What Is an Accounting Invoice?

Invoice refers to the business vouchers issued and received by all units and individuals in the purchase and sale of goods, the provision or acceptance of services, and other business activities. It is the original basis of accounting and an important basis for law enforcement inspection by audit institutions and tax authorities. The receipt is the receipt and payment voucher. The invoice can only prove that the business has taken place and cannot prove whether the payment was received or not.

Invoices have extremely important significance and role in China's social and economic activities.

1. Invoices have the characteristics of legality, authenticity, uniformity, and timeliness, and are the most basic accounting

At present, the authorities that are entitled to collect taxes and fees have fiscal,

The tax authority is the competent authority in charge of invoices. It manages and supervises the printing, receipt, issuance, acquisition, storage, and cancellation of invoices.

Units and individuals shall issue, use, and obtain invoices in accordance with regulations when purchasing and selling commodities, providing or receiving business services, and engaging in other business activities. ^[1]

Invoices generally include: ticket header, track number, link time and purpose, customer name, bank account number, business (product) name or business item, unit of measure, quantity,

In general, there are three basic copies of VAT invoices, and the uses specified by each couple are as follows:

Issuing of ordinary invoices

1. When selling goods, providing services, or engaging in other business activities to collect external payments, an invoice should be issued to the payer. In special cases, the payer will issue an invoice to the payee;

2. The invoice shall be issued in accordance with the prescribed time limit, sequence, column by column, and all at once, and shall be stamped with the unit.

Generally, the number of invoices initially received by enterprises is 25. If they are not enough, they can apply for increments or editions.

Incremental: It is suitable for companies with a small amount but a large amount of invoices, such as small shops.

Addition: Applicable to enterprises with high customer unit prices. These enterprises are characterized by large amounts of money, but relatively small invoices.

Purchase and Invoice Procedure

All taxpayers who pay business tax will go to the local competent local tax authority's invoice sales window at the same time as they complete the tax registration, and obtain the invoice receipt and purchase book to purchase invoices in accordance with the operating items. The taxpayer who purchases the invoice again needs to check the old purchase and new one according to the invoice stub of the last purchase. Taxpayers who have registered for suspension, cancellation, and relocation shall take the used invoice stubs and unused ordinary invoices to the invoice sales window of the competent local tax authority for invoice inspection and payment procedures.

Special VAT invoices are printed by enterprises designated by the tax authority of the State Council; other invoices are issued by provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in accordance with the regulations of the tax authority of the State Council.

Invoice approval is uniformly supervised by the State Administration of Taxation and issued by the provincial tax authority. Tax authorities should supervise and manage invoice printing enterprises. Those who do not meet the requirements should be disqualified from printing invoices. The State Administration of Taxation has determined that the provincial tax authorities can increase the anti-counterfeiting measures for invoices in their region as required and file them with the State Administration of Taxation; the anti-counterfeiting special products for invoices shall be kept in a special library in accordance with regulations and shall not be lost. Defective products and waste products shall be centrally destroyed under the supervision of tax authorities;

Establish a chapter and establish a system; set up a ledger; keep it on a regular basis. The issued invoice stubs and the invoice register and account book should be kept for 5 years. After the expiration of the preservation period, it should be destroyed after being inspected by the national tax authority. The special value-added tax invoices shall be kept by a special person; placed in a safe; the receipt, use, and registration registers shall be set up; the obtained invoices shall be deducted and bound into a booklet; the issued stubs shall be kept for 5 years, and shall be reported to the competent tax authority for inspection upon expiration Destroy; without approval, blank invoices cannot be carried, mailed, or transported across prescribed areas;

Because of the value-added tax inland, the uniform invoice of the tax bureau is used, while the others use the receipt printed by the finance bureau as the unit for accounting and reimbursement. Hong Kong does not have a VAT requirement, so it is not the same as inland. Hong Kong does not have an invoice in the inland written sense. Because other than the government controlled goods, other goods are not taxed.

An invoice in Hong Kong is more like a small ticket. It has no effect of redemption, and is rarely suspected of counterfeiting. There is no uniform text description. Even the Chinese characters of "invoice" are very strenuous. In other words, it may be a piece of paper that is casually inconspicuous. ^[4]

However, shopping in Hong Kong has the same invoice as the invoice. The invoices obtained in Hong Kong are usually invoices, which can be used as accounting vouchers, which are generally not much different from receipts, which is different from the inland situation. Hong Kong invoices can be printed by enterprises or groups, or printed by a computer. For example, a company uses a computer to print a document and writes the invoice or the word invoice in the header. It is already a regular invoice, but it must have a company cover. Stamp and signature stamp.

Hong Kong credentials can be accounted for in the same way as inland, but must first be provided with passports (or Hong Kong and Macau Passes) and travel certificates. If the company has a Hong Kong dollar account, it can be directly entered into the Hong Kong dollar account and converted into RMB accounting at the end of the month. If it does not, it will be converted into RMB based on the mid-price of the bank at that time.