Xero Release Notes

Analytics powered by Syft:

• We released business health scorecards. This lets you assess the overall health of your business against key goals and metrics.

Bank reconciliation:

• Automatic bank reconciliation is now available for selected organisations. We're rolling it out to all users gradually as part of an open beta over the coming months.

Files:

• The file library is now split into an inbox and archive to help you organise your files. We’ve also introduced a side-by-side file preview.

Analytics powered by Syft

• We released Analytics powered by Syft. You can use graphs and dashboards to visualise your organisation’s key financial information. You can also see a detailed overview of your cash position and project your cash flow up to 180 days.

Purchase orders

• We’ve improved the purchase order list with a new layout and options to edit and rearrange fields according to your needs.
• We’ve added the ability to turn on compact view so you can view more information on one screen.

Bills

• We’ve made it easier to find and select the automated ways to enter bills in Xero to help save time, improve accuracy and reduce manual work.

Connected apps

• You can now connect Xero to your Etsy account to automatically sync your daily Etsy sales and easily reconcile your deposits.

Fixed assets

• You can now apply the Investment Boost tax deduction to eligible assets purchased from 22 May.

Reports

• We've changed the layout editor of reports to allow formula rows to show as percentages.
• We've added the ability to add custom reports to an adviser pack in Xero. Accountants can now prepare report templates using reports already available in the organisation.

Xero Accounting app

• Add bills in the Xero Accounting app quickly and easily by capturing photos or selecting files from your mobile device. Xero creates a draft bill with key details entered and the source document attached.

Online payments

• We’ve added Tap to Pay on iPhone as a payment option on your invoices. Tap to Pay on iPhone allows you to get your invoices paid faster by giving you the ability to take payment from customers on the spot.
• We’ve added Tap to Pay on Android as a payment option on your invoices. Tap to Pay allows you to get your invoices paid faster by giving you the ability to take payment from customers on the spot.

Xero Accounting for iOS and Android

• We've introduced an onboarding experience that reduces the steps required to set up products and features in the Xero Accounting app.
• We’ve added the ability to set up an invoice template in the Xero Accounting app.

Xero HQ & Practice Manager

• Client insights now includes gross profit margin figures. You can view the previous month's data, enabling month-to-month and year-over-year comparisons.

Invoicing

• The line item display is now more compact to help reduce horizontal scrolling
• The inventory dropdown now includes the first 100 items
• You can add or reorder empty rows
• Column preferences are remembered for each invoice

Practice Manager

• You can now update the start and due dates for multiple jobs at the same time from within Job manager.
• All of the 2025 income tax forms are now available for preparation and electronic filing using gateway services (GWS).
• We've updated the 2025 forms in the following areas:
  • IR3
    • Added transitional tax rates
    • Added IETC part year calculation
    • Backdated ACC lump sum payments added to Summary of Earnings
    • KP11 Family Tax Credit from Work and Income no longer sent to IR, but will remain in the tax return as it’s used by the Working for Families schedule
  • IR3N
    • Added transitional tax rates
    • Removed KP34 ‘Did you work in New Zealand?’
  • IR4
    • Removed KP23 ‘Did the company pay insurance premiums to any overseas insurer not carrying out business in New Zealand?’
    • Updated wording about the BEPS disclosure in KP37
  • IR6
    • Combined KP35B Land and KP35D Buildings to new KP39B Land and Buildings
    • Combined KP35C Valuation for land and KP35E Valuation for buildings to new KP35C Valuation method for land and buildings
    • Updated wording in regards to the BEPS disclosure KP26
    • Added New Front Cover checkboxes to assist with 39% tax rate calculation rules
    • Added Box 21C ‘Minor and corporate beneficiary income’
    • Added Box 28C ‘Total tax on beneficiary income taxed as trustee income’
    • Added Box 28D ‘Total tax payable’
    • Boxes 21C, 28C and 28D are sent to IR and has been added to the IR transmission report
    • Resolved issue with Import from other returns not updating when no income type entered
    • Resolved rounding issue causing an incorrect validation error for overseas income
  • IR6B
    • Renamed 27V ‘Accounting income and other distributions’ to 27V ‘Taxable distributions’
    • Combined 27W Corpus, 27X Capital, 27Y Use of trust property for less than market value, 27Z Distribution of trust assets and 27AA forgiveness of debt and replaced them with 27W Non-taxable distributions
    • Added ‘Should this beneficiary income be taxed as trustee income under the corporate or minor beneficiary rules?’ checkbox
  • IR6S
    • Removed checkbox ‘Settlement zero value this year’
    • Combined KP9 Land and KP10 Buildings to new KP9 Land and Buildings
  • IR7 – Removed PIE income/loss and PCR tax credit and excluded the fields from distribution to IR7L and IR7P
  • IR9 – Return summary report format updated to show excess imputation credits and losses section
  • IR3, IR4, IR6 and IR7 – Modified tax return warning rounding to be less sensitive for dividend imputation credits
  • IR3N, IR4 and IR6 – Adjusted to include consequential renumbering of the forms
  • IR3, IR3NR, IR4, IR6, IR8 and IR9 – Added a warning to check if update from statements has been removed for statement updates
  • IR34, IR34, IR6 and IR7 – Create IR10 automatically when making a new year return if one existed last year
  • Changes to ‘Signed tax authority’ when creating a new tax return to ensure that the client permission settings are respected
  • Roll forward IR4S if the prior year return has an IR4S
  • Added new BIC codes for 2025
• Rates and threshold changes:
  • ACC rate increases from $1.53 to $1.60 per $100
  • ACC maximum income increases from $139,384 to $142,286
  • ACC maximum payable increases from $2,132.57 to $2,276.52
  • Student loan threshold increase from $22,828 to $24,128
  • Student loan adjusted net income threshold unchanged at $500
  • Student loan repayment rate unchanged at 12%
  • MFTC threshold before tax, weighted average rate being used $35,278
  • MFTC abatement rate unchanged at 27%

Family tax rate (FTC) changes

• First child from $7,121 to $7,524
• Second child from $5,802 to $6,136
• Best start tax credit increases from $3,632 to $3,838

In work tax credit (IWTC)

• From $3,770 or $72.50 per week for first three children to $5,070 from 31st July
• Each additional child over 3 is $780