Pomio CRM gives every deal a value, next to its stage, owner and source, and shows deals in board and list views. A value only helps when everyone fills it in the same way. The most common difference in small teams is simple: some amounts include VAT and some do not.
Why including VAT gives the wrong picture
VAT is collected for the tax authority and passed on. It is not revenue. When part of the pipeline includes VAT, totals look about a fifth higher than the revenue you will keep, and that error is uneven, because it depends on which rep entered which deal. Targets, commissions and a forecast built on those totals inherit the same distortion.
Business customers, different rates
In business-to-business sales the VAT on an invoice depends on the customer: domestic, another EU country with reverse charge, or outside the EU. The same offer of 10,000 can become 12,100, 10,000 or something else on the invoice. Excluding VAT is the only number that compares like with like across customers.
Agree one rule and write it down
Make the rule short: every deal amount is excluding VAT, in euros, for the value of the first contract term. Put that sentence in your sales handbook and in the help text near the amount field, and mention it when someone new starts. A rule that lives only in one person’s head is not a rule.
One-off and recurring amounts
Decide whether a subscription deal shows the first year, the first contract term or the monthly amount. Any choice works if everyone uses it. Mixing them is worse than VAT, because a monthly 500 and a yearly 6,000 sit side by side in the same column. Most small teams pick the value of the first contract term.
Fix existing deals once
When you introduce the rule, go through the open deals and correct amounts that include VAT. Do it in one session, with the owner of each deal, rather than slowly over months. Closed deals can stay as they are if you note the date from which the rule applies, so later reports know where the line is.
Make it part of the pipeline review
Every open deal needs an amount in the first place. In the weekly pipeline review, check new deals against the rule: does the amount match the quote excluding VAT? It takes seconds per deal and keeps the forecast honest.
How Pomio CRM helps
In Pomio CRM every deal has a value field, together with stage, owner, source and notes, and deals are linked to companies and contacts. Because the value is one field on every deal, a single agreed rule is enough, and pipeline totals in the board and list views stay comparable between reps and periods.
A practical checklist
Agree that deal amounts are excluding VAT; choose how recurring deals are valued; write the rule in the handbook and near the amount field; correct open deals in one session; note the date from which the rule applies; check new deals in the weekly pipeline review.
Go deeper
What about consumer sales?
Even when customers see prices including VAT, revenue reporting is usually excluding VAT. Keep the CRM in line with how your bookkeeping reports revenue.
Should discounts be in the amount?
Yes. Enter the amount you expect to invoice, after agreed discounts, excluding VAT.
What if a deal is in another currency?
Agree one reporting currency for the pipeline and convert at the rate on the quote date, so totals stay in one unit.
Who checks that the rule is followed?
The sales manager, during the weekly pipeline review. Most mistakes appear in the first week after a new deal is created.