Legislative updates, changes in the types of taxes or the revision of the contractual terms of certain agreements may require us to confirm the date of accrual. This point in time will mark a before and after, which may mean paying more or less, benefiting from some kind of advantage or not, or having certain rights and obligations modified.
All these assumptions reveal the importance of knowing the accrual date.
The accrual date is a time agreed between two parties for an obligation to be fulfilled.. Generally, the date of accrual is the day on which the user of a service benefits from it or, in the case of the purchaser of a good, the day on which the good is made available to him.
Many times, the question on the date of chargeability is related to the crediting of VAT. In this case, the point in time to be considered in determining the percentage at which a transaction will be taxed is the day on which the transaction took place.
The accrual date and the payment date are different., The first indicates the day on which an obligation arises, which has its origin in a binding agreement between the parties; and the second is probably related to the date of invoicing, since, without the invoice document, the person who has enjoyed a service or acquired a good does not know how much he owes.
For the same reason, In addition, the date of accrual and the date of invoicing need not coincide, although they do in the case of consecutive services., This is the case for gas, electricity or internet supplies, for example, where, for management reasons, they are considered to coincide in time.
In practice, a person renting a flat on the beach during the first half of June may receive the invoice for the rent the following month. However, the date of accrual will be 15 June, the day on which the person's stay in the holiday home ended after two weeks of enjoyment of the property.
This difference in days can lead to greater complexity in the management of the administration, which sees that the date of accrual is marked on certain days, and with it the obligations of consumers.; The information they receive from companies can be delayed by weeks because the invoice is counted on the basis of its date of issue, which is usually in arrears.
In any case, When in doubt, it is always advisable to refer to the provisions of the Law and to the clarifications, sometimes with examples, that the Tax Agency publishes on its web site, such as:
Are you already clear on the concept of the accrual date?
