Is it Legal to Change an Invoice Date?
If you’re running a business where you sell your services or products to different clients and customers, you must be sending them invoices after the work has been completed. You will raise the invoice request once you have supplied the services that you have promised for or the products that you have sold. The invoice will have certain information such as the identity of the services and goods that you have sold, the name, and the contact information of the customer, as well as your name, your business name, amount to be paid, and so on. These are just a few things that the invoice will comprise of
What you need to understand is that there are multiple types of invoices available. For example, you can send a tax invoice, an interim invoice, a sale invoice. Depending on the business you are running, you will send the invoice accordingly.
Can you change invoice data after sending?
The main question that arises is whether you can amend some changes, such as changing the invoice date without making the invoice illegal. If a similar circumstance appears, the first thing to do is not to delete the original invoice that you have prepared and sent already. The reason why you need to have the original invoice is to help protect the business from cash flow complications. Plus, there are tax obligations to take care of as well.
If you have not sent the invoice to the customer and you see an error such as wrong invoice date, you can quickly amend the changes and send it after correcting the mistake. Just change the date, read it thoroughly, and then send it to the customer who you wish to send the invoice to.
However, if you have already sent the invoice to the customer, and later you realize that you have to make some changes, this is where you will have to consider a few things.
For GST registered businesses, you must replace the invoice as quickly as possible. In case the missing information of your tax invoice can be received from other documents that you have sent to your customer, the invoice can still be considered valid.
If not, then you must correct the invoice as early as possible to save yourself from penalties for reporting incorrect GST.
For those who are GST registered business, the invoice that you will send will not have the words “tax invoice.” Even then, your responsibility is to fix the date and send it back to the customer as soon as possible in order to avoid further hassles. You can even inform the customers or the clients as early as possible, and let them know about the error so that they will let you send the correct invoice.
The point is that the new invoice with the new invoice date needs to be sent out as soon as possible.
Is it legal or illegal?
Changing the invoice date on your invoice is not illegal, however, it is always better to take care of the invoices that you will send or are sending. Ensure to double-check the invoice so that you don’t have to go through the hassle of changing the date later. There are certain companies who can help you create a proper invoice. There is also software that can keep your invoices organized and streamlined. Inform the customer about the mistake that has been done so that they get to know that you will be sending a new invoice as soon as possible. This is how you will have a good relationship with your clients and customers — as well as your accountant.
