A receipt scanning app for Ireland that reads the VAT

Capture works the same way for a café receipt, a fuel docket or a twenty-page supplier invoice.

Open the HelloBooks mobile app and photograph the receipt, or upload a PDF bill on the web. The AI extracts the details and proposes an account and VAT treatment. When the payment appears on your bank statement, the two are matched, so the transaction has its evidence attached and the VAT claim has its invoice.

Check the details on anything faded, handwritten or folded before you confirm it.

• Supplier name and VAT number
• Invoice or receipt date and number
• Net, VAT and gross amounts
• The VAT rate or rates shown
• Currency, for bills from outside Ireland

You can only reclaim VAT on a purchase when you hold the right document. A till receipt from a fuel station may not show everything a full VAT invoice does, and an overseas bill may carry no Irish VAT at all. Capturing every document as it arrives lets you see which purchases support a claim and which do not, before the VAT3 is due.

If Revenue asks about a period two years ago, you want to search, not rummage.

Revenue sets out how long VAT records must be kept. A captured image stored against its transaction is easier to produce in a review than a shoebox, and it does not fade. Check Revenue’s record-keeping guidance for the period and format that apply to you.

Bills from UK, US or other EU suppliers often carry no Irish VAT. Software subscriptions from outside Ireland, for example, may need the reverse charge, where you account for the VAT yourself. Capturing the bill with its currency and supplier details helps your accountant decide the right treatment.

Photograph the receipt before you leave the till, or forward the email bill the moment it arrives. Five seconds per document, every time, beats an evening of sorting before the VAT deadline. Staff who spend on the business can capture their own receipts from their own logins.