Expense Images
To upload invoices, navigate to VAT Recovery in the left-side menu and click Add Expenses. Next, select the company for which you're importing, and choose “One by One” to proceed. You will see a drag-and-drop or upload window on the left side where you can add your invoice document.
Note: You can add more than one document to your invoice. You can also add other documents as annexes in addition to the main invoice image once the main invoice details are filled in and saved. For easier classification, a predefined set of document types is available. You can also include these documents in a claim:
The available document types include:
Purchase Order
Contract
Logistics & Customs
Sales Invoice
Proof of Payment
Other (as additional documents).
Data Entry
You will need to fill out the following fields to the right of the uploaded invoice:
Country of Refund: Select from the dropdown menu.
Vendor Data Block: Enter the vendor's address and name.
Invoice Number: Input the invoice number.
Invoice Date: Select the date from the calendar.
Expense Type: Indicate whether it is a Purchase or Importation.
Invoice Gross Amount: Enter the total amount.
Currency: Select the currency of that amount from the options provided. It should always be the currency of the country of refund. If your amounts are in another currency, you should convert the values accordingly.
Category: The user must first select their country and date before accessing category options.
Simplified Invoice
If applicable, you can select "Simplified Invoice," as it is not automatically selected by the system below a certain threshold — you need to manually check the box.
As the name suggests, simplified invoices contain less information than ordinary or modified invoices. Simplified invoices are typically receipts from restaurants, coffee shops, gas stations, public transportation, taxis, and similar services. These are for smaller amounts and don’t require a full invoice to be issued to the traveler or company. According to tax regulations, simplified invoices are accepted up to a certain threshold.
Generally, they only need to include the following in most countries:
The name, address, and VAT registration number of the supplier
The tax point (also known as the “time of supply”)—this is the date the transaction takes place and is used for VAT purposes. The tax point may differ from the invoice date.
A description of the products or services sold
The VAT rate for each invoiced item (if an item is VAT-exempt or zero-rated, the invoice must indicate that no VAT is charged on that item)
The total amount, including VAT
Unlike an ordinary invoice, it is not necessary to include your customer’s name and address for example. Other information about prices and VAT, such as the total VAT amount, the price of each item without VAT, and the pre-tax total, can be omitted.
The system does not allow users to select "simplified" if the invoice exceeds a threshold:
Important: VAT Recovery Requires Proper Invoices
Please note that receipts, such as credit card receipts, are often not VAT-compliant. To recover VAT, you must have either a fully compliant invoice or a simplified compliant invoice, depending on the transaction.
Simplified invoices, while containing less information than full invoices, still must meet specific requirements.
Credit card receipts or other informal documents cannot be used for VAT recovery. Ensure proper compliance to avoid issues during VAT recovery processes.
You can also unfold the Optional Fields section to insert any other information that you consider useful. Alternatively, you can use the AI feature to automatically fill in the fields based on your invoice data.
Replacing or Removing a Document from an Expense
We've introduced a new feature in the Data Entry Module that allows users to replace a document while keeping the original for future reference.
How It Works
Previously, when you deleted a document and uploaded a new one, the original document was permanently removed once you saved the invoice.
Now, you have two options when clicking the Remove Document button:
Remove the Document – Permanently deletes the document if it was incorrectly attached.
Replace and Keep Original – Uploads a new document while keeping the original under the "Additional Documents" section. The original file will be labeled as "Originally Attached Document."
Why This Matters
Keeping the original document is particularly useful for:
Correction processes – If an invoice initially had incorrect VAT details, you can store both the original and corrected versions.
Audit and compliance – Ensures that past records remain accessible for future verification.
Important Notes
Changes only take effect after saving the invoice. If you remove or replace a document but close the tab without saving, no changes will be applied.
The new document will be the main document, while the original remains stored for reference.
Data Entry for E-invoicing
Data entry for e-invoicing allows users to upload an XML file or a PDF with an embedded e-invoice XML. When you go to the data entry module, it's important to note that this feature is separate from e-invoice generation — anyone using data entry can take advantage of it.
Support for European e-invoicing standards
VAT4U supports the major European e-invoicing standards, including PEPPOL BIS, XRechnung, Factur-X/ZUGFeRD, FatturaPA, and other UBL and CII-based formats used across EU member states. This means you can upload e-invoices issued under any of these standards and have them processed consistently within VAT4U.
Here's how it works:
Users can upload a PDF and/or XML file. Previously, they could only upload documents or invoice images, and the OCR would attempt to extract some data, requiring manual input.
Now, if a PDF with embedded XML is uploaded, the application automatically extracts the data from the XML and fills in Invoice Details.
Once processing is complete, two key elements appear:
A label indicating that the data was filled from an e-invoice.
A button to reprocess the XML and fill the fields again.
The extracted data can still be adjusted manually before saving the invoice.
Preview for XML-only uploads
Previously, uploading a standalone XML file meant there was no visual preview — the file is machine-readable, and reviewing its content required opening the XML itself.
This has changed. VAT4U now generates a human-readable preview for XML e-invoices across all supported European e-invoicing standards. The preview is rendered as a clean, PDF-style document — supplier and customer details, line items, totals, and VAT breakdown are laid out the way you'd expect to see them on a regular invoice.
This means you can now verify an XML e-invoice at a glance, directly inside VAT4U, without opening the raw XML or relying on an external viewer. The underlying XML remains untouched and fully compliant — the preview simply sits on top as a friendlier window into the same data.
When e-document is attached to the expense the system will detect the e-invoice and offer the option to fill in the details automatically.
Because users may already have important information they don't want to overwrite, the system won't auto-fill existing invoices by default. Instead, you can choose "Fill data from e-invoice" to populate the fields with the extracted data.
PDF file upload error
If you're encountering an error when trying to upload a PDF document to VAT4U, it might be due to the system's firewall flagging the PDF as potentially malicious. This can be easily fixed.
It usually happens due to the bad internal structure of the PDF coming from some invoicing tools or scanners. In most cases, the fastest solution is just re-saving the PDF document so its internal structure gets recreated.
Example on Mac Preview -> File -> Export -> PDF
Example on Windows PC: File -> Print -> Save as PDF (or Print to PDF depending on version).
Online tool for PDF optimization: https://smallpdf.com/pdf-compressor
Share your feedback
You can now send us feedback on how AI filled in the invoice by giving a thumbs up or down. If you choose thumbs down, please let us know what was incorrect so we can improve it.