Credit memo procedure
The credit memo procedure is a special type of billing for deliveries and services between a customer and his creditor ( goods or service supplier ), whereby the decisive factor is that the billing burden is not borne by the supplier, but by the customer himself.
Basics of the credit memo process
Invoicing in the credit memo procedure is not carried out by the supplier, as is usually the case, by means of a debtor invoice that is sent to the customer concerned, but in the case the other way round, by his customer by creating a billing document ( credit memo ) and sending it to the vendor. This credit note from the customer thus replaces the supplier's invoice in terms of billing (Section 14 (2) sentence 3 UStG ).
Automatic billing using the credit note procedure
The billing process is carried out by the customer's accounts payable department and is usually based on a largely system-supported check of the goods delivered or the service provided, the receipt or receipt of which is usually confirmed by a goods receipt posting in an ERP system . The purchasing documents ( purchase orders ) generated for the credit memo procedure and the vendor master records affected by them are identified as such in the ERP system using special indicators. Using these indicators, the relevant purchase orders and the accounts payable accounts are selected in a billing program (billing run) and their open (not yet billed) goods receipts billed. The billing amount is calculated automatically by multiplying the delivery quantity with the current price from the respective order. Depending on the modalities of the respective ERP system, the accounting programs for the credit note procedure can be started manually or automatically according to the criteria and defined time cycles defined in advance.
Credit note
As a result of the automatic settlement in the credit memo procedure, a credit memo is created (posted) to the vendor in the form of a liability (credit) on the vendor account concerned . A credit note (replacement for a vendor invoice) is generated in paper or electronic form as a document as evidence. The credit note reflects all the details of a statement such as B. Quantity, type, price of a product or service and essentially contains all data of the order as well as the identification of the corresponding VAT amount. Instead of the order quantity, the actual quantity of goods received is shown. Incidentally, a credit note fulfills all of the mandatory information on an invoice . Since the credit advice replaces a vendor invoice, it is kept in an archive in accordance with the statutory retention periods for an invoice. Depending on the configuration of the ERP system, the credit advice can be automatically stored as a document in an electronic archive and linked to the posting made during settlement on the relevant vendor account. This billing document can therefore be displayed on the screen as an image document at any time via the vendor item in the ERP system or, if necessary, also printed out.
Notification of the supplier / vendor
The credit advice is sent to the vendor immediately after creation, depending on the agreement, by post, fax or e-mail with the request for the identical posting. Sending the credit advice electronically is permitted. The service recipient must provide the credit note with at least a qualified electronic signature (Section 14 (3) No. 2 UStG ).
Payment by credit note
The posting documents posted are treated in the same way as incoming invoices from a vendor. Payment is made on the basis of the payment terms stored in the order concerned .
Automatic revaluation
In the event of an unpredictable change in the price of materials, for example in the case of exchange-dependent prices for certain raw materials , the credit memo procedure offers the option of revaluing the value of incoming goods postings that have already been recorded and may have been valued at an incorrect price, in order to create a basis for the resulting accounting corrections.
These accounting correction postings are usually carried out automatically by means of a special correction program in an ERP system, in which the program searches all relevant purchasing documents for price changes within a certain period of time according to the specifications defined in advance and the corresponding correction postings for the resulting price differences (subsequent debit or credit) recorded. The associated correction documents are also generated in the same way as the credit note. These correction documents, the name of which can vary depending on the ERP system used ( debit advice , booking advice, etc.), are also sent to the vendor and archived internally, as are the credit advice.
Agreement on the credit note procedure
For reasons of legal certainty, it is necessary that the business partners have a definitive agreement that the service provider transfers the billing burden to the service recipient as part of an individual agreement.
Due to the transfer of the billing burden from the supplier to the customer, the agreement, which is usually made in writing, between the two companies concerned is therefore a prerequisite for participation in the credit note procedure. The supplier undertakes not to send any more invoices to the customer concerned from the validity date of the credit note procedure. For his part, the customer undertakes to carry out the billing in the agreed time cycles and to ensure that the credit notes are sent promptly.
application areas
The credit note procedure is based on mutual trust between the two business partners and therefore usually requires the intention of a long-term partnership. The range of applications can be relatively broad. Because of its complexity, the credit note procedure is mostly used in high-turnover goods stores such as B. raw material procurement as well as the regular purchase of a service such. B. used by a shipping company. In addition, the credit memo procedure can also be well suited for settling withdrawals from a consignment warehouse .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Letter from the BMF, January 2004, implementation of Directive 2001/115 / EC . www.bundesfinanzministerium.de. Accessed on June 23, 2009. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
