RTD Excel - Free Template

1. Start on RTD Data and enter each invoice or contract line as soon as it is issued or paid. Use one row per item so the record stays easy to audit.
2. Fill in the business name, VAT registration number and tax year at the top of the sheet. That keeps the file linked to the correct reporting period.
3. Add the trade date, invoice or reference number, client name, county, contract type and description of work. These fields make it easier to match the RTD back to your records.
4. Enter gross value, VAT rate, VAT amount, RCT deducted and net paid. Check that the payment date and status are updated when money comes in.
5. Review RTD Summary to check the totals before you file. Use it to compare turnover, VAT and deductions against your own bookkeeping records.
6. Read the Instructions sheet before your first use or if you hand the file to someone else. It is the quickest way to keep the format consistent all year.

An RTD spreadsheet is for the people who have to prove what was traded, who was paid and what was deducted before the annual Return of Trading Details goes to Revenue. In practice that means a principal contractor, a subcontractor, a small building firm, or a bookkeeper who is cleaning up the records before the filing window closes.

The first sheet, RTD Data, is set up for the real working month, not just the filing day. If you are running 40 jobs a month with invoices from €250 to €8,000, you need a row-by-row record that shows the client, county, contract type and the payment status without hunting through email.

How the sheet fits a real workflow

A carpenter with 4 employees might use it to track 60 to 80 invoices a quarter, while a plumbing contractor could have 25 subcontractor lines with RCT deductions of 20% or 35%. With figures like that, a simple list is faster than trying to reconstruct the year from bank statements at the last minute.

When you are likely to open it

You normally reach for this file at year end, during a clean-up before the RTD filing, or when a client asks you to match payments to invoices. The summary sheet gives you a quick view of gross value, VAT and RCT deducted, so you can spot a €1,200 invoice that was paid net of €840 and check that the deduction is recorded correctly.

Revenue expects you to keep records that support the figures behind the RTD, and the practical rule is to hold those records for 6 years. If you are also VAT registered, the same records need to line up with your bi-monthly VAT3 returns and, where relevant, the annual Return of Trading Details through ROS.

The template gives you the fields you need for that check: trade date, invoice or reference number, supplier or contractor name, client name, gross value, VAT rate, VAT amount, RCT deducted, net paid, payment date and tax year. That is the minimum useful trail when you are answering Revenue queries or reconciling against your accounting software.

Why the columns matter

If you have a subcontract invoice for €2,000 with VAT at 23%, the gross value is €2,000, VAT is €460 and the total invoice is €2,460 before any RCT deduction. If 20% RCT is withheld, the net paid is €1,600 before any separate settlement, so the spreadsheet needs all three figures rather than one combined number.

RTD, VAT and invoices

Where VAT is involved, the VAT number and sequential invoice reference matter just as much as the euro amounts. Revenue is looking for a paper trail that can be followed from invoice to payment to return, and this template is built around that sort of traceability rather than a loose note-taking format.

The most common failure is a spreadsheet that misses one of the three moving parts: invoice value, deduction and payment. If you only record the net amount paid, a €5,000 invoice with €1,000 RCT deducted can look like a €4,000 sale and your RTD totals will be wrong before you even start the return.

Another problem is using a bank statement as the main record. A payment of €3,690 does not tell you whether it was a €3,000 invoice with 23% VAT and a 20% deduction, or a €3,690 payment with no deduction at all, and that sort of guesswork costs time when you are closing the year.

The cost of missing detail

If you have 50 lines and 5 of them are missing the payment date or VAT rate, you can easily spend 2 to 3 hours chasing documents instead of filing. If the error leads to a wrong deduction claim or a misposted VAT amount, the repair work can mean amended records, extra queries and a messy conversation with the person doing the return.

What usually breaks the file

Duplication is another one. If a subcontractor invoice appears once as gross and once again as a separate payment line, you can double count €1,800 of turnover and overstate the RTD figures by the time you total the sheet.

Once duplicate payment lines start inflating totals, the same check should carry through to the CT1 tax workings so turnover and deductions stay aligned before filing.

The easiest way to keep an RTD sheet alive is to attach it to a routine you already do. For most Irish businesses that means the VAT3 close, the payroll run or the monthly bank reconciliation, because those are the times when the paperwork is already on the desk.

Simple habits that keep it going

• Update the sheet once a week rather than waiting for year end.
• Copy last month’s entries and change only the new lines, so the format stays consistent.
• Use the status column to flag anything unpaid or partly settled.
• Check the summary totals against your books before you file anything with Revenue.

If you are processing 30 to 40 invoice lines a month, a 15-minute weekly update is usually enough. If you leave it for 12 months, you turn a tidy spreadsheet into an archive dig.

When to move on from a spreadsheet

Once you are handling hundreds of lines, multiple VAT rates and several staff members entering data, the spreadsheet starts to show its limits. At that point a proper bookkeeping or job-costing system is the better option, but for a small contractor or sole trader this template is the simplest way to stay in control.

At that point, the next step is keeping a VAT3 return workings sheet that ties the figures back to each filing period.