Symptom
When a payment is posted with a small difference within the defined tolerance, a separate tax line item is generated for this small difference amount, even though no tax is expected for this payment difference.
Environment
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition
Reproducing the Issue
- Create a customer invoice.
- Post an incoming payment with a small overpayment within the defined tolerance.
- Clear the open item so that the difference posts to the rounding/small differences G/L account.
- Review the accounting entry: the small difference line is treated as tax basis with a derived tax code.
Cause
The rounding/small differences G/L account is configured as tax-relevant (tax category “*”). For such accounts, the system derives a tax code from the original document during clearing, so the payment difference is posted as tax basis by design.
Resolution
- Identify the G/L account used for rounding or small payment differences during clearing.
- Open the account in the Manage G/L Account Master Data app.
- Check the Tax category setting: If the Tax category is anything other than ' ' (space) for example "+", "-" or "*". the system will treat postings as tax-relevant and derive a tax code.
- If tax must not be posted on small differences, set the Tax category to blank (space) for this G/L account.
- Save the changes.
- Test by clearing an item with a small over/underpayment within tolerance to confirm the difference is no longer treated as tax basis.
See Also
- SAP Note: 3581277 - While clearing open items the payment differences are posted with tax code
- SAP Note: 2142852 - Minor payment difference posting with tax code
- SAP Community: Payment difference posted to expense account but produced tax
Keywords
hungary, hu localization, overpayment, tolerance, small differences, rounding differences, tax basis, tax-relevant gl, tax category *, derive tax code, clearing, incoming payment, manage g/l account master data, vat, public cloud , KBA , FI-GL-GL-F-2CL , Value Added Tax (VAT) (Public Cloud) , Problem
SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public