The Fuel Accounting blog page

A “Buyer Created Tax Invoice” (sometimes referred to in other countries as a “Recipient Created Tax Invoice” or “RCTI”) is an invoice for sales tax purposes that is created by the purchaser of the goods rather than the seller of the goods. This is common in many industries especially where the purchaser has to assess the quality, quantity or price of the goods after they are delivered.

Xero has a “secret” transaction type (two – in fact) that many users aren’t aware of, and those that do often mis-use. It’s called “Prepayment” and “Overpayment”. These transaction types are actually variations of the standard Spend/Receive Money bank transaction but they have very unique treatments.

IMPORTANT: This post is specific to Canada. If you are not a Canada business/taxpayer then it is probably not applicable to you. Xero just released a Canada-only update today!! They have enabled the cheque-writing tool (previously only in the US edition) for Canadian users. This is a great addition for us Canadians, given our banking systems complete lack direct payment functionality (we are so behind the times!).

Use Taxes are often reverse Sales Tax that businesses self-assess. This is common in US States and Canadian Provinces with PST (BC, SK & MB) which require businesses to self-assess Use Tax on out-of-state/province purchases. Xero goes a great job of managing Sales Tax we charge on our invoices, and even on Input Tax Credits for countries with a GST/VAT style tax.

IMPORTANT: This post is specific to New Zealand. If you are not a New Zealand business/taxpayer then it is probably not applicable to you. Thinking about giving your staff a well-deserved Christmas Present of Bonus this year? Cash bonuses are always subject to PAYE and should be put through your standard payroll process.

IMPORTANT: This post is specific to New Zealand. If you are not a New Zealand business/taxpayer then it is probably not applicable to you. So you have a retail outlet and are using Xero to manage your accounting. Great start. But in retail, you have a number of settlement issues. There are sales on account, customers may pay on account over the counter, EFTPOS (debit cards) and various credit cards may settle on different days and some settle gross and some settle net of commissions.

The Bank Reconcile screen is one of my favourite places in Xero. It was, and still is, what makes Xero a clear leader over the other cloud-based accounting systems. If used properly it puts an end to unnecessary data entry and reconciliations. But there is always a catch – if used properly! It is possible to be unreconciled even if you no more entries in the reconcile screen or if the Statement Balance equals the Balance in Xero.

IMPORTANT: This post is specific to New Zealand. If you are not a New Zealand business/taxpayer then it is probably not applicable to you. We have a number of Charity clients who are GST registered. The number one issue we have to deal with for these clients is sorting out what income streams should be subject to GST. Just because you are a Charity doesn’t mean that all your income is exempt from GST.

IMPORTANT: This post is specific to New Zealand. If you are not a New Zealand business/taxpayer then it is probably not applicable to you. Keeping a log of your motor vehicle mileage is an important (and often overlooked) aspect of your record keeping. In this article I will give you some pointers on how to properly maintain the required records.

IMPORTANT: This post is specific to New Zealand. If you are not a New Zealand business/taxpayer then it is probably not applicable to you. Sometimes we get a client’s list of expenses from the year and it just makes us laugh! There are things listed that clearly are not business expenses. Quite often there are things that are borderline, and there are always things that are simply unclear.