I understand that the date on an invoice should reflect the date it is issued. However, my question is whether an invoice can be issued before the delivery of the work.
For example, if I make an advance payment to a business for services to be delivered next month, can they issue the invoice this month, or must they wait until next month? Additionally, how would this impact the GST payment if the invoice is issued this month versus next month?
Thank you.
Additional context: The actual context might also help to answer this. My previous owner of the house arranged cleaning at the property, three weeks after I vacated the property as he had renovations. But he manged with the cleaner to back date it around the date when I evacuated to convince VCAT that it was end of lease cleaning. I see no issue in such an invoice but in this specific case, a back dated invoices can impact me. The owner’s view is that the date on the invoice represents the work initiation rather than work completion which otherwise should be okay. How can I put forward my evidence that this cleaning was after three weeks of renovation in the house, not related to my end of lease cleaning.
Hi @adnan645
When work is done, when an invoice is issued or when payment is made all impact GST reporting depending on the accounting method you use. The timing of when work should be done isn't really up to us.
If a customer requests a tax invoice (includes GST), the supplier or seller must provide one within 28 days unless its below $82.50 they're not required to.
In this instance, payment was made before an invoice was issued or the work was done so the business reports GST in the period payment was received.
You can read more about tax invoices here.
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