Why are may unpaid invoices registering as income when they have not been paid by the customer yet? it means I am paying VAT on money not received

Thanks for joining us here on the Community, phoenixcc 🙂

Please check the accounting method selected within your settings by going to the Gear > Account & settings > Advanced > Accounting - on the accrual method, income will be accounted for on the transaction date, whereas on the cash method the income will be accounted for on the payment date. You can also check that the VAT accounting scheme matches this by going to Taxes > Edit VAT > Edit settings.