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Accounting needs revenue and the matching costs in the same period, whatever the dates of invoicing and payment. Nocotax keeps three dates for that purpose.

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The three dates

document_date is the day you finalize the invoice (in the timezone of the supplier). It cannot be set through the API. If you finalize on January 3 an invoice for a service delivered in December, document_date is January 3. Reports attribute a line to the accounting period of its period when it is set, and to document_date otherwise. Always providing period therefore decouples accounting from your integration’s timing.

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Fill period on every line

Lines inherit the period of the document when they do not set their own. On purchase invoices that aggregate several orders, set it on each line. Send ISO 8601 timestamps, for example 2025-12-15T00:00:00Z.

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What this gives you

  • Monthly accounts: revenue and the corresponding supplier costs fall in the same month, even if the purchase invoice is issued or paid later.
  • Year-end cut-off: December services invoiced or paid in January are identified by an accounting period of December and a document_date or paid_at in January. See Reconciliation and close.
  • Margin per order: both sides of an order are in the same period.

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VAT

The accounting period is not the VAT period. Tax is calculated and reported by Nocotax from the tax data of the documents. Do not use period to move a transaction from one VAT return to another.

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Rules of thumb

  • Finalize invoices promptly, so that document_date stays close to the service date.
  • Never edit a finalized invoice. Correct it with a credit note that repeats the original period: see Refunds and cancellations.
  • Record payments and payouts on the day they happen: the payment date is the date of recording.