To track tax details that involve lots of line items, like those an employer might declare, SAP Tax and Revenue Management uses table forms.
Think of it like this: if an employer is reporting the unemployment tax they've paid, they'll have a summary on the front page and then detailed lists that break down those summaries. These lists can be really long, sometimes with thousands of lines for each report.
To use these table forms, you'll need a front page and at least one detailed list. The front page's layout is set up in Web Dynpro for ABAP. The detailed lists, or schedules, are set up as table forms. These can have a header and then the line-by-line details.
The cover form provides a summary of all the submitted line items. It ensures that each item is consistent, calculates the total and adjusted amounts, and sends alerts if there's any missing or incorrect data.
The table form holds the specific details of each line item. It has the bulk of the data that the cover form summarizes and checks. Additionally, it offers various features, like copying or moving data to new or other form bundles.
The calculation of the cover form is done via the Business Rules Framework - BRFplus.
Defining Table Forms
For the usage of table forms, a cover sheet, and at least one schedule is required.
In the IMG activity Define Table Forms, you define templates for table forms that the tax officer can see in their work center and use to create their own table forms.
Table forms are used for tax returns with attached schedules that contain many line items.
To improve performance, SAP recommends that you use table forms for this type of tax return.
The definition of table forms implies the following steps:
- Create the table: To do so, you use transaction code SE11. First, check whether all of your fields exist as data elements. If this is not the case, you have to create your own data elements. Then, you create your table. SAP has delivered two structures FMCA_TF_TAB_KEY_H and FMCA_TF_TAB_KEY_L for the key fields of the header and line item tables. SAP recommends that you first create a structure that holds all of your tax-related fields. Then, you create a table that includes SAP's pre-delivered key structure and your business-related structure. For BI reporting purposes, you can add a time stamp field with data element time stamp.
Note
Note that SAP delivers examples for tables, such as DFMCA_TF_UET_L for unemployment tax that you can use as reference.
- Create Change Document Objects: Change document objects make sure that changes in your tables are recorded properly. To create a change document object, enter transaction code SCDO and choose the Create function. Add the line item table that you created in the previous step, and - if available - the header table. Afterward, choose the Generate update button. Note that SAP delivers examples for changing document objects, such as FMCA_TF_CDO_UET for unemployment tax that you can use as a reference.
- Define the table form: To do so, you execute the current configuration activity. Enter a name for the table form, for example UNEMPLOYMENT_TAX. Mark this table form as active. Choose your intended time frame (valid from/valid to). Enter the name of the table that you created before. Enter the changed document object that you created before. If you want to use a different layout for the header area of your table form than the one provided by SAP, you have to create your own implementation of the Web Dynpro Interface IF_FMCA_TF_FORM_HEADER and enter its name in the Web Dynpro Component for the Table Form Header field. If you want to use customer-specific logic for a table form, you can implement class interface IF_FMCA_TF_DATA_HANDLER, and put your validation logic into method CHECK_FORM_DATA and your derivation logic into method SUGGEST_FORM_DATA.
- Execute the current IMG activity: The program imports all fields that you have defined in your table(s). Subsequently, you can reorder the column sequence and deactivate or activate a field's visibility for your line item and - if applicable - header table.