The receipts problem in a bookkeeping firm isn’t the data entry anymore. It’s getting the paper in the first place. A client with a shoebox of fuel receipts and a dozen vendors who email PDFs will give you documents in four different ways, none of them on time. This guide sets up Xero so most documents arrive without anyone asking: a phone app for paper, an email address for PDFs, and rules for vendors who bill every month. Then it covers the part Xero doesn’t do, which is chasing what’s still missing.
What you need
- A Xero subscription for the client. Xero’s US pricing page lists Early at $27/month, Growing at $59/month and Established at $97/month (new customers get a discount for the first 3 months). Early is capped at 5 bills a month, which is too low for most clients sending you vendor bills.
- Hubdoc, or Xero’s newer Smart Document Capture. Xero’s partner guide says Hubdoc is included in Early, Growing and Established plans. In July 2026 Xero announced Smart Document Capture, its own built-in capture tool, available across most markets. In September 2026 Xero renamed Files to Documents and moved it into the Accounting menu. That’s where Smart Document Capture now lives.
- Advisor access to the client’s Xero organization, so you can set up Hubdoc for them.
- For chasing missing documents: a practice management tool with client requests and automatic reminders, such as Karbon, TaxDome, Canopy or Financial Cents. Xero doesn’t send clients reminders about missing receipts on its own, as far as I could find in Xero’s documentation.
Step by step
1. Pick one capture tool per client
Right now you have two options inside the Xero world, and they overlap.
- Hubdoc is the established choice. It has a mobile app, a unique email address per organization, direct upload, and supplier rules that can code and publish documents automatically.
- Smart Document Capture is native to Xero. Xero’s announcement says documents can come in through the Xero Accounting app, by email forwarding, or by direct upload, and that its AI has extracted data ready for review in about 30 seconds. Xero lists automation for recurring documents and custom forwarding addresses as coming next, not available yet.
My advice: pick one per client and stick to it. If half the receipts go to Hubdoc and half to Xero Documents, you’ll spend month-end hunting in two places. For a client with lots of repeat vendors, Hubdoc’s supplier rules are the reason to choose it today. For a simple client who mostly snaps photos, the native tool means one less app.
2. Set up the client’s Hubdoc organization
If you go with Hubdoc, Xero’s partner guide walks through it: select the organization name, agree to the terms, sign in with Xero, select the client’s organization, enter and confirm the client’s email, and select Create New Organization. There’s a checkbox to send the client an invite now or later.
Hold the invite until you’ve done steps 3 and 4. The first email the client gets should come with clear instructions, not a blank app.
3. Give the client exactly three ways to send documents
Write it down for them. Example email:
“From now on, here’s how to get us receipts and bills:
- Paper receipts: open the Hubdoc app and take a photo. Then you can throw the paper out.
- Emailed bills: forward them to [your Hubdoc address]. Better yet, set up a forwarding rule so bills from your regular vendors go there automatically.
- Anything else: upload it in Hubdoc. Please send everything by the 5th of each month.”
Hubdoc creates a personal email address when the organization is set up; you’ll find it in Hubdoc’s settings. Xero’s own email templates for advisors include the same tip: set up a forwarding rule for recurring bills. For a client whose bills mostly arrive by email, that one rule does a lot of the work.
4. Add supplier rules for repeat vendors
For vendors who bill every month (rent, phone, software, insurance), set a supplier rule in Hubdoc so the document is coded the same way every time. Xero’s partner guide describes using supplier rules to “automate how documents are coded and posted by enabling auto sync.”
Don’t turn on auto sync for a vendor until you’ve seen 2 or 3 of their documents and coded them by hand. If the first one is a credit note or a one-off charge, you’ll teach the rule the wrong thing.
5. Set a submission rhythm
Xero’s advisor templates suggest agreeing with clients on when they’ll send documents, with a recurring calendar invite: weekly, every two weeks, or monthly. I’d go weekly for clients with lots of paper receipts (trades, restaurants) and monthly for everyone else.
Example timing for a monthly client:
- 1st: calendar reminder lands for the client: “Send last month’s receipts.”
- 5th: your submission deadline.
- 8th: you reconcile and list what’s missing.
- 9th: missing-documents request goes out (step 6).
6. Chase only what’s missing
This is the gap. Capture tools collect what clients send. They don’t tell the client what they forgot.
The workaround I recommend: during reconciliation, note every bank line over your threshold (say $75) that has no document attached. Put that list into a client request in your practice tool, with automatic reminders. A good request looks like:
“We’re missing receipts for 6 transactions from September (list below). Snap a photo or forward the email, same as usual. If you don’t have one, reply ‘none’ and tell us what it was for.”
Then let the tool send reminders on its own (every 3 days, for example) until the client answers. If you don’t have a practice tool, a Zapier or Make workflow can send the list from a spreadsheet, but you’ll be maintaining it yourself.
Common mistakes
- Using two capture tools for one client. One inbox per client. Always.
- Auto sync on day one. Supplier rules are only as good as the first few documents they learned from.
- Forgetting the Early plan bill cap. 5 bills a month runs out fast once forwarding rules kick in.
- Asking for “all your receipts.” Clients answer specific lists. Send the 6 you’re missing, not a general plea.
- Assuming the native tool does everything Hubdoc does. Xero’s own roadmap lists recurring-document automation as coming later. Check before you switch a client.
When it’s worth getting help
Capture setup is an afternoon per client and most firms can do it. The part that eats time is step 6: building the missing-documents list each month and chasing it. If you want that list built and sent on a schedule without someone doing it by hand, I can help. See the accounting page for how I work with firms, or try the accounting cost calculator to see whether it’s worth paying for.