How to migrate from Xero in Ireland, step by step

Practices moving several clients should stagger the dates so that each first VAT3 gets a proper review.

Switch on the first day of a VAT period, such as 1 January or 1 March, so that one VAT3 comes entirely from Xero and the next entirely from HelloBooks. Avoid switching in the weeks before a VAT deadline or the year end, when the books are under the most pressure.

Save these with the reports for prior years that you may need for Revenue or the year-end accounts.

• Trial balance at the last day of the previous period.
• Aged receivables and aged payables at the same date, with invoice detail.
• Customer and supplier contact lists.
• Chart of accounts.
• The VAT return for the last period, for comparison later.

Give yourself a quiet hour for this step and do it in one sitting, so nothing is half-imported overnight.

Load the chart of accounts first, then contacts, then opening balances from the trial balance, then unpaid invoices and bills so customers and suppliers carry their open items. Check that the opening trial balance in HelloBooks agrees to the Xero figures to the cent.

Upload bank statements from the switch date, confirm the proposed coding, and capture receipts and bills as they arrive. Irish bank connections are rolling out, so plan on statement upload for now. If the business has staff, keep running payroll in its existing product and post the totals after each pay run.

Before entering the first HelloBooks VAT3 in ROS, compare it with the last Xero return and with what you expect from the business. Large differences usually mean a VAT treatment mapped differently in the new chart of accounts. Fix the mapping once and later returns follow.

Decide how you will access Xero data after you cancel. Exported reports for each prior year usually cover what an accountant or Revenue will ask for. Check Xero’s own terms on access to data after a subscription ends.