Xero - tips and tricks

[Exfarmer]

How do I put a balancing figure in to the books so this next quarters figures match my VAT workbook?
Signed up for Xero digital and cannot yet get the figures aligned whatever I do.
I am over £300 out between the Xero figure and the actual, would rather not lose the money.
Thought I would just generate an invoice to HMRC in Xero but it will not allow a purely Vat invoice.
The issue is from before starting my digital accounts as my Accounting year and VAT year do not match and the crunch is coming in June of course.
Do I just make an adjustment on the form, there is a box I know?

 

[upnortheast]

Dreading it???

Once you get the hang of it, it`s a doddle

 

[upnortheast]

How do I put a balancing figure in to the books so this next quarters figures match my VAT workbook?
Signed up for Xero digital and cannot yet get the figures aligned whatever I do.
I am over £300 out between the Xero figure and the actual, would rather not lose the money.
Thought I would just generate an invoice to HMRC in Xero but it will not allow a purely Vat invoice.
The issue is from before starting my digital accounts as my Accounting year and VAT year do not match and the crunch is coming in June of course.
Do I just make an adjustment on the form, there is a box I know?

Is that £300 VAT you are wrong ?

 

[chickens and wheat]

i had to set the start balance correctly , i messed it up initally as i did a hurried set up for the free trial, in the end it was easier to stat from scratch when i got into it properly

 

[Exfarmer]

i had to set the start balance correctly , i messed it up initally as i did a hurried set up for the free trial, in the end it was easier to stat from scratch when i got into it properly

Made a huge mistake, downloaded the trial ands spent Christmas practicing, then signed up and carried on. Absolutely should have started from scratch again as it has a maze of little errors in it , which have carried through.
In my ignorance I thought these could be deleted, but it seems it carries a memory of everything you do.
I can happily justify everything just would hate to lose that £300

 

[Exfarmer]

Is that £300 VAT you are wrong ?

Yes actually £327.76 of VAT to reclaim

 

[Boysground]

You can do a vat only transaction. @Exfarmer it’s a total work round for you and possibly not the best way to do it but,
Bear in mind I’m not near a calculator

Create a bill for whatever is needed to get to your £300 vat to be reclaimed on the 1st line 20% vat) Second line is for a “refund” of this figure but at 0% vat. Xero should then just claim the VAT of £300.

This method is handy for vat portion of hp finance bills

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[Scots_Knight]

Dreading it???

Once you get the hang of it, it`s a doddle

I would generally agree but like most things there's a learning curve and it depends on your past experience, I can do most of the basic things no bother but I've still lots to learn.

My favourite solution when I've been stuck is to do a search online and someone usually has the answer, I search in the video category and you'll often find some rather informative videos quite often, easier to learn by watching then replaying I think.

Also learned lots from reading people on here

Nothing wrong with writing down how you enter something or whatever then just keep it as a guide for next time.

Don't forget once your logged in you can open your Xero on multiple tabs by right clicking on the mouse.

For example, every time I've to do my quarterly invoice for my wind turbine, I have one tab open on create a new invoice then open another one on Dashboard and then use the search box at the top for the last one, open it and I've old and new or either tab, copy and paste what I want or just remind myself exactly what I did last time.

Just an option, most won't bother but I just like to do everything the same way.

 

[Boysground]

I would generally agree but like most things there's a learning curve and it depends on your past experience, I can do most of the basic things no bother but I've still lots to learn.

My favourite solution when I've been stuck is to do a search online and someone usually has the answer, I search in the video category and you'll often find some rather informative people quite often, easer to learn by watching then replaying I think.

Also learned lots from reading people on here

Nothing wrong with writing down how you enter something or whatever then just keep it as a guide for next time.

Don't forget once your logged in you can open your Xero on multiple tabs by right clicking on the mouse.

For example, every time I've to do my quarterly invoice for my wind turbine, I have one tab open on create a new invoice then open another one on Dashboard and then use the search box at the top for the last one, open it and I've old and new or either tab, copy and paste what I want or just remind myself exactly what I did last time.

Just an option, most won't bother but I just like to do everything the same way.

Or create a repeating invoice, save it to drafts and then every quarter (or whenever) it will appear and you can fill in the correct numbers to the lines that are saved.

I like to photo the screen if I have a problem

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[Alistair]

Dreading it???

I am getting there and I think when I get the hang of it it should be straightforward. I would try to find someone that will sit down with you and show you in person how it works. Then get your accountant to set up the codes for the chart of accounts.

I must say I’ve been tearing my hair out over trying to sort out the sale of sheep at auction and the folk here on the forum have solved my issues

 

[Scots_Knight]

Or create a repeating invoice, save it to drafts and then every quarter (or whenever) it will appear and you can fill in the correct numbers to the lines that are saved.

I like to photo the screen if I have a problem

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Yes, I have some repeating invoices like that as you quite correctly say.

Trouble is I can't do the invoice until they've processed my initial reading, their timescale varies by weeks or months sometimes

My invoice to them is just for the VAT, which I only pass on anyway.

Maybe that wasn't the best example but having old and new on a tab each I find requires less thinking whatever your doing.

It was mainly you can open your own Xero on multiple tabs

Just noticed your bit about saving it to Drafts for another day now that might be a cunning plan

 

[chickens and wheat]

repeating invoice staying in the invoice section not affecting anything until you tell it the payment date, or xero finds it itself when bank uploads the transaction

 

[upnortheast]

You can do a vat only transaction. @Exfarmer it’s a total work round for you and possibly not the best way to do it but,
Bear in mind I’m not near a calculator

Create a bill for whatever is needed to get to your £300 vat to be reclaimed on the 1st line 20% vat) Second line is for a “refund” of this figure but at 0% vat. Xero should then just claim the VAT of £300.

This method is handy for vat portion of hp finance bills

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Having pondered your prob the last hour I`ve come up with the same solution as @Boysground above

 

[Dairyfarmerswife]

repeating invoice staying in the invoice section not affecting anything until you tell it the payment date, or xero finds it itself when bank uploads the transaction

If the repeating invoice is approved it will affect the vat so it needs to be correct before the vat return is done.

 

[Scots_Knight]

repeating invoice staying in the invoice section not affecting anything until you tell it the payment date, or xero finds it itself when bank uploads the transaction

If the repeating invoice is approved it will affect the vat so it needs to be correct before the vat return is done.

Of course your both correct as the idea is not to approve it until it's correct, I'm assuming @chickens and wheat meant as a Draft invoice or as @Dairyfamerswife correctly says it would affect the VAT.

You can correct it later but it's a bit messy on the VAT return with claiming then showing withdrawn as a minus the exact same amount then the correct amount.

Provided you've put a credit in but simplest to try and get it right first time.

From what @chickens and wheat has said I'd say I'd say @Dairyfamerswife is correct for the more usual invoice dated VAT claim method.

But each to their own

 

[Exfarmer]

Having pondered your prob the last hour I`ve come up with the same solution as @Boysground above

yes it will sort the issue, but I dont really like it as it seems not right to me. Probably have to d it though, thankfully you can easily include an explanation in the saved files

 

[Boysground]

Having pondered your prob the last hour I`ve come up with the same solution as @Boysground above

Took me a few overs. I’m at Lords

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[chickens and wheat]

I think it dependd on how you do your vat, on the invoice date or on the payment date.

I do payment date, even though my accountant says i could get vat back faster on invoice date.
The trick is to pay bills on last day of month.
My way means your only putting figures on return that are confirmed

 

[Scots_Knight]

I think it dependd on how you do your vat, on the invoice date or on the payment date.

I do payment date, even though my accountant says i could get vat back faster on invoice date.
The trick is to pay bills on last day of month.
My way means your only putting figures on return that are confirmed

Ok, that's a bit different from what I do, always use the invoice date, I'd be very confused with your method not sure how you do your year end but obviously it works for you.

I don't approve an invoice until I'm certain it's absolutely correct to the last penny, so that's my way of making certain it's right.

My late Mum always told me their local Vet used to be annoyed some customers would have the VAT claimed but not paid the bill yet.

 

[Dairyfarmerswife]

My late Mum always told me their local Vet used to be annoyed some customers would have the VAT claimed but not paid the bill yet.

I pride myself on claiming the vat before I've paid the bill! (Not by paying late. The vat return goes in as soon as all the previous month's expected invoices are processed, usually about the 20th of the month. Vat repayment takes 7 days usually.)