On 28 Jan 2009, at 21:18, Michael Richardson wrote:
...Invoice him for $2K. Send it to him, but don't save it. (Or delete itafterwards)Invoice him for the work you are about to do. Apply the $2000 paymentagainst that invoice, and he'll have a credit.
If I am reading this correctly, this would in the UK be a recipe for a full-scale audit by the Inland Revenue when (not if) they get wind of it.
As I understand it you're (advocating) issuing the customer a different invoice from the one you're keeping in your books. You issue the customer an invoice when they make the deposit, delete it from your records, and then some time later create another invoice for the same amount that goes in your books.
AFAICT the two invoices will have different invoice numbers & different dates. If the tax man were to discover this discrepancy then he would fall upon you like a long ton of lead bricks. He would not consider it endearing that the invoices might vaguely correspond - I think, from your description, they should be for the same amount - but would go over your books with a fine dental brush. When the dust settled, only assuming your books were otherwise of holy & religious cleanliness, you would be glad to pay tax on both invoices, and a fine.
I apologise if I am reading this wrongly and have misunderstood your intention. But if I am reading correctly then I suspect things will be little different in other jurisdictions - an invoice is cast in granite the moment it leaves your premises. There cannot be a single difference between the invoice in your records and the invoice that the customer receives.
(For this reason I consider SQL-Ledger's separate "email", "print" and "post" buttons on the AR invoice creation page to be a bug; I assume that in 1.3 or 1.4 they will be combined into a single "email, print and post" button (or perhaps a pair of "email, print and post" and "print and post" buttons)).
I guess you might well get around this by issuing an invoice, doing a reversal and issuing a credit note (crediting the customer for $2000, but keeping hold of the cash for the present) and then issuing a new invoice when the work is done. But this seems clumsy to me.
IANAA, but personally I would be inclined to overlook Chris' statement "an invoice is supposed to be issued when goods are delivered" and issue an invoice for 10 hours work (or whatever), stating on the invoice that this is being purchased in advance. It is probably naive of me to characterise this as no different than a beauty salon or health spa selling gift certificates, and Chris is surely right that this is not the _most correct_ solution (a pro-forma makes sense to me) but it is certainly better practice than issuing dodgy invoices.
Stroller.