Should a lawyer issue invoices for the services performed?

Should a lawyer issue invoices for the

services performed?     

 

Question:

Hello, I would like to ask. As a lawyer appointed on a consultancy contract, should I issue invoices for the services rendered and for the agreed monthly remuneration? Am I ever obliged to issue invoices in this case? So far, I have not issued any invoices for remuneration since April 2014. until now. Can I do it now and send my 7 invoices to my client before April 30th to submit the tax return?

Answer:

 

Hello,

The question you have has several aspects,

First, you need to specify what document you need to certify your "deliveries" of consulting services.

According to Art. 4 (8) of Ordinance No. H-18/2006 (for reporting of sales through fiscal devices) is not obliged to register the sales of the person exercising a "liberal profession" within the meaning of § 1, item 29 of the additional provisions of the Personal Income Taxes Act (PITA).

Pursuant to Art. 9, para. 2 of the APIA, the taxable persons, who are not obliged to issue a receipt from a fiscal device, shall issue a document on their income from business activity, containing the requisites under Art. 7, para. 1 of ZSc. :

(1) (Amended, SG No. 96/2004, in force since 01.01.2005) The primary accounting document addressed to other enterprises or individuals shall contain at least the following information:

1. a name and a number containing only Arabic numerals;

2. date of issue;

3. (amend., SG 63/06, in force from 04.08.2006, supplemented - SG 105/06, in force from 01.01.2007) name, address and an identification number under Art. 84 of the Tax and Insurance Procedure Code of the Issuer and the Recipient;

4. object and value of the business operation;

There is no mandatory form of the primary accounting document in this case. It is sufficient to have these requisites. There is no impediment to adding other requisites at the discretion of the parties. )

Consequently, persons exercising the liberal profession of "lawyer" are obliged to issue an invoice or another document containing the requisites under Art. 7, para. 1 of ZSc. As the recipient of the service, in the reporting document should be mentioned the person - client, who is provided with legal assistance under the Law on Legal Aid.

Secondly, we need to specify when you must issue these documents.

Pursuant to Art. 25, para. (4) of the Value Added Tax Act, in the case of delivery with periodic, gradual or continuous performance, each period or stage for which payment is agreed is considered as a separate supply and the tax event arises on the date on which the payment has become due.

I suppose your consultancy contract is exactly the same, and you have a duty to issue a document at the end of each month.

What you can do right now is to issue such documents with dates when they should have been issued (at the end of each month of the contract) and pass them on to the company with which you have a contract to be able to include them as expenses for 2014 (when the consultancy service was actually provided.)

For your part, you must include in your annual tax return (until 30.04.2015) the amount of "received" remuneration in 2014 (and not those for which you have issued the documents)

I wish you good luck
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