What’s New In Xero – July 2024

What a month! We’ve released more than 40 amazing updates across Xero, made some pretty cool product announcements at Xerocon London, and got ready for the new Australian tax year. It’s been a busy month with lots of highlights, so read on to discover what’s new in Xero.

Global: Void or delete invoices on the mobile app [Product Idea]

Do you use the Xero Accounting app? Well, we have some great news for you! You can now void invoices that are awaiting payment (overdue or due) while on the go using the Xero Accounting app. This requested functionality will help you manage your sales more efficiently when you’re on your mobile device.

Global: Improved control and customisation of how you get paid [Product Idea]

To make it easier to manage online payment methods and help you customise how you get paid, we’re rolling out the ability to toggle payment methods on and off in your payment settings without leaving Xero. These changes will be complete this month, so if that’s something you requested via Product Ideas or something that you’ll find helpful, be sure to check it out.

Global: Automatically hide empty notes in report templates [Product Idea]

We’ve added more automation to report templates based on a product idea. Empty schedules are now automatically hidden to help accountants and bookkeepers streamline their processes by reducing extra clicks and manual tasks when preparing reports for their clients.

Global: Edit or adjust items from the product and services inventory list [Product Idea]

You can now edit and make adjustments to your items without leaving the product and services screen, making it quicker to keep your inventory list accurate and up to date.

Global: Loved features from classic invoicing, plus tools have been added to new invoicing [Product Idea]

More classic invoicing features are being rolled over into the new version. This includes a more detailed audit trail in history and notes, which we know is important as you make the switch from classic to new invoicing. You’re also able to address a single invoice to a contact group, and copy an invoice and its contact over to another draft invoice. You’ll also see some improvements to the way you email invoices, including a live, side-by-side preview that shows what your email will look like in real time, along with new CC: and BCC: options.

The preview is only available in the new version of invoicing, so make the switch now.

Australia: Changes to Xero Tax for tax time and BAS in Xero [Product Idea]

You asked and we listened. To help with streamlining BAS and automating payments, you can now easily create a draft bill or invoice directly from the BAS statement page once you’ve finalised or filed it for the period.

Do you need to find a specific statement from a particular tax year? No problem. You can now filter completed statements by tax year. And because being able to correct a ‘failed’ activity statement in Xero is helpful, we’ve also recently released the ability to revert failed statements to draft in Xero. Once you’ve made corrections you can re-lodge the statement to the ATO in Xero. Additionally, if your practice uses Xero Tax, you’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve recently released all of this year’s compliance changes, in line with the rules for the new tax year. Check out  2024 tax time changes, and lodgement changes for all the details. 

NZ: New GST filing [Product Idea]

New Zealand GST returns functionality has had a makeover. We’ve been able to develop improvements we know our customers have been wanting like widening the view, and being able to view the count of transactions into the new experience. You can now filter transactions, easily check which returns are due or overdue, and view late claims in the new ‘Late claims’ tab.

UK: Check out the key product announcements from Xerocon London 2024

At Xerocon London 2024, we announced a suite of product innovations to streamline key accounting tasks for UK small businesses and their advisors. The new payments features in Xero will help businesses get paid, and make payments, faster, while new tax and payroll features will enable UK accountants and bookkeepers to manage their clients’ compliance obligations seamlessly in Xero. Watch the  product innovation sessions from Xerocon.

UK: Updates to existing chart of accounts templates

We’ve optimised the chart of accounts templates codes for UK partnerships and sole traders to provide practices with a more consistent experience with reports.

• Enhanced R&D intensive support (ERIS) allows you to claim a higher rate of payable tax credit for R&D intensive companies with periods that either start from or straddle Tuesday 23 April. This is something we know our UK tax partners have been wanting to see.
• Merged scheme R&D expenditure credit (RDEC) is available to claim for any company with a period starting on or after Wednesday 24 April that is eligible for credits under this innovation scheme.

UK: Set custom  leave years in Xero Payroll [Product Idea]

It’s been a busy month in Xero Payroll and some great features have made their way to you. We’d heard from many of you using UK payroll that changing the date an employee’s leave accrues was important. So you can now select a custom leave year for leave to accrue at an employee level, reducing manual work and saving you time. In addition, you can now access historic RTI submissions, giving you greater transparency, and  the ability to self-serve.

UK: Add employee and organisation opening balances within the payroll switching wizard

Within the payroll switching wizard, you can now import employee opening balances from your latest FPS file and enter organisation opening balances to complete payroll setup. This supports an easy, accurate and efficient switch any time during a tax year. 

US: Manage W-9s within contacts

Sending, requesting, and completing W-9s is a task you can do all year round to save yourself time during the busy season. To streamline this process, we’ve added a new tax details section into contacts where you can send and request W-9s and input the information needed for 1099 compliance, making your 1099 reporting experience more seamless.

US: Export your items list and update Avalara sales tax code in bulk [Product Idea]

We appreciate that updating sales tax codes for your products and services took up a lot of time. If you use the Xero integration with Avalara for US sales tax, you can now update your sales tax codes for your inventory items in bulk. You can also export and import your items in a CSV with a new column for sales tax codes, helping you keep your inventory list updated with correct tax information, faster. Learn more about importing inventory items in Xero Central. 

US: New default settings for reports

It’s now easier for you to set up and use reports in Xero with updates to the default settings that better suit your accounting and reporting needs. 

These are just some of the updates that have rolled out in Xero this last month. For a full list of what’s new this July, check out the release notes in Xero Central.

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Source: Xero Blog