# Document dates

Source: https://developer.avalara.com/avatax-dm-combined-erp/sales-tax-badge/transactions/simple-transactions/document-dates/

# Document dates

The `date` field indicates the calendar day on which the transaction occurred. Note that transactions are calculated by the calendar day and are not affected by time zones. Whatever the calendar day is locally when you create the transaction, tax will be calculated as of the tax laws in effect on that calendar day.

This field is required because the date value is essential to correctly determine the tax rules for a transaction and because it is easy to mis-interpret calendar days when a transaction occurs close to a time zone boundary.  

**Advice:** If you want to use a different date to calculate tax rates, you can specify a `taxOverride` of type `taxDate`.

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