United Kingdom
Posted to the books your accountant uses
Coded expenses post to Xero, QuickBooks Online or Sage with the receipt attached and the VAT in its own account. Those ledgers file your Making Tax Digital returns. The VAT figures start from the receipts.
Smartbills takes the VAT from each receipt line, keeps the supplier's VAT number and posts to the ledger behind your Making Tax Digital return.
VAT read from the receipt, line by line
Standard-rated, reduced-rated and zero-rated lines keep the VAT they were charged, with the supplier's VAT registration number when the receipt shows it. The reclaim is built from the receipts rather than a fraction of the total.
- VAT kept per line, at 20%, 5% or 0%
- Supplier VAT number kept with the receipt
- Entertaining set apart from reclaimable spend
Receipts that arrive on their own
Merchants on the Smartbills network send the itemized receipt when your team pays, and receipts that arrive by email are pulled from a connected Gmail, Outlook or Zoho mailbox. The month doesn't end with a receipt hunt, and nobody photographs a crumpled receipt in the car.
- Digital receipts sent by the merchant at checkout
- Emailed receipts pulled from the mailbox automatically
- Matched to the card or bank line when it clears
Why teams switch
The tax is on the receipt, not the card statement.
We reclaim VAT as a sixth of every total, and the receipts don't all say 20%.
VAT comes from each line of the receipt, so zero-rated and reduced-rated lines are counted as charged.
Client entertainment VAT keeps ending up in the reclaim.
Each line keeps its category. Entertaining is set apart before the return is prepared.
HMRC wants a VAT invoice, and all we kept was the card slip.
The receipt comes from the merchant or the mailbox with the supplier's VAT number attached.
Before and after
What changes on a UK receipt.
A sixth of the total assumes every line was standard-rated. Zero-rated food and books say otherwise.
| Capability | Card statement and photos | With Smartbills |
|---|---|---|
| VAT on the purchase | A sixth of the total | The VAT each line was charged |
| Zero-rated lines | Taxed at 20% anyway | Counted as charged |
| Supplier VAT number | Only if someone kept the paper | Kept with the receipt |
| Getting receipts in | Photos at month end | From the merchant or the mailbox |
Integrations
Works with the tools you already use.
Your accounting software, bank feeds and card program, with data syncing in both directions.
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- Sage
- FreshBooks
- Wave
- MYOB
- Zoho Books
- NetSuite
- SAP
- Oracle
- Dynamics 365
- Square
- Shopify
- Clover
- Toast
- Lightspeed
- WooCommerce
- Stripe
- PayPal
- Adyen
- Wise
- Plaid
- Chase
- Bank of America
- Wells Fargo
- RBC
- TD
- BMO
- Scotiabank
- Desjardins
- Brex
- Ramp
- Float
- Mercury
- Gusto
- ADP
- Deel
- Rippling
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- OneDrive
- Box
- Gmail
- Outlook
- Google Analytics
- Snowflake
- Looker
- Databricks
- Google Cloud
- Metabase
- Slack
- Microsoft Teams
- Notion
- Zapier
- Airtable
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
The products that do the work.
Each product works on its own, and when you run two, the same record carries from the receipt to the ledger entry.
Expense management
Capture receipts, categorize expenses and check policy compliance as expenses are submitted.
Expense reports
Expense report software that attaches the receipts for you, works out mileage, routes the approval and shows each employee when they'll be paid back.
Email receipt capture
Connect Gmail, Outlook, Zoho Mail or IMAP. Automatically collect receipts and invoices from the folders you choose, including Archive and Spam.
Accounting automation
Accounting automation software that codes each transaction and posts the journal entry to your accounting software the day it happens.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What people ask us before they sign up.
20% standard rate, 5% reduced rate for items such as domestic energy and children's car seats, and 0% for items such as most food, books and children's clothing. One receipt can carry all three.
A valid VAT invoice from a VAT-registered supplier. For purchases of £250 or less including VAT, a simplified invoice showing the supplier's name, address and VAT number, the date, a description and the VAT rate is usually enough.
Generally no. VAT on business entertainment of clients is blocked, while VAT on staff subsistence during business travel can usually be reclaimed. Smartbills keeps each purchase categorized so the difference is made before filing.
No. Smartbills posts coded expenses and VAT to Xero, QuickBooks Online or Sage, which are compatible with Making Tax Digital and file the return.
Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage and NetSuite, with two-way sync. Your accountant keeps working in the ledger you already use.
Yes. You invite your accountant with their own access, and a firm that manages many clients sees them all from one login, entities included. Our page for accounting firms explains how that works on their side.
Your data is stored in Canada, which the UK recognizes as providing adequate data protection, and we don't sell it. Access is limited to the people you invite.
Get started
Run a month of UK receipts through it.
Connect a mailbox and a card. VAT comes in from each line as charged, and zero-rated items stay out of the reclaim.