Invoicing for expenses paid in Euro's

[Digitalfm]

Following a client trip abroad last week i need to invoice the client for expenses.

I paid for several taxi trips and paid by card so the amount hasn't hit my bank account yet and may not for some weeks.

However i want to invoice all expenses this week so does anyone know what do do about invoicing an amount that was paid in euro's. Do you simply apply the days exchange rate and convert to GBP?

Are the any rules that should be applied.

Many thanks

[SueEllen]

If you have online banking or if you used a credit card and have online access, then you should be able to see the conversion rate the bank/credit card company used within 3 days. (Credit card online access can be set up within a couple of hours.)

I personally would wait until you got through the transaction charges for the card rather than use the rates you can find online as the majority of card issuers charge extra on top of the visa/mastercard exchange rates, which depending on the amount of expenses could leave you out of pocket a little or a lot.

If you insist on using the exchange rates then you could use:
1. HMRC period rates
2. The tourist rate found in a national newspaper

Edited to say - 3 days equals 3 working days though lots of banks/credit card companies do it quicker particularly if you were travelling in the EU.

[Wanderer]

i want to invoice all expenses this week so does anyone know what do do about invoicing an amount that was paid in euro's. Do you simply apply the days exchange rate and convert to GBP?

It's much cleaner if you can get the actual Stirling transaction details from the bank If it's paid directly from your company account then the transactions match up properly too rather than being slightly off. Like SueEllen says, surely you can go onto the online banking and check?

For cash expenses I would check the actual cost of obtaining the foreign currency (keep your receipt) and use that as an exchange rate. So if you use a Bureau de Rip-off in the airport and £100 pounds buys you €105 then the the exchange rate to use is €1.05 to the £.

[Digitalfm]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

The reason it will take a while is the payment was taken using one of the old carbon machines. You know, the one that slides over the card and back and puts the details on the carbon receipt.

Last time i did this it took 2 weeks to come through as it depends on when the person submits the receipt.

I cant split the invoice and don't want to wait potentially a few weeks as i'm owed almost £500 in total.

[SueEllen]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

The reason it will take a while is the payment was taken using one of the old carbon machines. You know, the one that slides over the card and back and puts the details on the carbon receipt.

Last time i did this it took 2 weeks to come through as it depends on when the person submits the receipt.

I cant split the invoice and don't want to wait potentially a few weeks as i'm owed almost £500 in total.

If the company are good for the money then it's better to wait the 2 weeks then having issues with reconciling your books due to currency fluctuations.

[Wanderer]

If the company are good for the money then it's better to wait the 2 weeks then having issues with reconciling your books due to currency fluctuations.

If you wanted to get the expenses claim in straight away (and there may be good reasons to do this) then I guess you could always account for the difference in the actual amounts as profit (loss) on currency conversions.

But yeah, I'd probably lean towards waiting 2 weeks so I could use the correct amounts and keep it simples.