Invoice Mistake: Best Way Forward?

[tman]

I'm running a limited company and I've made a cock-up with my invoicing. I humbly ask for your advice. I'm sorry that my first post on this forum is of the form "I'm an idiot. Please help."...

I have just realised that last month I put a timesheet in to the client for 22 days of effort when it should have been only for 20 days (as a result of forgetting about Easter). The client signed this timesheet off, not realising my error. Having got my timesheet signed I then invoiced my agency for 22 days of effort, which they promptly paid. I have also recently paid my VAT online for the quarter ending 30th April (based on the invoices I raised in Feb, Mar and this erroneous April one).

Now that I have noticed the error, my question is: how do I square this best with (1) the client and agency and (2) The Vat Man. Here's my current thinking:

(1) With regard to my agency and client, the easiest way seems to be to speak with them and see if I can simply not bill for 2 days worked in May i.e. if I work 20 days in May, I'll only invoice for 18. Does this sound reasonable? Explaining this cock-up to them without making me/my company look incompetent seems like the harder part.

(2) With regard to the VAT side of things, If I can get the client and agency to agree to (1) above, is this actually a problem? I believe I've read several times on this forum that it's what's in the invoice that counts for VAT, not what is actually paid or not paid? Is that right?


Thanks again for any advice you can offer.
TM

[blacjac]

Sounds like the right way to go to me.


I wouldn't worry about looking daft, you won't look anywhere near as daft as the person that signed off your timesheet, and if that is whoyou plan to speak to they will probabally be very gratefull that that mistake won't be found out.

[greylady]

No!!! do it properly, refund the agent for over-charing (dont worry so much about timesheets)
and amend the next vat return to adjust for the differece.

Ideally ask Mr Accountant.

[Wanderer]

see if I can simply not bill for 2 days worked in May i.e. if I work 20 days in May, I'll only invoice for 18.

I've done it and rectified it as you suggest above as it deals with all the problems with minimum hassle. It's no biggie as there was obviously no malice on your part, just a simple mistake.

Don't bother mentioning it to the agency or the VAT man, they don't need to know because it's squared up the next month. It would pay to confirm via followup email with the person who signs your timesheet so there is no misunderstanding later on if someone notices that you claimed for two "extra" days.

And welcome to the forum, by the way!

[zedAccounts]

>(1) With regard to my agency and client, the easiest way seems to be to speak with them and see if I can simply not bill for 2 days worked in May i.e. if I work 20 days in May, I'll only invoice for 18. Does this sound reasonable? Explaining this cock-up to them without making me/my company look incompetent seems like the harder part.

That's what I would do. No need to mention it to the taxman.

ZED.

[Sally BFCA]

It's refreshing to know there are still some honest people around. I take my hat off to you

[d000hg]

No need to do anything with tax, if you do this... you are still paid according to the invoices you raise.

Should take about 2min to sort out "hey, I realised that I accidentally billed an additional 2 days last month since I forgot the Easter bank holidays. It's been paid already so I'll simply bill 2 days less this month, sorry for the screw-up"

[Vallah]

Yes, the deducting two days would probably be easiest all round. Otherwise the client and agency are going to have to start issuing credit notes etc, which gets messy. You also only have to notify VAT if you've made a mistake and the VAT amounts to £10K or more, which I'm guessing isn't the case. I echo the comments that say it's nice to see a bit of honesty. Most people would probably just keep quiet about the extra two days.

[Hex]

Yes, the deducting two days would probably be easiest all round. Otherwise the client and agency are going to have to start issuing credit notes etc, which gets messy. You also only have to notify VAT if you've made a mistake and the VAT amounts to £10K or more, which I'm guessing isn't the case. I echo the comments that say it's nice to see a bit of honesty. Most people would probably just keep quite about the extra two days.

I agree with the others on billing two days less next month. I would actually list the 20 days worked, but then give them 2 days credit from the previous invoice, netting out to 18 days to pay.

[Gonzo]

I'm sorry that my first post on this forum is of the form "I'm an idiot. Please help."...

I wouldn't worry. There are plenty of posters on here with hundreds, or even thousands, of posts all basically saying that they are an idiot.