Sales of Assets & Credit Charges: Codes 4200 & 4400

These two codes both sit in Sales but cover income that's out of the ordinary — money from selling something the business owned rather than made, and charges levied on customers who pay late.

The codes, and what each one holds

Code 4200 — Sales of Assets records proceeds from selling a fixed asset the business no longer needs, such as an old van or piece of equipment — distinct from ordinary trading income.

Code 4400 — Credit Charges (Late Payments) records interest or fixed charges levied on customers who pay their invoices late, as permitted under late payment legislation or the business's own terms. Both are Sales codes and normally carry a credit balance.

A worked example

Say a business sells an old delivery van for £3,000, and separately charges a persistently late-paying customer £45 in statutory late payment interest.

Sales of Assets (code 4200): £3,000 credited for the van sale (with the asset itself removed from Fixed Assets and any profit or loss on disposal calculated separately).

Credit Charges (code 4400): £45 credited for the late payment charge.

Why this matters day to day

Mixing asset disposal proceeds into ordinary trading sales would overstate genuine turnover and distort gross margin, since selling a used van isn't part of the core business activity. Keeping late payment charges in their own code likewise means the business can see clearly how much it's recovering from slow-paying customers, without that figure getting lost inside regular sales income.