Launched at Xerocon 2022, Xero Go is free to download with expense tracking, simple reporting functionality and an ability to connect to accountants included. Optional paid add-ons will be available to expand the app’s functionality, starting with invoicing.
The app is available to download today as an early release via Apple’s iOS mobile operating system, with functionality such as bank feeds and an Android version to be released later this year.
Users can capture expenses using the Quickscan feature, which extracts information from receipts, imports them into Xero Go and uses machine learning to auto-suggest tax categories for them.
For an additional £4.99 per month, subscribers can also create, send and track customisable invoices–including customer reminders for late payments–and add Stripe payments to invoices to streamline invoice management and get paid faster.
To coincide with the launch, the developer also announced the Xero Go Partner Plan, an edition for accountants and bookkeepers that hosts the financial data they need to service clients using the app that allows them to receive tax-coded financial data and income data pulled from invoices.
Unlike Xero's full-fat 'Starter' plan,Xero Go does not have any VAT inclusions, bills, quotes or recurring invoicing.
Xero will offer a free trial of Xero Go until the end of FY23 on the 31st of March 2023. The Go Partner Plan will then become a monthly £4 subscription.
Self-employed businesses
“This is a product that caters to the entry-level accounting needs of the self-employed,” said Anna Curzon, chief product officer at Xero. “We wanted to offer early access to a product that caters to the basic accounting needs of self-employed businesses in the UK. Xero Go helps businesses streamline the manual, time-consuming elements of being self-employed, while also providing accountants with accurate, clean financial data they need to service these clients.”
The UK’s sole trader population currently stands at around 2.6m, with many likely to be pulled into the Making Tax Digital for income tax self assessment (MTD ITSA) regime in 2024.Commenting on Twitter, Australian accountant Heather Smith said that the move to target the UK’s large microbusiness community was expected, with sole traders often too small to justify a standard Xero licence.
Xero is currently running an MTD ITSA beta programme and was recently added to the “software available now” section of HMRC’s MTD compatible software list. Xero’s pilot programme is available to accountants and bookkeepers with eligible clients.
Xero’s managing director, UK and EMEA, Alex von Schirmeister, said: “With MTD for ITSA also coming soon, we want to support our accountants and bookkeepers by removing the time-consuming workload associated with its increased reporting requirements, so they can work smarter, not harder, to help their customers prepare. Accountants and bookkeepers can remain compliant while focusing on what they value the most: providing the best service and experience they can for their clients.”
More information and prices are available on the Xero Go homepage.
AccountingWEB MTD Bootcamp
Even after a 12-month delay, there’s still plenty of work for practices to prepare their sole trader and landlord clients for MTD ITSA. We’ve teamed up with AutoEntry, FreeAgent and Xero to run a series of MTD Bootcamp webinars through August.
Register now
