Why would a customer ask for a receipt date...

[newuser]

to be different than what the actual date is? Someone asked if they could have it dated before the year 2015. Is this fraud related? Would they be able to dispute a purchase if their credit card draft and my store invoice had different dates?

[tallen]

Probably the want to claim the expense in the 2014 tax year, rather than in 2015.

[billbenson]

Probably just budget related. They wanted to spend 2014 budget money. I don't know if there are any legal issues in your predating the receipt. I doubt it though.

[nealrm]

Given that as of your posting date, it was not yet 2015 I will assume that they wanted it invoiced this year and not next year. That way it would count towards a 2014 budget. Since invoices typically predate payments, I don't see any reason for an issue with the credit card.

[newuser]

This person plans to make a purchase on an item in 2015 but wants the invoice to be dated as 2014.

[billbenson]

This person plans to make a purchase on an item in 2015 but wants the invoice to be dated as 2014.

That just says he's not 100% sure he is going to make the purchase. It doesn't change the fact that he most likely wants to use 2014 budget money.

I would have just pressured him for the order and invoice him in 2014. I just wouldn't have run the credit card or terms order and sent him the invoice without actually putting the order in with my supplier. If he never places the order I have no credit card refund penalties or restocking fees.

Now depending on company policy, he could be putting himself at risk of getting fired if he gets caught - which is unlikely.

I wouldn't worry about this though. Just put the date he wants on the order. In fact, write the order tonight so it is still 2014, just don't ship anything.

[Freelancier]

Would they be able to dispute a purchase if their credit card draft and my store invoice had different dates?I never pay my invoices the same day I get them, so that reason for a disputed charge seems like a reach.

[CreativeSolutionsTogether]

I never want to be part of changing my standards. If your standard process is to have an invoice date and a paid date then shows those and make them the accurate date. I would not change them as it could be budget related but depending on type of item or amount, could be more like a bigger tax write off and many other things. Any one asking for dates changed to a "fake date" is asking you to lie. I am the type of business owner if I lose you because I won't lie for you then you problay are not someone I want to be working with in the future. To each their own though.

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[Freelancier]

I had a customer ask me once to bill him at the end of December for $150K for work not yet to be done. Just because he wanted it to drain this year's budget. I had no real problem with it other than the amount was absurd compared to what I was doing for him. So we figured out another way to make it work.

The bottom line is that you do indeed have to make a decision: is this a service the customer expects and can you provide it to keep them satisfied? Just as I tell my customer that my last invoice of the year can be paid either after Christmas or in the first half of January, depending on which year they want to expense it, I have no issue adjusting invoice dates to reflect the date the customer wants to record it, provided it's not going forward or backward too far and throwing off MY accounting records.

[newuser]

I'm sorry, I misspoke. I call invoices and receipts the same thing. What I meant was, a random customer comes into my store and purchases an item with a credit card. They're requesting I set the date for 2014 instead of 2015 on their receipt. The dates would be different from the store receipt and the credit card receipt and that could cause problems for me in case of a chargeback. I've decided not to do it. It screws with my book keeping.

[Freelancier]

Ok, now that you're clearer, yes, a credit card transaction receipt is a legal document in the eyes of the credit card company. You don't mess with that. But it's less of a problem to manipulate your own receipt as long as the date of payment is the same as the matching credit card receipt. In other words, I order something online, the date of the order is one date, the date of charge is another, and the date of shipping is yet another (which should also be the date when the charge is put in, but sometimes it's not), and the date I submit the expense to my company is yet another... so which is the "date" as it pertains to the expense? From my company's perspective, it's usually the date I submit it for reimbursement, not the date it incurred. From my personal perspective, it's the date I get the credit card statement (or maybe the date of shipment, since that often starts the clock for returns).

So you can see there's a bit of flexibility in the system as it relates to the date of a transaction.

Anyway, you solved the issue in your way and congrats for doing that.

[Adel Landman Steyn]

My first guess is tax fraud. If it was the other way around, I would be guessing liquidity issues.
The thing is, they want to make their expenses more for the previous financial year. Accounting and tax for the most part, works on the principle that the creditor was established on the date of delivery.
Even though they are using a "credit" card to pay, the obligation to you did not necessarily arise on the same day as the date on their credit card statement. The date on their credit card statement, is only the date that they transferred your obligation to you by creating a new obligation with their credit card company. The person could have paid you with a "debit" card or EFT as well. This does not mean that you did not sell the goods on terms.
The question now becomes, do you even offer terms to any of your customers? If you deliver strictly COD, then yes, if it was picked up in a sample when their financials are audited, that could probably lead to a few questions.
I don't recommend changing the date of actual delivery to something it is not, but this is probably something they should be more worried about than you...