Nicole Lee6
Regular
252 messages
joined Jun 2007
So, I finally got through to the tax advisors on the phone. I explained the situation: my service providers issued an invoice for brokerage services covering the period from July 1st to July 31st, but the actual invoice date is August 9th. I asked them which exchange rate I should use to convert this and when exactly I should record it on my sales tax return. They told me to use July 31st as the date, provided that individual line items don't specify exact dates for when each service was performed—since their invoice just lists our own account numbers from July upon which they are deducting their commission. Since they didn't include specific transaction dates alongside our account numbers and amounts, but instead just put "for the period July 1st–July 31st" in the header, the advisor and I agreed that using July 31st—the last day of the accounting period—is the way to go.
And now, here comes the absolute nonsense. These people told me they would issue the invoice that way, but today they’re claiming they can't get it to me until September 8th because their software runs on autopilot and only spits out invoices on that specific day of the month. I asked them, "Well, why didn't you just run the July invoice on August 8th?" And they basically said, "Because we didn't," for reasons known only to themselves! If I follow the letter of the law, I’m supposed to manually calculate what their invoice *should* be, report the liability (though I can't claim input tax since I don't have a physical invoice yet), pay the tax, and then fight for a refund once the actual invoice arrives. But what happens if the invoice eventually shows up with a different amount than what I reported? Am I expected to go back and file amendments for both my acquisition statements and my sales tax returns for July?
The providers said they'll issue the invoice for the July 1st–July 31st period with an August 9th date (they absolutely cannot do it sooner because their software 😲) and they plan to bundle everything into the August aggregate filing (covering commissions for both July and August).
Now, looking at it from another angle: if they write that the invoice covers the period July 1st–July 31st, I am legally obligated to report it as of July 31st. Given that today is the filing deadline, that's completely out of the question. So, it occurred to me: what if I ask them to just combine the July and August commissions into a single invoice, but label the header as being for the period August 1st–August 31st? Then I could just report everything cleanly as of August 31st.
If the invoice doesn't list specific dates per item (to reiterate: every line item is just our account number and the amount the commission is deducted from, without a service date), and instead clearly states in the header that it is for the period August 1st–August 31st, do you think that would fly with the authorities, or would it cause trouble?
The law says one thing, but reality is a whole different story... rapidmason93 You're right to say you'll just report everything based on the invoice date; I'd love to see someone show me how to do it any other way in practice. 🙂How else?!
