Which year to book hardware

[ContractorBanking]

Ordered computer hardware online on 29th Dec, order acknowledgement received immediately.

However, payment was actually taken on 1st Jan and delivered today. VAT invoice shows 1st Jan. My credit card (although pending) shows date as 29th Jan.

For the purposes of accounting (my year-end is 31st Dec), should the hardware be declared in 2017 accounts or 2018?

And for VAT purposes, I'm on standard-rate VAT using cash accounting - does this mean I should book the VAT in Q1 2018 rather than Q4 2017?

thanks

[zonkkk]

I just looked at this myself. My understanding is you need to record the purchase on the date the money leaves your bank account. I don't know if buying it using a credit card makes any difference or not.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

For VAT it would be when the payment is made, so January - being pedantic I would suggest the date of the debit to card, rather than the date of the card being paid off.

For Corporation Tax and Capital Allowances, its the date of the commitment to purchase, so the order date, i.e. December.

You or your accountant will need to accrue it.