Xero Chart of Accounts Cheat Sheet | Xero Nominal Code List

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

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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