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Xero announces new features on bank recs, compliance, payments at Xerocon

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Diya Jolly, Xero’s chief product and technology officer, announced several new products and enhancements aimed at the three critical jobs CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy had previously outlined (see previous story). She spoke during Xero’s annual Xerocon event in Nashville today.

One was an enhanced bank feed experience that bolsters the core accounting functionality of the platform. Jolly noted that, over the past 18 months, Xero has increased the number of its direct feeds into US and Canadian banks from 20 to over 700 through partnerships with aggregators like Yodlee and Flinks, and plans for “hundreds more” in the future. These aggregators are important because it allows Xero to set up feeds even for banks that do not provide a direct connection. It also allows Xero to monitor bank feed statuses and notify the user if one becomes unavailable. Further, even if a bank doesn’t allow direct digital feeds at all, users can also upload PDFs of bank statements to Xero, which then extracts line item data that can then be re-imported into the system. 

Another was the new bank reconciliation feature that accounts for the unique nature of such tasks in the North American market. Jolly, in a later interview, noted that the “in other countries you get your bank feed, you get the transactions like your invoices and bills, and you reconcile them and you’re done.” Working in the North American market, though, requires a somewhat different approach because, generally, accountants need to reconcile everything through a specific bank statement, say from the 7th of one month to the 7th of the next month, which means some transactions wind up getting pushed out to another statement. 

“Now you can put a bound across the transactions. Sometimes what happens with your transaction dates is I might pay a bill on the 7th and the credit card statement says the 7th but in the bank statement it says the 12th. You need the ability to move transactions around and adjust them so whatever is on your bank statement [is accurate],” she said. 

The new feature allows accountants and bookkeepers to easily identify discrepancies between bank statements and entries in Xero. This will enable them to verify the accuracy of their financial data and categorize and balance transactions at the end of each month, helping to ensure their data is accurate. 

Xero will also have a new localized chart of accounts and reporting feature, optimized for business types (i.e C-Corp, S-Corp, LLC, etc.) which is intended to help users onboard with standardized accounts set up. Additionally, the company updated financial reports to meet the unique needs of the US market with an enhanced trial balance report that enables users to set custom date ranges. Users can set an opening and closing balance plus a date range and really drill down to adjust the data until everything balances.

Tax and compliance

Jolly also talked about enhanced sales tax and compliance features. For one, Xero has integrated W-9 requests and collection into contacts, which then allows users to track W-9 information throughout the year. This, in turn, can expedite 1099 preparation. 

“You can now request W-9s directly from the Xero contacts page and do it in bulk. We also revamped the workflow for completing W-9s, so now it is much easier for your clients’ vendors to be able to fill them and get them back to you faster. But that’s not all. In the pst, you had to manually exclude third party payments from your 1099s. But in the next few weeks, Xero will automatically filter out those payments so you can save time during the busy season,” she said. 

Further, through its partnership with Avalara, Xero has expanded state-based reporting to all invoicing users, which means businesses can automatically generate sales tax reports for each state and filing period. 

“We launched comprehensive sales tax reporting within Xero, auto-created and auto-populated with client data for each state and filing period, so now you have everything you need to calculate client sales tax and consolidate it and have it go in one place. We also built a new sales tax home page [to track everything like due dates in one place.] As you can see, we’re investing heavily in sales tax and reporting in the US,” she said. 

Jolly also discussed a new dashboard that will soon be available in Xero Practice Manager and Xero HQ which provides advisors with visibility into their clients’ key metrics and financial health. Currently in beta, this feature provides a snapshot of both metrics and trends for all business clients, “so you can not just see what needs to be done right now but also how your clients are tracking overall and what might be in store for them in the near future.” 

Payments

Jolly also elaborated on new features concerning payments, both making them and receiving them. When it comes to accounts payable, she said the intention is for users to conduct the entire process from within Xero. Through leveraging a strategic partnership with payments solutions provider Bill, Xero has developed an embedded bill pay solution that does just that. Users will be able to manage and approve their bills directly from within the platform using ACH transfer, credit or debit cards or even having a check mailed. This feature will be available to US users in beta starting next month. 

Xero has also added new capacities for accounts receivable as well. The goal, she said, is to equip users with customization tools that allow them to get professional invoices out the door. To this end, she said, they have developed a new site-by-site preview function that lets people customize invoices to fit their specific brand and see exactly how it will look to the customer. Users, further, will also be able to send invoices via text messages; once this happens, people will also see a new revamped checkout workflow that allows them to pay with the click of one single button. In partnership with Stripe, Xero is also enabling more new payment types including direct bank transfers and ‘buy now, pay later’ options, in addition to existing options for credit cards, debit cards, and digital wallets. 

Along similar lines, mobile users will also have the ability to “tap to pay.” There are many times where a client needs to accept payments in person or, at the very least, by getting out their laptop, often in their free time on nights or weekends, which means “you’re left chasing them so they can get paid.” Tap to Pay, however, allows clients to set up an invoice in the app and take a payment right then and there using their mobile phones. 

“I am really confident this will help you and your clients reduce the number of late payments they have,” she said. 

JAX

Jolly also talked about the company’s new generative AI assistant, Just Ask Xero or “JAX.” While she said Xero is “no stranger to AI” as “it powers a range of our products,” JAX uses generative AI to automate tasks and provide guidance through a plain language interface. 

“JAX is our smart AI business companion that will help you and your clients complete tasks whether here or in Xero… You and your clients can now Just Ask Xero and JAX will not only five an accurate answer, but provide follow up suggestions on what to do next, like addressing an overdue payment or paying a bill.

These features are only the beginning. Jolly said that JAX, over time, will be in more and more of the Xero platform where it might be able to do things like check for anomalies or find specific types of transactions. She acknowledged, though, some of the concerns people have about AI and noted that Xero takes them seriously. 

“This is the future we’re working towards. And with this great opportunity there is also great responsibility. We will adhere to our responsible data use commitments [for privacy]. JAX will [also] feature JAX Assure that gives you precise accounting data and only the data you are allowed to access within Xero, making it more accurate than other generative AI models,” she said. 

Accounting Today plans to publish a more in-depth look at this new tool tomorrow, based on our one-on-one talk with Jolly. 

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House passes tax administration bills

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The House unanimously passed four bipartisan bills Tuesday concerning taxes and the Internal Revenue Service that were all endorsed this week by the American Institute of CPAs, and passed two others as well.

  • H.R. 1152, the Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Illinois, Suzan Delbene, D-Washington, Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania and Jimmy Panetta, D-California. The bill would apply the “mailbox rule” to electronically submitted tax returns and payments to allow the IRS to record payments and documents submitted to the IRS electronically on the day the payments or documents are submitted instead of when they are received or reviewed at a later date. The AICPA believes this would offer clarity and simplification to the payment and document submission process while protecting taxpayers from undue penalties.
  • H.R. 998, the Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, which would require notices describing a mathematical or clerical error to be made in plain language, and require the Treasury to provide additional procedures for requesting an abatement of a math or clerical error adjustment, including by telephone or in person, among other provisions.
  • H.R. 517, the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act, sponsored by Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tennessee, and Judy Chu, D-California. The process of receiving tax relief from the IRS following a natural disaster typically must follow a federal disaster declaration, which can often come weeks after a state disaster declaration. The bill would provide the IRS with authority to grant tax relief once the governor of a state declares either a disaster or a state of emergency and expand the mandatory federal filing extension under Section 7508(d) of the Tax Code from 60 days to 120 days, providing taxpayers with more time to file tax returns after a disaster.
  • H.R. 1491, the Disaster related Extension of Deadlines Act, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Murphy, R-North Carolina, and Jimmy Panetta, D-California, would extend the amount of time disaster victims would have to file for a tax refund or credit (i.e., the lookback period) by the amount of time afforded pursuant to a disaster relief postponement period for taxpayers affected by major disasters. This legislative solution would place taxpayers on equal footing as taxpayers not impacted by major disasters and would afford greater clarity and certainty to taxpayers and tax practitioners regarding this lookback period.

“The AICPA has long supported these proposals and will continue to work to advance comprehensive legislation that enhances IRS operations and improves the taxpayer experience,” said Melanie Lauridsen, vice president of tax policy and advocacy for the AICPA, in a statement Tuesday. “We are pleased to work closely with each of these Representatives on common-sense reforms that will benefit taxpayers, tax practitioners and tax administration and we’re encouraged by their passage in the House. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress to improve the taxpayer experience.”

The bills were also included in a recent Senate discussion draft aimed at improving tax administration at the IRS that are strongly supported by the AICPA.

The House also passed two other tax-related bills Tuesday that weren’t endorsed in the recent AICPA letter. 

  • H.R. 1155, Recovery of Stolen Checks Act, sponsored by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-New York, would require the IRS to create a process for taxpayers to request a replacement via direct deposit for a stolen paper check. If a check is determined to be stolen or lost, and not cashed, a taxpayer will receive a replacement check once the original check is cancelled, but many taxpayers are having their replacement checks stolen as well. Taxpayers who have a check stolen are then unable to request that the replacement check be sent via direct deposit. The bill would require the Treasury to establish processes and procedures under which taxpayers, who are otherwise eligible to receive an amount by paper check in replacement of a lost or stolen paper check, may elect to receive such amount by direct deposit.
  • H.R. 997, National Taxpayer Advocate Enhancement Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, would prevent IRS interference with National Taxpayer Advocate personnel by granting the NTA responsibility for its attorneys. In advocating for taxpayer rights, the National Taxpayer Advocate often requires independent legal advice. But currently, the staff members hired by the National Taxpayer Advocate are accountable to internal IRS counsel, not the Taxpayer Advocate, creating a potential conflict of interest to the detriment of taxpayers. The bill would authorize the National Taxpayer Advocate to hire attorneys who report directly to her, helping establish independence from the IRS. 

House  Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri, applauded the bipartisan House passage of the various bills, which had been unanimously passed by the committee.

“President Trump was elected on the promise of finally making the government work better for working people,” Smith said in a statement Tuesday. “This bipartisan legislation helps fulfill that mandate and makes improvements to tax administration that will make it easier for the American people to file their taxes. Those who are rebuilding after a natural disaster particularly need help filing taxes, which is why this set of bills lightens the load for taxpayers in communities struck by a hurricane, tornado or some other disaster. With Tax Day just a few days away, we must look for common-sense, bipartisan ways to make filing taxes less of a hassle.”

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Accounting

In the blogs: Many hats

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Teaching fraud; easement settlement offers; new blog on the block; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Many hats

  • Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): There’s sure an “I” in this “teamwork:” What to know about potential IRS and ICE collaboration.
  • Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): How IRS data would likely be unhelpful validating SNAP eligibility.
  • Yeo & Yeo (https://www.yeoandyeo.com/resources): How financial benchmarking (including involving taxes) can help business clients see trends, pinpoint areas for improvement and forecast future performance.
  • Integritas3 (https://www.integritas3.com/blog): One way to take a bite out of crime, according to this instructor blogger: Teach grad students how to detect, investigate and prevent financial fraud.
  • HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): Verifying income, fairly distributing property, digging the soon-to-be-ex’s assets out of the back of the dark, dark closet: How forensic accounting has emerged as a crucial element in divorces.

Standing out

Genuine intelligence

  • AICPA & CIMA Insights (https://www.aicpa-cima.com/blog): How artificial intelligence and other tech is “Reshaping Finance,” according to this podcast. Didem Un Ates, CEO of a U.K.-based company offering AI advisory services, tackles the topic.
  • Taxjar (https:/www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): How AI and automation can help even the knottiest sales tax obligations and problems.
  • Dean Dorton (https://deandorton.com/insights/): Favorite opening of the week: “The madness doesn’t just happen on college basketball courts — it also happens when your finance team is stuck using a legacy on-premises accounting system.”
  • Canopy (https://www.getcanopy.com/blog): Top client portals for accounting firms in 2025.
  • Mauled Again (https://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): Despite what Facebook claims, dependents have to be human.

New to us

  • Berkowitz Pollack Brant (https://www.bpbcpa.com/articles-press-releases/): This Florida firm offers a variety of services to many industries and has a good, wide-ranging blog. Recent topics include the BE-10, nexus and state and local tax obligations, IRS cuts and what to know about the possible bonus depreciation phase out. Welcome!

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Accounting

Is gen AI really a SOX gamechanger?

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By streamlining tasks such as risk assessment, control testing, and reporting, gen AI has the potential to increase efficiency across the entire SOX lifecycle.

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