UK Ecommerce Chart of Accounts for QuickBooks with VAT Codes (Free)

Selling online generates a ledger unlike a shop’s: stock arrives through customs, the platforms that sell and process for you bill from several countries, and the VAT on imports is a customs matter rather than a supplier charge. QuickBooks Online handles it well once the chart of accounts reflects those realities. This is a UK ecommerce chart of accounts for QuickBooks Online, named in QuickBooks’ own VAT codes, as a readable CSV mapping plus an import CSV for the structure.

Why the import and the codes are separate steps

QuickBooks Online’s chart-of-accounts import has four columns and no tax field, so the work splits in two. You import the account structure from the CSV, then bulk-assign the default VAT codes from the readable mapping across the chart of accounts. For an online seller the codes that matter most sit on the import-cost and platform-fee accounts, where the treatment is least obvious, so the mapping step is where the value is.

Import costs and the document that reclaims the VAT

The chart routes imported stock to cost of goods sold and the carriage and duty to inbound freight and import duty. The key discipline: you do not reclaim import VAT from the overseas supplier’s invoice. International freight is zero-rated and customs duty is outside scope, so the freight account maps to 0.0% Z with standard and No VAT available. The import VAT itself is recovered from your C79 certificate or, under postponed VAT accounting, from the monthly statement, and QuickBooks provides postponed import VAT codes such as 20.0% PVAT for accounting for it on the return. The note on the account points to the statement as the real evidence, not the supplier bill.

Marketplace and processing fees as operating expenses

The chart deliberately separates marketplace and selling fees (Amazon, Etsy, eBay) and payment processing fees (Stripe, PayPal) from cost of goods sold. Cost of goods is the stock plus directly attributable inbound costs; the platforms’ charges for selling and for taking payment are running costs. If they bleed into cost of goods, the gross margin QuickBooks reports stops meaning anything, so each gets its own account.

The reverse charge, in QuickBooks codes

Whether a fee carries reclaimable UK VAT depends on where the platform is established. A UK-registered entity charges UK VAT, so the fee accounts default to 20.0% S. An overseas entity’s B2B fee generally falls under the reverse charge, 20.0% RC SG, which the mapping lists as the allowed alternative. Treating a no-VAT overseas fee as carrying reclaimable VAT, or missing the reverse-charge entry, are the two errors this coding heads off. QuickBooks works out the direction of a standard code from the transaction, so you pick 20.0% S whether a fee is billed as a charge or a credit.

How to use it

1. Open the CSV and adapt the account names to your store, noting the code mapped to each.
2. In QuickBooks Online go to Settings, then Import data, then Chart of Accounts, and upload the CSV for the structure.
3. On the import wizard confirm the Type and Detail Type for each account.
4. After import, bulk-assign the VAT codes from the mapping, and set a routine for recording postponed import VAT against the statement.

Keeping a high-volume cross-border ledger coded right is the recurring job:

• Dext reads VAT and supplier from photographed and emailed invoices.
• ExpenseFlow reads each receipt and supplier invoice, extracts the currency, flags a foreign-supplier purchase carrying no UK VAT, and posts it into QuickBooks Online against the right account, so the import and fee coding stays consistent as orders scale.
• Hubdoc pulls recurring platform statements into the file.

For the £135 threshold, postponed VAT accounting, and fee treatment, see the UK ecommerce expenses guide. On Xero instead? See the UK ecommerce chart of accounts for Xero. For the codes, see the UK VAT codes in QuickBooks reference.