Pastel - Accounting for Layby

[JacquesN]

Good day

Today I got an interesting query from a franchise regarding Pastel.

Can anyone tell me how one would account for a Layby in Pastel?

Basically, the business would have customers that come in, decide to purchase something and then start making payments over the course of 3 to 6 months.

Then, only after paying in full, they will receive the goods.

What would your suggestions be for processing this transaction considering:
- VAT implications
- IFRS implications

Thank you

[Mulenga]

Hi JacquesN,

I believe accounting for this simple. Just create a customer account for the customer. Whenever the customer makes an advance instalment, debit the cashbook and credit the paying customer's account. This will result in a liability on your part. Then, when the customer fully pays and is given the goods, that is when you can recognise revenue by invoicing the customer. This will credit your revenue account and debit the customer account to clear the liability on the customer account. You will then have to pay output VAT based on the sales invoice in the month when the invoice is created. IFRS rule is basically that revenue should only be recognised when control over the goods is passed to the customer.

[acheronia]

The date the VAT is liable would depend if they're on a payment or invoicing basis. Most companies are on invoicing, but in the event that they're payment based, the VAT would be taken on the date the payments are received.

The rest is exactly as Mulenga explained.

[JacquesN]

Thanks for theh advice.

I had a similar idea as Mulenga, as this would be the correct way to process from a financial point of view.

The VAT was the only tricky thing to account for because as you mentioned acheronia, it depends on payment/invoice basis. I think in this case it would be best to give the particular party some training on accounting for the VAT manually seeing as the goods are only invoiced out once the full amount has been received which may only be 6 months down the line.