Tax Implications Re Invoices entered

Tim Cross_7724692
Tim Cross_7724692 Member Posts: 44
edited May 2018 in Reckon Accounts (Desktop)
Running Accounts Plus 2017 and before end of year entered multiple invoices which were not sent until new financial year. Dates on invoices pre-dated 30/6 but were then changed when actually sent for payment. Will the software automatically adjust Debtors to reflect date change as we now discover taxable income has been affected by me doing this (or should I run new financial reports for the Accountant to adjust?).

Comments

  • Robert Smeallie_9600650
    Robert Smeallie_9600650 Member Posts: 83
    edited May 2018
    Hi Tim,

    Are you using Cash Accounting or Accrual Accounting? This affects the way you deal with payments that cross over accounting periods. If it is cash then the transaction takes place when the funds are transferred. Are they Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable? If the entries were made in your accounting software with the original date they were issued and weren't received till the new financial year then you might need to create some General Journal Entries to cover the transactions so that when the money is actually transferred it can be matched off between Accounts Payable/Receivable to your Bank Account.

    Hope that helps
    Robert Smeallie
  • Tim Cross_7724692
    Tim Cross_7724692 Member Posts: 44
    edited May 2018

    Hi Robert.

    Using cash accounting and monies from raised invoices go into Accounts Receivable. My concern is that the invoices initially had dates prior to 30/6/17. I did not send them until post 30/6 at which time I also changed their dates to reflect the date that I emailed them. I know everything is date related in Reckon and just wonder how the software has processed this date change when it comes to calculating Debtors. I only realized the problem when our Accountant included the larger debtors amount in our Profit and Loss Report, resulting in a higher tax owed figure. (Defeated the purpose of not sending the invoices in the first instance after paying all our creditors up to date).

    I would not have thought Debtors and Creditors would come into company profit under a cash accounting method, only when payment physically received or paid?

  • Robert Smeallie_9600650
    Robert Smeallie_9600650 Member Posts: 83
    edited May 2018
    Hi Tim,

    Thanks for getting back to me. You are using Cash Accounting so in the cash system the transaction is recorded when cash changes hands. The income is recorded when the payment has been received. Expenses are recorded when payment has been made. Cash can refer to payments made by cash, cheque, credit card or electronic transfer. 

    So if you changed the date on the customer invoices to the new accounting period then the sales transaction will be recorded in that new period.

    Are you using double-entry bookkeeping or just a Cashbook accounting program? In a double entry system money comes in through an Income account which then gets linked to an an asset account and money going out from a liability account to an expense account.

    The Profit and Loss Report is made up from activities in the Income and Expenses and the Balance Sheet Report covers transactions in the Assets and Liabilities accounts.

    I hope this information is of assistance to you.

    Regards
    Robert Smeallie
  • Tim Cross_7724692
    Tim Cross_7724692 Member Posts: 44
    edited May 2018

    Hi Robert,

    Thanks for your assistance and time. I need to sort this out with the Accountant as to my way of thinking Debtors and Creditors should not impact on the years P & L until payments are physically received in the bank account or paid from it. I don't think he has included these in the past. To be sure this year I will simply not do the invoices or record them until the new financial year. Cheers.

  • Tim Cross_7724692
    Tim Cross_7724692 Member Posts: 44
    edited May 2018
    Further to above if I again decide to complete invoices but don't want to send them or receive payment for them until the next financial year am I "safe" in post dating them i.e. July 2018 so that they are not included in my year end figures? I don't want a large back log of typing on my hands but don't want the income for tax purposes this financial year.