Less paperwork.
A clearer picture.

Practical guides to receipts, records and working with Xero.

Over a woman's shoulder at a wooden desk, she looks at her phone held in one hand while a narrow till receipt lies flat beside a closed laptop and a teal notebook

12 November 20265 min read

Can you add a receipt to a transaction in Xero after it has been reconciled?

Yes. Open the reconciled spend or receive money transaction and attach the file there, or use the attachments Xero now shows next to reconciled transactions. A new Quenta capture creates a fresh transaction, so use it for receipts you haven't reconciled yet.

A woman at a wooden desk holds up her phone to photograph a long till receipt lying on the desk beside it, while her other hand rests flat on the desk. A closed teal notebook and a mug sit nearby

12 November 20265 min read

Do you need to keep paper receipts in the UK if you have a photo of them?

Often not. HMRC lets you keep the information instead of the paper if your copy captures everything a correct return needs and can be read back clearly. A few documents must stay in their original form.

Over a man's shoulder at a café table, he holds a long till receipt in one hand and his phone in the other, with a laptop and a closed teal notebook with a pen on the table beside him

11 November 20266 min read

What is a cheaper alternative to Dext for a small business on Xero?

Dext's UK pricing page starts at £24.17 a month excluding VAT for 5 users and 250 documents. If your paperwork is mostly till receipts, Quenta costs £6 per user a month, with a free plan of 10 receipts, and posts each one to Xero with the image attached.

A man at a pale oak table holding his phone near a long till receipt while a woman beside an open laptop writes in an open notebook with a teal cover

10 November 20266 min read

What should a business with fewer than 10 staff look for in a receipt capture app for Xero?

A small team needs one app that posts each receipt to Xero with the image attached, charges per person who captures, and lets an admin see what the team sent. Here are the six checks to make before you pick one, and how Quenta answers each.

Looking down over a woman's shoulder as she holds her phone above a long till receipt on a round café table, with a cup of black coffee and a closed teal notebook beside it

9 November 20268 min read

What is a good alternative to Hubdoc for Xero?

Hubdoc has been connected to Xero since 2014 and comes with Xero's UK plans at no extra cost, but Xero's recent capture work has gone into Xero itself. Quenta does one job: you keep the cards you already have, photograph the receipt, and it becomes a spend-money transaction in Xero with the image attached.

A woman seen from beside her shoulder at a wooden desk, holding a phone above a long till receipt lying on the desk, with an open laptop and two teal notebooks nearby

9 November 20265 min read

Do you need to keep receipts for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?

Yes, you still keep the receipt or a copy. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax needs a digital record of each expense, but HMRC receives only category totals in quarterly updates, so the supporting document stays with you.

A woman seen from behind at a kitchen table, one hand resting beside an open laptop, with a long till receipt, a closed teal notebook and a mug on the table and a dark coat hanging on her chair

7 November 20266 min read

What do you do if you lose a receipt for a business expense in the UK?

Ask the supplier for a copy, then rebuild the record from your bank line. HMRC says to recreate lost records where you can, and a sole trader who cannot may file estimated or provisional figures and say so.

A man seen from the side at a wooden café table by a window, looking at the phone in his hand, with a short till receipt, a closed teal notebook and a pen on the table in front of him

6 November 20265 min read

How do you enter a foreign-currency receipt in Xero?

Record the amount your card was actually charged, in the currency of the account it left, and keep the receipt's own amount and currency beside it. Quenta posts the spend-money transaction that way, with the receipt photograph attached.

A woman seen over her shoulder at a wooden desk, holding up a phone to photograph a paper till receipt, with a closed laptop and a teal notebook beside it

5 November 20265 min read

What is the easiest way to keep receipts organised in Xero?

Keep each receipt on the Xero transaction it supports, not in a folder beside it. Photograph it the day you pay, and Quenta posts the transaction with the image attached, so the books and the evidence stay in one place.

A woman seated at a pale wooden desk, seen from the side, holding a phone upright in one hand and looking at its screen, with a long till receipt lying on the desk in front of her, a closed laptop and a teal notebook behind

4 November 20266 min read

How can you get receipts into Xero without typing them in?

Xero can read a photographed or emailed receipt for you. For a card or bank payment, Quenta goes one step further: it reads the receipt, posts the spend-money transaction and attaches the image, so there is nothing left to type.

A man holding a phone upright to photograph a long till receipt, with the receipt on the screen, a second receipt on a pale oak desk and a closed teal notebook beside it

3 November 20265 min read

Does Xero have its own receipt scanner, and when do you need another app?

Xero has a receipt scanner inside Xero Me, built for staff expense claims. If you want a receipt posted as a spend-money transaction on a bank account, with the image attached, that is a different job.

A woman in a teal jumper at a wooden desk, holding a phone tilted over a long till receipt that lies on the desk, her other hand resting on the end of the receipt, with a notebook and an open laptop on the desk beside her.

29 October 20265 min read

How do bookkeepers get receipts from clients into Xero?

A bookkeeper needs each receipt attached to its Xero transaction. The simplest routes are a shared forwarding address, a photo from each person's phone, or a Xero login with the right role. Here is how each one works in Quenta.

A person seen over the shoulder holding a phone in both hands and looking down at it, with a long narrow till receipt lying on a wooden desk beside them, a closed laptop and a blue mug behind.

28 October 20265 min read

How do you attach a receipt to a transaction in Xero?

Open the spend or receive money transaction, attach the receipt file from your device or Xero's files library, and save. Or photograph the receipt in Quenta and let it create the transaction with the image already attached.

A woman in a teal jumper seen from the side at a wooden desk, holding a phone in both hands with her thumb on the screen, a long narrow till receipt lying on the desk in front of her and a mug beside it.

27 October 20265 min read

How can you code a receipt in Xero from your phone?

Coding a receipt means choosing the Xero account, tax rate and tracking for it. Quenta maps each receipt to the account you used for that kind of purchase before, and asks only when it is unsure.

A person in a navy shirt at an oak desk opening a teal notebook with one hand while picking up a face-down black phone with the other

26 October 20265 min read

How do you stop receipts piling up before you reconcile in Xero?

Receipts pile up when capture waits for reconciliation day. Create the Xero transaction when you pay, with the receipt attached, and the bank feed line has something to match.