Latest product news – October 2020

We have some exciting announcements for you this month, many of which were featured on Xero On Air. If you haven’t had a chance to watch all the episodes, they’re still available for a short time, so don’t forget to register and tune in from the comfort of your home, office or wherever you are.

In addition to our big announcements, there are also a number of new features that streamline your experience across Xero, so you don’t need to leave the platform to get work done. These small wins will make a big difference to your efficiency and help you and your clients stay compliant.

Product news

Help your business thrive with our refreshed Starter plan – Global

You’ve told us that right now, small businesses need a low-cost solution with flexibility to grow. So we’ve refreshed our Starter plan (Early plan in the US). We’ve made some of the most popular features more flexible by removing the limit on bank reconciliation and increasing the invoice limit to 20 per month. That’s approximately one per business day. 

New features

Sync your client lists across Xero HQ and XPM – Global

When you create a new client in Xero HQ, basic information (name, email, date of birth, phone number and address) is now automatically synced to Xero Practice Manager (XPM). Information for existing clients is synced when you edit their record in Xero HQ or XPM. This is an important step in improving the accuracy of your records and making Xero a more seamless practice experience.

Customise your client list in Xero HQ – Global

Your client list in Xero HQ will soon have a new look and give you faster access to relevant client information. You’ll be able to sort, filter, group, and customise the data you want to see, and export your client list to Excel. New details will include trading name/legal name, Xero organisation name, business number and financial year-end date. Shortly after the rollout, we’ll add connected banks and unreconciled bank items. UK partners will also be able to access bank feed expiry dates.

Transferring your WorkflowMax or XPM account – Global

We’ve made it easier to identify who owns WorkflowMax and Xero Practice Manager accounts, and streamline the process of transferring ownership. Now you can ‘request transfer’ to another user in Xero without needing to raise a case with our Customer Experience team. This is currently available to small business customers and will be rolled out to our partners soon.

Paying JobKeeper to your employees – AU

The Australian Government announced it is extending the JobKeeper payment until 28 March 2021. Eligibility is now based on actual turnover and payments will be stepped down and paid at two rates. To help you claim and report JobKeeper over the extension period, we’ve made changes to Xero Payroll so you can capture and edit a tier for each employee and file through Single Touch Payroll.

Calculate PAYG instalments – AU

If you or your clients are required to pay PAYG instalments in your company tax return, you can now do your calculations in Xero. The worksheet is available in the 2020 Company Tax Form, with an explanation as to how it is calculated. This means you can save time on your tax and feel confident your calculations are accurate.

View the sign status of Document Packs – AU

When you send a tax return to a client via Document Packs, you’ll now see the e-sign status in your tax return list view, as well as your tax return history. This means you can quickly identify which tax returns have been sent, returned or declined. This feature is available across Xero Tax, WorkflowMax and Document Packs.

Manage tax for foreign residents – AU

We’ve made a number of changes to Xero Tax, to ensure it closely matches changes to the way interest and unfranked dividends are treated by the Australian Tax Office for foreign residents. The calculation and estimate of the Notice of Assessment and Notice of Withholding Tax will now be accurate. This makes it faster and easier to get your clients’ tax returns signed and lodged.

Plan your 2022 public holidays – AU and NZ

We’ve added the official public holidays in 2022 across Australia and New Zealand into Xero Payroll, to make it easy for you to create leave requests and pay runs. We’ve also updated the Victorian AFL Grand Final public holiday date for 2020. This means any new leave requests that include a public holiday will automatically take this into consideration when calculating the leave. 

Connect with the right client or advisor – NZ

Small businesses want to work with advisors who understand their needs. That’s why we’ve made enhancements to our Advisor Directory. Small businesses without an advisor in Xero can now tell us about their business and are sent three personalised matches for consideration. We’re currently piloting this feature in New Zealand, with plans to roll it out globally.

Written by: Anna Curzon – Xero