If I send a pro-forma out and it gets paid then am I right in thinking that all I have to do is then send a receipt? I have done it this way for a long time but now someone is asking for a vat invoice, and I think they have everything they need with the pro-forma and receipt, so now I am beginning to doubt myself. Could someone please tell me if I am right or wrong.
I've always been under the impression that a pro-forma is just a bit of paper asking for money, and that a VAT invoice needs to be issued on payment. The whole point of a pro-forma is that it's not a VAT invoice, so you don't have to account for VAT unless the customer pays.
That is exactly the way I have always seen it, request money through pro-forma and then give a receipt when it is paid, just like any non-account customer. I think the issue is that they are an account customer but for some reason they did the deal off account but expect it to be treated as an account purchase and therefore come with a vat invoice rather than a vat receipt.
I do my pro-formas on excel then give them a receipt also done on excel and post the payment manually. I'm not overly sure sage instant has a pro-forma utility, but I will have a look :)
Sage Line 50 has a Pro-forma facility, I would think Sage Instant has one too. I create the Invoice as a Pro-forma in Sage, which should have written on it....."This is Not a VAT Invoice". The customer cannot claim the VAT until they have paid you and receive a proper VAT invoice. Sage will not let you post the Pro-forma to the ledgers, not until you have converted it to an Invoice.
