What makes construction books hard
The expensive mistakes in a trade business sit on ordinary-looking invoices. A subcontractor’s labour line can carry a withholding or reporting obligation. A ute can be FBT-exempt or not, and is rarely 100% business. A table saw is a capital purchase, not a repair. Workwear is deductible when it is protective and not when it is ordinary clothing. None of that shows up in a receipt scan.
What ExpenseFlow checks on a trade invoice
Each line gets at most one construction flag, in priority order: subcontractor and labour, then vehicle, then capital plant or tool, then clothing.
- Australia. FBT on work vehicles, the instant asset write-off against the small business pool, and protective versus ordinary clothing.
- United Kingdom. Annual investment allowance framing on plant and machinery, protective versus ordinary clothing, and a separate check that flags construction services charged at the standard rate as possibly needing the domestic reverse charge.
- New Zealand. Schedular-payment withholding on labour-only subcontractors, vehicle business-use apportionment, depreciation framing on plant, and protective clothing.
- Canada. T5018 subcontractor reporting, capital cost allowance on tools and vehicles, including the $500 tool test, and protective clothing.
- Singapore. Commercial-vehicle input tax claimable, in contrast to the blocked private motor car, capital allowance framing on plant, and protective clothing.
Everything else it does on every invoice
- Captures invoices and receipts by email forward, upload or phone photo, including trade-counter dockets.
- Reads line items, separating materials from tools and labour from materials.
- Codes each line to an account and tax code, with a written reason and a confidence score.
- Applies business-use percentages you configure for vehicles and phones, consistently, from your records.
- Routes uncertain lines to a review queue with roles and per-row approvals before anything posts.
- Syncs after approval to Xero with the source document attached, or to QuickBooks Online as a coded bill.
What it does not do
It does not withhold schedular tax, file CIS or T5018 returns, calculate FBT, compute write-off amounts, keep your logbook or lodge your BAS, VAT or GST return.