Every VAT refund starts with an expense: an invoice or receipt that VAT4U reads, checks and later bundles into a VAT claim. This guide shows you how to add expenses, from a single invoice entered by hand to large batches and automatic imports.
There are three ways to get expenses into VAT4U:
Method | Best for | Where |
One by One | A few invoices, or invoices that need careful checking | VAT Recovery › Add Expenses › One by One |
Mass data import | Many expenses at once, from a CSV or Excel file, a ZIP of scans or another system | VAT Recovery › Add Expenses › Mass data import |
Automatic | A steady flow of invoices without manual uploads | VAT4U Inbox (Smart Bcc) and Connectors, on the company page |
Most of this guide covers One by One, because that is where you see how VAT4U reads and checks an expense. The other two methods are covered at the end.
The screenshots in this guide use a demo company (Demo Claimant Ltd) and a fictional invoice. Your screens show your own companies and data.
Before you begin
You need permission to add expenses for the company. The company list in the next steps only shows companies you can add expenses to. If a company is missing, ask your company administrator or your VAT4U contact.
Have the document ready. Accepted formats are PDF, JPG, PNG, TIFF and XML (e-invoices). The file must be smaller than 5 MB. Upload one file at a time.
Smart AI uses AI transactions. Each time you fill an expense with Smart AI, one AI transaction is used from your company's balance. Filling data from an XML e-invoice does not use a transaction.
Part 1: Adding one expense
Step 1: Open Add Expenses
In the sidebar, open VAT Recovery and click Add Expenses.
The VAT Recovery menu in the sidebar with Add Expenses
Step 2: Choose the company and the method
The Select company and method window opens.
In the dropdown, choose the company the expense belongs to. This is the company that will claim the VAT back.
Click One by One.
The Select company and method window with a company selected
If you don't choose a company first, VAT4U shows Please select a company to continue.
Step 3: Get to know the expense screen
The expense screen has two parts:
On the left, the invoice document. This is where you upload the invoice and view it.
On the right, Invoice details. This is where the expense data goes: country of refund, vendor, invoice number, date, amounts and line items.
The buttons at the bottom right save the expense.
An empty expense screen with the upload area on the left and Invoice details on the right
Step 4: Upload the invoice
Drag the invoice onto Drop your invoice copy here or click to upload, or click the area to choose the file.
The uploaded invoice shown in the document pane
What happens next:
Images are converted to PDF. JPG, PNG and TIFF files are turned into a PDF automatically.
VAT4U reads the document. The status line under the document shows Reading document, then OCR ready when the text has been recognised.
Click to copy text into a field. Once the text is recognised, you can click a field on the right (for example Invoice number) and then click the matching text on the document to copy it in.
E-invoices are recognised automatically. For an XML e-invoice, or a PDF that has one embedded, see E-invoices below.
The document toolbar. The icons above the document let you zoom in and out, rotate the page, crop it, and remove the document (the red bin).
Tip: for some countries and invoice types the invoice copy is optional. In that case the upload area explains that by saving without a document, you confirm that you hold the original invoice and that it is compliant. When a copy is required, the header shows Invoice copy is required!
Step 5: Fill in the invoice details with Smart AI
Click the Smart AI button at the top right of Invoice details. It shows only the AI icon. Hover over it to see the tooltip Fill data using Smart AI.
The Smart AI button with its tooltip
Smart AI reads the invoice and fills in:
Country of refund, the country whose VAT you are claiming back.
Vendor data: name, street, number, ZIP code, city, country, and the VAT or tax number.
Invoice number and Invoice date.
Invoice gross amount and currency.
Line items, with a category, net, VAT and gross amount for each. If the invoice has many items, Smart AI groups them into one line per VAT rate.
Fields filled by Smart AI are marked with a small AI label.
Invoice details filled in by Smart AI, with the AI labels on each field
A few things to know:
Upload the document first. Without one, the Smart AI button is disabled.
It takes up to about a minute. A single invoice usually takes 30 to 50 seconds. Invoices that were already processed in a batch fill instantly.
Always check the result against the document. Smart AI is very accurate, but you are responsible for the data you save.
Tell us how it did. After a run, a thumbs-up and a thumbs-down icon appear next to the Smart AI button. Your feedback helps improve Smart AI.
You can also fill in every field by hand without Smart AI. Start typing in Vendor data to search for a vendor you or your company have used before. If there is no match, type the vendor details yourself.
Notices you may see. VAT4U shows a notice when something about the expense needs your attention. One example is a reciprocity notice: some countries refund VAT to companies from outside the EU only when there is a reciprocity agreement between the two countries. The notice explains what applies. Click Ok to close it, or Dismiss for 7 days to stop seeing it for a week.
The Important Notice about reciprocity
Step 6: Check the details
Go through the form and compare it with the invoice.
Country of refund. When you change the country, the currency switches to that country's official currency. If you then choose a different currency, the box turns red with the warning Invoice currency doesn't match official currency of …. The expense will then be marked Incomplete.
Vendor VAT number. Under the VAT number, VAT4U shows two checks:
Check | What it means |
Format verified / Format invalid | Whether the number has the right format for its country. An invalid format makes the expense Incomplete. |
Number verified / Number invalid | Whether the EU VIES registry knows the number. Number not verified means VIES could not be reached at that moment. |
The VAT number checks: Format verified and Number not verified
For some countries you can enter a TAX number instead of the VAT number. The two fields are then separated by or.
Invoice number and date. The date uses the format dd/mm/yyyy and cannot be in the future.
Expense type. Choose Purchase for normal purchases or Importation for import VAT. For imports, the vendor's VAT and tax number are not required.
Line items. Each row has a Product/Service (the expense category), NET, VAT, Pot.Cash (the VAT you can potentially get back) and Gross.
Click Add product/service to add a row.
Click X to delete one.
Below the rows you see Total Net, Total VAT per rate, Total Gross and Pot. cash back, the total VAT you can potentially recover.
Line items with category, net, VAT and gross amounts, and the totals
Required fields. Which fields are required depends on the country of refund, the type of claim and whether the invoice is regular or simplified. VAT4U outlines required empty fields in orange.
Optional fields and Custom fields. Expand these sections at the bottom of the form to add extra information your company tracks, such as a cost centre or a reference.
Simplified invoices (small receipts)
Small receipts, such as a taxi or a coffee, are often simplified invoices. Many countries accept them up to a set amount, and require fewer vendor details. Tick Simplified invoice for these.
The checkbox is disabled when the amount is above the country's limit for simplified invoices, or when the country doesn't accept them for this type of claim.
If you raise the amount above the limit after ticking it, VAT4U switches the invoice back to a regular invoice and tells you why.
Step 7: Save the expense
Choose one of the three buttons at the bottom right:
The Save & Keep, Save & New and Save buttons
Button | What it does | Use it when |
Save | Saves the expense and keeps it open | You want to review the saved expense or add supporting documents |
Save & New | Saves and opens a new, empty expense for the same company | You have several separate invoices to enter |
Save & Keep | Saves and opens a new expense on the same document, with the same country | One PDF holds several invoices (see Part 2) |
VAT4U confirms with Invoice saved successfully.
Possible duplicates. After saving, VAT4U checks whether the company already has an invoice with the same country, number, year and vendor (or the same date and amount). If it finds one, the Potentially duplicate invoice window lists the matching expenses. Click an ID to open it in a new tab. Then choose:
Exclude Expense if it really is a duplicate.
Ignore Alert and Save if it isn't.
Step 8: Check the refund status
Once saved, scroll to the bottom of Invoice details to see the Refund status.
Refund status Ready on a saved expense
Status | Meaning |
Ready | The expense is complete and will be picked up in the next VAT claim for that country. |
Incomplete | Something is missing. The reason is shown under the status. Fix it and save again. |
Excluded | The expense won't be claimed, for example because the country isn't covered, the deadline has expired, or the expense type isn't refundable. You can also exclude an expense yourself with MOVE TO EXCLUDED. |
An expense is Incomplete when:
Reason shown | How to fix it |
No items | Add at least one line item. |
Invalid VAT number | Correct the vendor VAT number so its format is valid. |
Incomplete fields | Fill in the required fields outlined in orange. |
Missing document | Upload the invoice copy. It is required for this country or invoice type. |
Currency does not match Reporting currency of CoR | Use the official currency of the country of refund. |
Incomplete category | Replace the "to be verified" category with the right expense category. |
An expense also stays Incomplete, with no reason shown, when the country of refund or the invoice date is empty, or the gross amount is zero.
Part 2: Special cases
One PDF with several invoices
If one PDF holds several invoices, for example a scanned stack of hotel bills, split it into separate expenses.
Option A: create expenses from selected pages.
When a document has more than one page, an Options panel with page thumbnails opens under the document.
Click the pages that belong to one invoice to select them.
Choose an action:
Create from selected: creates a separate expense from the selected pages. You stay on the current expense, and a window shows a link to the new one.
Keep selected: keeps only the selected pages on this expense.
Delete selected: removes the selected pages from this expense.
Option B: Save & Keep. Fill in and save the first invoice with Save & Keep. VAT4U opens a new expense on the same document, so you can enter the next invoice from the same file.
E-invoices (XML)
VAT4U recognises structured e-invoices, either as an XML file or embedded in a PDF. Supported formats include ZUGFeRD/Factur-X, XRechnung, PEPPOL, FatturaPA (Italy), KSeF (Poland) and CFDI (Mexico).
E-invoice identified appears at the top of Invoice details. For a new expense, the details fill in automatically from the e-invoice.
To fill them again, click the icon next to it (tooltip Fill data from e-invoice). This doesn't use an AI transaction.
A banner shows E-invoice validation passed or E-invoice validation found issues. Click See more to open the E-Invoice validation window:
Invoice checks compare the e-invoice with your company data, the VAT rates for the country of refund, the VIES registry and the PDF copy.
Schematron validation lists any technical errors and warnings in the e-invoice.
For an XML file without a PDF, VAT4U shows a generated preview of the invoice in the document pane.
Supporting documents
Some tax authorities ask for more than the invoice, such as a purchase order, a contract or proof of payment. You can attach these to the expense, but only after it has been saved.
Save the expense.
Click Additional documents above the invoice document.
Click the tile for the document type: Purchase Order, Contract, Logistics & Customs, Sales Invoice, Proof of Payment or Other. You can select several files at once.
To send a document to the tax authority with the claim, click the paper-plane icon next to it (tooltip Click to mark document to be attached to claim). It turns green when it's marked.
Additional documents with the document type tiles and the invoice copy marked to be attached to the claim
Click the red bin next to a document to remove it.
Replacing the invoice document
To swap the invoice for a different file, click the red bin in the document toolbar. You can then choose:
Replace & Keep Original moves the current document to Additional documents, so you can upload a new main document.
Remove deletes it from the expense.
The change only takes effect when you save the expense.
Part 3: Add many expenses at once (Mass data import)
Use Mass data import when you have a large number of expenses, for example an export from your expense system or a folder of scanned receipts.
Go to VAT Recovery › Add Expenses, choose the company, and click Mass data import.
Choose your data source:
The data source options for importing expenses, with the list of earlier imports
Option | What you upload |
I have data only in CSV or Excel file format | A CSV or Excel file with one or more rows per expense. |
I have both data and scans/images | A CSV or Excel file with a column that holds a link to each expense's document. VAT4U fetches the documents from those links. |
I have scans/images only | A ZIP file of scans, or a CSV/TXT file listing links to your documents. VAT4U creates one expense per document, ready for Smart AI. |
I have my data in external system e.g. Concur/Captio | Nothing. You connect the system instead (see Part 4). |
I want to transfer file to … team for further analysis | Any file you want the VAT4U team to process for you. |
The options you see depend on your plan.
For a CSV or Excel file, choose whether to Import new expenses or Update existing expenses. To update, your file must contain the VAT4U ID of each expense.
The choice between Import new expenses and Update existing expenses
Upload the file. CSV and Excel files can be up to 300 MB or 500,000 lines.
The upload step of the import wizard, with the steps Start, Fields, Categories, Data cleaning and Import
Follow the steps at the top of the wizard:
Fields: match your file's columns to VAT4U fields.
Documents: match the documents. This step only appears when you import data together with documents.
Companies: match the companies or entities. This step only appears when your file holds several companies.
Categories: map your expense categories to VAT4U categories.
Data cleaning: preview the data and correct any errors.
Import: finish and start the import.
The import runs in the background. Follow its progress in the Imports list under the data source options, or in Batch imports.
Tips:
Run Smart AI in bulk after the import. Select the imported expenses in Manage Expenses and run Smart AI on them all at once. They are then filled instantly when you open them. See Smart AI and Mass Processing.
Missing documents? If some documents couldn't be fetched, you can add them afterwards as a ZIP. See Uploading missing documents to an import as a ZIP.
Part 4: Add expenses automatically
By email (VAT4U Inbox and Smart Bcc)
Each company can have its own VAT4U email address. Invoices sent or forwarded to it become expenses automatically.
Go to Companies, open the company, and click the VAT4U Inbox tab.
If the inbox isn't active, click Request activation. The VAT4U team activates it for you.
Once it's active, a company administrator opens Smart Bcc settings and switches on Activate Smart Bcc module.
Copy the Smart Bcc Email address and add the addresses allowed to send to it under Authorized Email Addresses.
Under Automatic Expense Document Reception, every email sent to the expense address creates an expense for that company.
You can also connect a company or personal mailbox under Company email account settings and User email account settings.
From your expense or e-invoicing system (Connectors)
Connectors import expenses directly from the systems your company already uses. Open them in either of these places:
Companies › open the company › Connectors tab.
Add Expenses › Mass data import › I have my data in external system e.g. Concur/Captio.
The Connectors: Travel & Expense, Document Source and E-Invoicing
Click a connector to start. They are grouped as:
Travel & Expense Connectors, such as SAP Concur, Cytric, Emburse (Captio, Certify, Chrome River), Expensya, HRS, Rydoo, AirPlus, and VAT4U SFTP for file transfers.
Document Source Connectors, such as SharePoint.
E-Invoicing Connectors, such as KSeF for Polish e-invoices.
VAT4U also offers an API for transferring data from other systems. The link to the API documentation is shown above the connectors.
For setup steps, see the guides for each connector, for example the Emburse Connector Guide, and the KSeF Connector Guide.
Quick checklist
VAT Recovery › Add Expenses, choose the company, then One by One.
Upload the invoice (PDF, JPG, PNG, TIFF or XML, smaller than 5 MB).
Click Smart AI, or fill in the details by hand.
Check the country, vendor, VAT number, date, amounts and line items against the document.
Click Save.
Check that the Refund status is Ready. If it's Incomplete, fix the reason shown and save again.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I see a company in the list?
You can only add expenses for companies where your role allows it. Ask your company administrator or your VAT4U contact.
My file won't upload. Why?
Check that it's a PDF, JPG, PNG, TIFF or XML file and smaller than 5 MB. For a larger PDF, split it or compress the scan.
The Smart AI button is greyed out.
Upload a document first. Smart AI reads the document to fill in the details.
Can I add an expense without a document?
For some countries and invoice types, yes. The upload area tells you when the copy is optional. By saving without one, you confirm that you hold a compliant original. Where a copy is required, the expense stays Incomplete with Missing document until you upload it.
Why is my expense Incomplete when every field is filled in?
Look at the reason under Refund status. Common causes are an invalid VAT number format, a currency that doesn't match the country of refund, or a "to be verified" category on a line item.
Can I change an expense after saving it?
Yes. Open it from Manage Expenses, make your changes, and save again.