Many people with little knowledge of accounting think that invoice and invoice are one and the same accounting document. This opinion is wrong. In fact, these documents are directly related to the creation of the same operation, the difference exists in their purpose and design.
What is the difference between an invoice and an invoice?
As a rule, an account is issued by an accountant. For this, there must be a basis - a purchase and sale agreement or an agreement for the provision of any services. This document indicates a specific amount that the payer undertakes to transfer to the current account or pay at the cash desk of the supplier for the service performed or for a specific product.
If the contract stipulates a reusable service (once a month for a year or once a quarter), then this invoice can be issued once a month, once a quarter, or immediately for a whole year. As a rule, the invoice is not a strict reporting form and is not registered in the sales ledger. An account is required mainly for prepayment.
What data are included in the invoice?
This document is a table that indicates a specific service or product name, unit of measurement, quantity and unit price. The total amount is indicated at the end. Also, the invoice must contain the details of the service provider where the customer must transfer the money.
The invoice is issued by the seller or performer after the completion of the work performed or services rendered. The presentation of this document is mandatory if the company refunds VAT (the amount must be indicated in the document), i.e. is on the general taxation system. In other situations, an invoice is usually not required. If the presence of this document is mandatory, it must be drawn up in the same period when the transaction was made (a service was provided, confirmed by an act of work performed or the goods were purchased, as evidenced by the presence of a consignment note).
In fact, the accountant issues both the invoice and the invoice both when rendering any services and when completing a purchase and sale agreement. The only difference is in the purpose of these documents. The buyer needs an invoice in order to pay for the services provided, which are fixed in the contract. For this, the account specifies the details for transferring the required amount of money and services or goods for which this amount will be made.
An invoice is needed in order for the performed transaction to be reflected in tax accounting, i.e. VAT must be recorded for the service or product performed, which is planned to be performed under the specified transaction.
Typically, the invoice has a service provider stamp (required), while the invoice does not. Another difference between these documents is that the invoice must be submitted to the tax office, since this document is a strict reporting form, while the invoice does not have this function.
