Xero Chart of Accounts Cheat Sheet

July 26, 2024

Xero is an extremely popular cloud accounting software thanks to its powerful reports, multiple integrations and intuitive payment reconciliation.

However, if you’re new to the platform, you will need to know the Xero chart of account codes when reconciling both sales and expenses in your account.

As specialist Xero accountants, we have put together this cheat sheet for the most popular nominal codes along with an explanation of what you should use each of them for:

Xero Chart of Accounts Codes List
Code	Account Name	Type	Tax	Description
200	Sales Revenue	Income	20% (VAT on Income)	Revenue from typical business operations
260	Other Revenue	Revenue	20% (VAT on Income)	Income from non-standard and non-recurring activities
270	Interest Income	Revenue	No VAT	Total interest income received
310	Cost of Goods Sold	Direct Cost	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Purchases directly related to sales, such as stock items that you are reselling or the materials needed to produce a product.
320	Direct Wages	Direct Cost	No VAT	Wage costs for subcontractors hired to assist directly with sales. Note the difference between code 477, which is a more general code for employee salaries.
321	Subcontractors	Direct Cost	20% (VAT on Expenses)	This code relates to labour costs on subcontractor bills.
325	Direct Expenses	Direct Cost	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Costs directly associated with generating revenue
400	Advertising & Marketing	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Expenses for promoting your business, including marketing spend, branding, events etc.
401	Audit & Accountancy fees	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Accountant fees and associated accounting software costs.
404	Bank Fees	Overhead	No VAT	Charges from the bank excluding interest charges.
408	Cleaning	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Professional cleaning fees for your business premises
412	Consulting	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Payments made to professional consultants for their services
416	Depreciation Expense	Overhead	No VAT	Annual depreciation value of assets over their useful life
418	Charitable and Political	Overhead	No VAT	Donations to charitable organisations or political entities
420	Entertainment-100% business	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Fully deductible business entertainment expenses for staff
424	Entertainment - 0%	Overhead	No VAT	Non-deductible entertainment costs for clients
425	Postage, Freight & Courier	Overhead	Exempt Expenses	Costs of postage, freight, and courier services for your business
429	General Expenses	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	General operational expenses. Only choose this if no other code is suitable
433	Insurance	Overhead	Exempt Expenses	Insurance premiums for business assets
437	Interest Paid	Overhead	No VAT	Interest expenses on business loans and credit
441	Legal Expenses	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Costs for legal services and advice relating to your business
445	Light, Power, Heating	Overhead	5% (VAT on Expenses)	Utility expenses for lighting, power, and heating (business premises only)
449	Motor Vehicle Expenses	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Costs associated with operating business vehicles
457	Operating Lease Payments	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Expenses for leasing office space and vehicles (excluding hire purchases)
461	Printing & Stationery	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Costs of printing services and office supplies
463	IT Software and Consumables	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Expenses on software and IT consumables
465	Rates	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Payments to local councils for business rates
469	Rent	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Leasing costs for buildings or office space
473	Repairs & Maintenance	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Costs of repairing and maintaining business assets
477	Salaries	Overhead	No VAT	Payments to employees for their services
478	Directors' Remuneration	Overhead	No VAT	Payments made to company directors
479	Employers National Insurance	Overhead	No VAT	Business contributions to National Insurance
480	Staff Training	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Costs related to employee training programs
482	Pensions Costs	Overhead	No VAT	Contributions to pension schemes
483	Medical Insurance	Overhead	Exempt Expenses	Premiums for employee medical insurance
485	Subscriptions	Overhead	Exempt Expenses	Subscriptions to trade bodies, magazines etc.
489	Telephone & Internet	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Costs of business-related telephone and internet services
493	Travel - National	Overhead	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Expenses for domestic business travel
494	Travel - International	Overhead	No VAT	Costs incurred from international business trips
500	Corporation Tax	Overhead	No VAT	Taxes on company profits, paid to HMRC
610	Accounts Receivable	Current Asset	No VAT	Outstanding invoices issued by the business
611	Less Provision for Doubtful Debts	Current Asset	No VAT	Allowance for potentially uncollectible receivables
620	Prepayments	Current Asset	No VAT	Advance payments for future expenses
630	Inventory	Current Asset	No VAT	Value of goods held for resale
710	Office Equipment	Fixed Asset	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Office equipment owned by the business
711	Less Accumulated Depreciation on Office Equipment	Fixed Asset	No VAT	Depreciation value of office equipment over its useful life
720	Computer Equipment	Fixed Asset	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Computer hardware owned by the business
721	Less Accumulated Depreciation on Computer Equipment	Fixed Asset	No VAT	Depreciation value of computer equipment over its useful life
740	Buildings	Fixed Asset	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Business-owned buildings
741	Less Accumulated Depreciation on Buildings	Fixed Asset	No VAT	Depreciation value of buildings over their useful life
750	Leasehold Improvements	Fixed Asset	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Enhancements to leased property the business owns
751	Less Accumulated Depreciation on Leasehold Improvements	Fixed Asset	No VAT	Depreciation value of leasehold improvements over their useful life
760	Motor Vehicles	Fixed Asset	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Vehicles owned by the business
761	Less Accumulated Depreciation on Motor Vehicles	Fixed Asset	No VAT	Depreciation value of motor vehicles over their useful life
764	Plant & Machinery	Fixed Asset	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Machinery and equipment (eg. appliances, office furniture, fixtures and fittings) owned by the business
765	Less Accumulated Depreciation on Plant and Machinery	Fixed Asset	No VAT	Depreciation value of plant and machinery over their useful life
770	Intangibles	Fixed Asset	20% (VAT on Expenses)	Non-physical assets like goodwill and intellectual property rights such as patents, copyrights and trademarks
771	Less Accumulated Amortisation on Intangibles	Fixed Asset	No VAT	Amortisation (costs written off) of intangible assets over their useful life
800	Accounts Payable	Current Liability	No VAT	Outstanding invoices from suppliers
805	Accruals	Current Liability	No VAT	Uninvoiced services received by the business
810	Income in Advance	Current Liability	20% (VAT on Income)	Income received for goods or services not yet provided
811	Credit Card Control Account	Current Liability	No VAT	Amounts owed on company credit cards
814	Wages Payable - Payroll	Current Liability	No VAT	Net wages allocated to employees for each payroll run
815	Employee Contribution to Benefits	Current Liability	No VAT	Payroll deductions for employee contributions towards benefits in kind
820	VAT	Current Liability	No VAT	VAT balance owing to or from HMRC
825	PAYE Payable	Current Liability	No VAT	PAYE tax amount due to HMRC
826	NIC Payable	Current Liability	No VAT	Business's portion of National Insurance Contribution due to HMRC
830	Provision for Corporation Tax	Current Liability	No VAT	Corporation tax due to HMRC
835	Directors' Loan Account	Current Liability	No VAT	Loans owed to or from company directors
840	Historical Adjustment	Current Liability	No VAT	Adjustments for accounting and starting balances (used when credit and debit values don’t match due to currency conversion or other mismatches)
850	Suspense	Current Liability	No VAT	Temporary holding account, transactions must be allocated to a different code when their purpose is known
858	Pensions Payable	Current Liability	No VAT	Outstanding payroll pension amounts
860	Rounding	Current Liability	No VAT	Adjustments for rounding differences from Xero and other financial programs
868	Earnings Orders Payable	Current Liability	No VAT	Payroll earnings orders due for liabilities such as civil debts or child support payments
877	Tracking Transfers	Current Liability	No VAT	Transfers between tracking categories (when you create a journal that affects a tracking category's balance, but don't change the source transaction)
900	Loan	Non-current Liability	No VAT	Loans from creditors (eg. bank loans)
910	Hire Purchase Loan	Non-current Liability	No VAT	Goods acquired through hire purchase agreements
920	Deferred Tax	Non-current Liability	No VAT	Timing differences between taxable profits and accounting profits
947	Student Loan Deductions Payable	Current Liability	No VAT	Payroll deductions for student loans
950	Capital - x,xxx Ordinary Shares	Equity	No VAT	Paid-up share capital
960	Retained Earnings	Equity	No VAT	Retained earnings (net profit or loss values from previous years)
970	Owner A Funds Introduced	Equity	No VAT	Owner's financial contributions to the business
980	Owner A Drawings	Equity	No VAT	Withdrawals by the owner

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Adding Custom Chart of Accounts Codes to Xero

The codes above are the default Chart of Accounts codes Xero supplies when you open your account. If you prefer, you can also import a chart of accounts from other accounting software providers, or import a completely custom chart.

If you are finding your transaction cannot be defined by one of the codes in the standard list, or you want to break up existing codes into sub-categories for more detailed financial insights, you may want to add a new custom chart of accounts code in Xero to the list.

To do this go to Accounting>Advanced> Chart of Accounts and from there you will see the option to ‘Add account’ and choose the account type, code number, name and tax. Once you have saved this it will appear in your nominal code list, allowing you to assign it to a transaction when reconciling the account.

Confused by Xero Charts of Accounts? We Can Help!

We hope this list of common Xero codes has helped you understand how to allocate your transactions more accurately. However, if you still need help and want to harness the full power of Xero accounting for your business, Linggard and Thomas can help.

We are specialists in Xero accounting, meaning we can help your business utilise this powerful software to achieve your business goals. We utilise Xero’s excellent tools to help with tax returns, bookkeeping and annual accounts.

‍Get in touch today to see how we can empower your business to succeed.

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