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Time Travel?

Customs recently "named and shamed" a leading private healthcare company which had gone a little too far in a tax planning scheme. The scheme depended on spending some money before a particular date. Customs argued that it didn't work. When the case came before the Tribunal, it came to light that they hadn't even spent the money by the crucial date - the documents said they had, but these had been prepared later and backdated. The company immediately offered to pay the tax and interest, but Customs imposed a penalty under the criminal provisions of the VAT Act.

The point is that a backdated document is a forgery. You are allowed to record something as having happened, or having been agreed, on a previous date, but when you put a date on the document recording it, that date has to be "today". If you are trying to trigger a payment for VAT, the document has to be actually issued on a particular date, which was why the business was tempted to change the dates on the document.

Often, it doesn't seem to matter what date you put on a document, or that you are just completing a document that "really reflects what happened last week". But it's better to comply with the law, just in case there is an argument later.