What it does

Which accounting software does it work with?

Receipt Capture works with clients connected to:

Xero
QuickBooks Online
MYOB
FreeAgent

The client needs to be connected to XBert and have finished its first sync, because Receipt Capture reads their accounts, tax rates and contacts to code each receipt.

Clients on other accounting software, or with no connected ledger (such as Workflow AI or workflow-only clients), can't use it.

Some features only work with Xero at the moment: publishing sales invoices, and publishing bills and sales invoices as Approved. Tracking is sent to Xero, and to MYOB as its Category and Job, but not to QuickBooks Online or FreeAgent.

What does Receipt Capture do?

It reads the documents your clients receive, from receipts and supplier bills to sales documents like RCTIs and account sales. It works out who the document is from, the dates, totals, tax and lines, and predicts the coding based on how that client's ledger has been coded before. Your team checks it, then it's published, and XBert creates a bill, expense or sales invoice in the client's accounting software.

👉 Read more here: Overview: XBert Receipt Capture

Does it pick up the receipt date and due date?

Yes. XBert reads both dates from the document. If a bill has no due date printed, XBert works one out as below, but check the due date on a sales invoice before you publish, because XBert may leave it blank:

if the receipt shows it was paid on the day it was issued (for example a PAID stamp or card payment details), the due date is set to the invoice date;
otherwise, if the receipt shows the supplier's tax number, XBert works out the due date from that supplier's payment terms.

If neither applies, the due date is left blank.

You can change the Date and Due Date before you publish. Due Date is for bills and sales invoices, not expenses, and a bill or sales invoice published to Xero as Approved must have one.

👉 Read more here: How To: Edit Receipt Details Before Publishing

What's the difference between Receipt Capture and XBert Capture?

Receipt Capture is your workspace inside XBert, where receipts are read, checked and published.
XBert Capture is a separate app for sending receipts to XBert, on a phone or in a browser. Your clients need to be invited as Capture users before they can use it. Anyone on your team can sign in with the email address they use for XBert, without an invitation.

They're switched on separately.

👉 Read more here: Overview: XBert Capture

👉 Read more here: How To: Invite Clients and Manage Capture Users

How do receipts get in?

You upload them in XBert, someone emails them to the client's receipt email address, or your client sends them from the XBert Capture app. Emailed receipts always arrive as bills, and the XBert Capture app sends bills and expenses but not sales invoices, so a sales invoice is uploaded in XBert or switched from a bill. Receipt Capture doesn't fetch documents from banks or suppliers on its own.

👉 Read more here: How To: Send Receipts to XBert

Where do receipts show up, and where do I work on them?

There are two places, and they do different jobs.

The Receipt Capture page is your overview. It lists every receipt sent in for your clients, however it arrived, so you can see at a glance where each one is up to: whether XBert has read it, where its work item has got to, and whether it's been published. Use it to keep an eye on everything coming in, or to find a particular receipt.
Your work list is where the work happens. Once XBert has read a receipt, it becomes a Receipt Capture work item on your work list, alongside everything else your team does day to day. It's assigned and given a due date like any other job, so checking and publishing receipts becomes part of your normal routine, not a separate queue to remember.

What do Stage and Status mean on the Receipt Capture page?

Stage shows how far XBert has got reading the receipt, for example Queued, Processing or Processed.
Status shows where its work item is up to, using your firm's own work item statuses.

👉 Read more here: How To: Read the Receipt Capture List

What can it create in the ledger?

Every receipt becomes one of three things: a bill if it's still to be paid, an expense if it's already been paid, or a sales invoice if it's income your client is receiving, such as an RCTI or an account sale. What that looks like depends on the client's accounting software:

Accounting software	A sales invoice becomes	A bill becomes	An expense becomes	Receipt attached?
Xero	A sales invoice, as Draft (the default) or Approved	A bill, as Draft (the default) or Approved	A Spend Money transaction	✅ Yes
QuickBooks	Not available	An open, unpaid bill	An expense	✅ Yes
MYOB	Not available	An open Service bill, live in MYOB as soon as it's published	A Spend Money transaction	✅ Yes
FreeAgent	Not available	A live bill	An explained bank transaction	✅ Yes *

* FreeAgent only takes one attachment, sent along with the bill or expense itself (sales invoices aren't available on FreeAgent). XBert sends the first file in the list, and any supporting documents don't make it to FreeAgent.

💡 Some things only work with Xero

Sales invoices, and Approved bills and sales invoices: sales invoices can only be published for Xero clients, and choosing Draft or Approved only works for Xero clients. On other software, bills are created ready to pay, and sales invoices aren't available.
Tracking categories: sent to Xero, and to MYOB as its Category and Job, but not to QuickBooks Online or FreeAgent.
FreeAgent expenses: an expense uses the first line of the receipt only, so a receipt with several lines becomes a single line.

Can it handle sales invoices?

Yes, for Xero clients. Receipt Capture can publish sales documents your client receives, such as RCTIs from a buyer and account sales from an agent, to Xero as sales invoices, alongside bills and expenses. Invoices your client writes for their own customers are still created in Xero as usual.

Which regions is it available in?

Receipt Capture is available to every XBert firm, in every region. There are no country limits. The client needs to be on supported accounting software and connected to XBert.

Can it handle receipts in a different currency?

XBert reads the currency from each receipt. Receipts in your client's own currency work on every supported accounting software.

For receipts in a foreign currency:

Xero bills are sent with the receipt's currency, and Xero converts them at its own exchange rate. Your client's Xero plan needs multi-currency switched on, or Xero rejects the bill.
Everything else (Xero expenses, Xero sales invoices, and receipts for QuickBooks, MYOB and FreeAgent): check the amount and currency carefully before you publish.

💡 Keeping foreign-currency receipts out of a publish rule

If you use a Publish with XBert rule, add the condition Currency equals your client's currency. Foreign-currency receipts then wait for your team to check them, and XBert won't publish them for you.

How does it handle GST, VAT and sales tax?

XBert predicts the tax rate for each line from the tax rates set up in your client's own accounting software, so it only uses rates that exist in their file.

When it publishes, XBert also checks the supplier's tax registration against the official register in Australia (ABN), the UK (VAT) and New Zealand (GST). In other countries this check isn't available, and the work item tells you the supplier's registration hasn't been verified. No action is needed.

For a sales invoice, XBert doesn't check the buyer's or agent's registration, because the GST depends on your client's own registration, not theirs. The work item says so, and no action is needed.

If an Australian supplier has no ABN on the receipt, publishing stops at Validate tax registration with Action Required. Check the receipt for an ABN, then click Resume to carry on.

What it doesn't do

Does publishing reconcile the bank feed?

No. XBert creates the bill, Spend Money transaction or sales invoice and attaches the receipt to it. Matching it against the bank feed is still done in your accounting software, the same way you do it now.

It does check for duplicates before publishing, including Spend Money and Receive Money that's already been reconciled.

See Will it catch a receipt that's already in the ledger? below.

Will XBert publish anything without me?

Only if you tell it to. By default, a receipt becomes a transaction only when someone on your team clicks Publish.

If you set up a Publish with XBert rule, XBert publishes the bills and expenses that match it, but never sales invoices, for example "Coles receipts under $500 for these clients". It runs the same checks as the Publish button. It stops and leaves the receipt for you if it finds a possible duplicate, or would need to create a new contact. Everything it does is recorded on the work item.

There's no button to tick several receipts and publish them together. To publish a batch of bills or expenses, set up a Publish with XBert rule and choose Update all existing and future XBerts, but sales invoices can't be published this way, so each one is published from its own work item.

Will it catch a receipt that's already in the ledger?

When you publish, XBert checks the client's accounting software for the same transaction, whether or not it's been reconciled:

Bills	Expenses	Sales Invoices
An existing bill with the same supplier, date and amount, or with the same invoice number and supplier and either the same date or the same amount. It also checks expenses (Spend Money) from the same supplier for the same amount, dated from the day before to a week after the bill. Invoice numbers aren't needed for this.	an existing expense with the same supplier, date and amount. The date has to match exactly.	an existing sales invoice with the same customer, date and amount, or with the same reference and customer and either the same date or the same amount. It also checks Receive Money transactions from the same customer for the same amount, dated from the day before to a week after the sales invoice.

Amounts count as the same if they're within 1 cent, and XBert looks back over the last 12 months.
If XBert finds a possible duplicate, publishing pauses so you can check before carrying on.
If the transaction was entered with a different amount, or a date outside these ranges, XBert may not be able to tell it's a duplicate.
A corrected sales invoice with the same reference but a different amount may not be caught if the original was published recently, so check Xero for the reference first.

👉 Read more here: How To: Publish a Receipt

Can it handle credit notes?

No. Receipt Capture creates bills, expenses and sales invoices, but not credit notes, so enter credit notes in the ledger as you do now.

If a bill's total is negative, publishing pauses with a warning that it may be a credit note, and if you resume, it's published as a bill, but a sales invoice with a negative total is held and can't be published, because Xero doesn't accept a negative sales invoice.

Can it handle supplier statements?

No. It reads a document and creates a transaction from it. Matching a statement against bills already in the ledger is a different job.

It also doesn't list invoices missing from a statement. If a statement comes in, check it at review so it isn't entered as a bill.

Is it a place to store all our documents?

No. Each receipt stays with its work item. If you delete the work item, the receipt goes with it. There's no separate document library.

It doesn't send copies to SharePoint, Google Drive or other storage. The receipt is attached to the transaction in your client's accounting software.

Does it check or update the supplier's bank details?

Not when the receipt arrives. Once the bill syncs back from the ledger, the Contact Bank Account Different From Attachment XBert can flag it if the bank details on the receipt don't match the supplier's contact. Publishing never changes a supplier's bank details.

Can it set inventory items?

No. Receipt Capture codes each line to an account, tax rate and tracking category, but can't set an inventory item. Add it in your accounting software after publishing if you need it.

Setting it up

Is there a fee per client for Receipt Capture?

No, there's no extra fee. Receipt Capture is included in each connected client's plan, so you can switch it on for every client with a connected ledger, with no add-on to buy.

Do I need admin access?

Only for the settings. An admin has to switch Receipt Capture on for a client and set up things like payment methods and blocked senders. After that, anyone on your team can add receipts, check them and publish them.

Do I have to turn it on for every client?

Yes. It has to be switched on client by client, and receipts can't arrive for a client who isn't switched on.

You don't have to do them one at a time: Bulk Actions switches on as many clients as you pick in one go.

👉 Read more here: How To: Turn On Receipt Capture for Your Clients

Why is the toggle greyed out for a client?

Usually because they aren't connected to their accounting software yet, or they're still syncing after being connected. Receipt Capture reads a client's accounts, tax rates, contacts and bank accounts to code a receipt, so it waits for that.

I've just started. Why can't I see Receipt Capture in the left menu?

Receipt Capture doesn't show in the left menu until it's switched on for at least one client.

To get started, an admin user goes to Settings > Receipt Capture and switches it on for a client. Receipt Capture then appears in the left menu for everyone in your firm.

👉 Read more here: How To: Turn On Receipt Capture for Your Clients

Why does it say Beta?

Receipt Capture is available to every firm. The Beta label stays while we keep refining it with feedback from our users.

Can we use Receipt Capture for our own practice's books?

Yes. Add your practice's own file as a client in XBert, the same way as any other client, then switch Receipt Capture on for it.

Do I need to invite myself as a separate user to XBert Capture app?

No. Anyone who's a user in your firm's XBert account can sign in to XBert Capture with the email address they use for XBert. Invitations are only for people outside your firm, such as your clients.

👉 Read more here: How To: Sign In to XBert Capture

After you publish

What happens to the original receipt?

It's attached to the transaction XBert creates, so the paperwork sits with the record.

Can I change a receipt after it's been published?

Not in XBert. Once it's published, the Edit button goes. Make the change on the transaction in your accounting software instead.

If I delete a published receipt, does it disappear from the ledger too?

No. Deleting removes it from XBert, along with its work item and your client's copy in the app, but the transaction stays where it is. You'd need to delete that separately.

👉 Read more here: How To: Delete a Captured Receipt

XBert keeps coding a supplier the wrong way. Can I stop it?

Yes, for bills and expenses, but not sales invoices. Add a memory for that supplier and XBert takes it into account next time, instead of you making the same correction on every receipt. Memories don't work for sales invoices, because they're saved against suppliers for coding costs and a sales invoice is income from a customer.

Need help?

If you have any questions, our support team is here to help!

Reach out via the chat widget on the bottom left of your XBert screen (Help), or email us at support@xbert.io

FAQs: XBert Receipt Capture