Five Tips to Get Your Invoicing Ready for a New Tax
Posted by Sean MacKenzie on Thu, Oct 29, 2009
Changing over to a new tax scheme can be daunting for small to medium sized business
owners, but there are some things you can do in advance that can help.
Update Your Accounting System
Ensure your accounting system can handle the change. If it can't, make sure to plan a
changeover to a new system that can, or design a workaround so you can accommodate the
new tax.
Double-Check Invoicing
Check over your invoicing thoroughly at the time of changeover to make sure that you
have applied the tax correctly for each product or service.
Get the Team Involved
If you have a larger business, make sure to involve all the different divisions in a
discussion about the change. There will often be some expertise unique to different
departments that can help your transition.
Prepare Your Suppliers
Prepare your suppliers to expect the change. For example, BillZone allows your
subcontractors to generate their own invoice to you, which speeds up Accounts Payable
(they get their bills in on time) and Accounts Receivable (you immediately generate
invoices immediately from the same data). They might be surprised if the tax rate
changed on their invoice and they were not expecting it, or forgot to implement it
themselves.
Confirm the Date, and Find Out When You're Affected
Be sure of the changeover date, and check to see if you will be affected in advance.
For example, you might be required to self-assess for goods or services sold in advance
of the changeover date but delivered after. Also, this could affect the timing of invoicing for certain aspects of your business.