invoices you issued, with no assumptions.
Others are partial by construction: output VAT is certain, but the balance you will actually pay also depends on input VAT, which Bink does not see. Others are estimates, because they depend on parameters that are yours — profitability coefficient, contribution rate — and they are shown with the assumptions spelled out.
Why an estimate is never dressed up as an amount due
A dashboard that presents an estimate as "to pay" does more damage than no dashboard at all: it makes you set aside the wrong figure and feel safe doing it.
That is why the distinction between exact, partial and estimated sits in the type of the line, not in a footnote. And for the same reason none of this is tax advice: you still need an accountant, they just get your numbers in order.
Deadlines
Below you find the coming months' deadlines with the days left: VAT settlements, stamp duty on the invoices that carry it, the dates people forget because they always fall in the middle of a busy week.
They are not generic calendar reminders: they come out of the documents you actually issued, so an empty quarter does not produce a pointless deadline.
Open items
The last part is the list of what is missing, each with a link to the place in Bink where it gets fixed: a customer without tax details, a draft invoice never transmitted, a payment with no document.
It is the section worth emptying before the quarter closes, because every line in there is an invoice that will not go out or a number that will not add up.
What the dashboard cannot know
It only sees what went through Bink. If you also collect elsewhere and never record it, the totals are lower than reality — which is exactly why "Pay me now" lets you record cash and bank transfers too.
And it does not see your costs: input VAT, deductible expenses, contributions already paid. Those stay the accountant's part.
Frequently asked questions
Does the tax dashboard replace an accountant?
No, and it does not try to. It computes on what went through Bink and always states what it cannot know: it is there so you arrive prepared, not so you go it alone.
Where do the numbers come from?
From invoices issued and payments recorded in Bink: taxable amount, VAT, stamp duty, transaction date. Nothing is estimated without saying so.
Does it work on the flat-rate regime?
Yes, the regime is shown at the top of the section and changes which lines are computed. Lines depending on coefficients and contribution rates stay estimates, labelled as such.
Why is a payment missing from the totals?
Because totals count what is recorded in Bink. A payment received elsewhere and never recorded is not there: you can add it from "Pay me now" by choosing "Already collected".
Related guides
- TaxE-invoicing: issuing invoices without accounting softwareHow electronic invoicing works for a freelancer in Italy, what you need to get started, and how to make the invoice come out of the payment instead of Sunday-night spreadsheets.
- PaymentsGetting paid with a link or a QR code, in person tooThe client is in front of you or on the other end of the phone and you need to collect now: how to create a payment request in thirty seconds and come out with the right document.
- ClientsA client list that fills itself inNames, tax details and payment history in one place — with nothing to import, because customers enter on their own when they buy from your page.