Invoice Sync for Xero

Invoice Sync for Xero automatically creates Xero invoices whenever a customer places an order in your WooCommerce store — contacts, line items, taxes, shipping, fees, and payment records are all included with no manual data entry required.

Before You Begin

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Before starting the setup, make sure you have the following ready:

• An active Xero subscription (or a free Xero developer account with a demo organisation for testing).
• Access to the Xero Developer Portal — you will need to log in with the same Xero account you use for your business organisation.
• Your WordPress site must be accessible over HTTPS. Xero requires a secure redirect URI when authorising third-party apps.
• You know your WordPress admin URL — typically https://yourstore.com/wp-admin/. You will need to enter this as the redirect URI in both Xero and the plugin settings.

Step 1 — Create a Xero App

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The plugin connects to Xero using OAuth 2.0. You need to register a Xero app to get a Client ID and Client Secret that the plugin will use to authenticate on your behalf. This is a one-time setup that takes around five minutes.

Register the app

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1. Go to https://developer.xero.com/app/manage and sign in with your Xero account.
2. Click New app.



3. Fill in the form as follows:
   • App name — Enter any name that helps you identify this connection, for example My Store – WooCommerce.
   • Integration type — Select Web app.
   • Will you use Xero data to train, fine-tune, adapt, or enhance an AI model? — Select No.
   • Do you understand and agree to meet Xero’s minimum security requirements? — Tick this checkbox.
   • Company or application URL — Enter your store’s homepage URL, for example https://yourstore.com.
   • OAuth 2.0 redirect URI — Enter your WordPress admin URL: https://yourstore.com/wp-admin/. This must match exactly what you will enter in the plugin settings. Include the trailing slash.
   • I have read and agree to the Xero Developer Platform Terms & Conditions — Tick this checkbox.
4. Click Create app.

Copy your credentials

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1. After the app is created, you are taken to the app’s detail page. Click Configuration in the left sidebar.
2. The redirect URI you entered is shown here — confirm it matches your WordPress admin URL.
3. Copy the Client ID value shown on this page and keep it somewhere safe.
4. Click Generate a secret. Xero will display the Client Secret once — copy it immediately and store it securely. If you navigate away without copying it, you will need to generate a new one.

You now have a Client ID, a Client Secret, and a redirect URI. Keep these ready for the next step.

Step 2 — Connect the Plugin to Xero

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1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Invoice Sync for Xero > Settings, or go to WooCommerce > Settings and click the Xero Invoice Sync tab.
2. You will be on the API tab. Tick the Enable Automatic Sync checkbox.
3. Paste your Client ID into the Client ID field.
4. Paste your Client Secret into the Client Secret field.
5. Enter your Redirect URI — this must be exactly the same URL you entered in the Xero Developer Portal (e.g. https://yourstore.com/wp-admin/).
6. Click Save changes.
7. Click the Connect to Xero button. You will be redirected to Xero to authorise the connection.
8. On the Xero authorisation screen, click Allow access.



9. You are redirected back to your WordPress admin. The settings page will show a Connected to Xero status indicator, and the Tenant ID field will be populated automatically.

The connection is now active. Xero access tokens are refreshed automatically in the background — you should not need to reconnect unless you revoke access from within Xero.

Step 3 — Configure Tax Settings

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Tax configuration is the most important part of the setup. Getting this wrong is the most common cause of invoices showing incorrect totals or a warning line in Xero. There are two places you need to configure tax: WooCommerce and the plugin’s Mapping tab.

Part A: Configure WooCommerce tax

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The plugin takes tax amounts directly from WooCommerce and passes them to Xero. This means WooCommerce must have tax rates configured, otherwise the tax amount passed to Xero will be zero and your invoices will not reflect the correct GST or VAT.

1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > General and make sure Enable taxes is ticked. If it is not visible, enable it and save first.
2. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Tax.
3. Under the Standard Rates tab, click Insert row and add your tax rate. For example:
   • Australia (GST): Country AU, Rate 10.0000, Tax Name GST, tick Compound and Shipping
   • UK (VAT): Country GB, Rate 20.0000, Tax Name VAT, tick Shipping
   • New Zealand (GST): Country NZ, Rate 15.0000, Tax Name GST, tick Shipping
4. Click Save changes.

If your store sells tax-exempt products, or you operate in a region with no sales tax, you do not need to add a tax rate — but you must then set the plugin’s tax type to a zero-rated or exempt Xero tax type (see Part B below).

Part B: Set the Xero tax type

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The Xero tax type tells Xero how to categorise the tax for your Profit & Loss and tax return (e.g. BAS in Australia, VAT Return in the UK). It does not affect the invoice total — the actual tax amount always comes from WooCommerce.

1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Xero Invoice Sync > Mapping.
2. Click the Default Tax Type dropdown. The list is populated with the tax types from your connected Xero organisation.
3. Choose the tax type that matches how your sales are taxed. The table below shows common selections by region:

Region	Recommended Tax Type	When to use
Australia	GST on Income (OUTPUT2 / GST)	Standard 10% GST on taxable sales
Australia	BAS Excluded	Sales outside the scope of GST (e.g. financial supplies)
Australia	GST Free Income	Products that are genuinely GST-exempt (fresh food, medical)
United Kingdom	Tax on Sales (OUTPUT)	Standard 20% VAT sales
United Kingdom	Lower Rate (OUTPUT2)	Reduced rate 5% VAT sales
United Kingdom	Zero Rated Income	0% VAT sales (books, children’s clothing)
New Zealand	GST on Income (OUTPUT2)	Standard 15% GST on taxable sales
No tax / global	Tax Exempt / No GST	Stores with no sales tax or fully exempt sales

Important: Always choose an OUTPUT type (for sales). Never select an INPUT type — INPUT types are for supplier invoices and purchases only. Selecting an INPUT type will cause Xero to reject the invoice with a validation error.

Shipping tax type (optional)

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If your store charges tax on shipping at a different rate than your products — for example, if shipping is taxed at a reduced or zero rate — you can set a separate Shipping Tax Type on the Mapping tab. If you leave this blank, shipping will use the same tax type as your products.

Step 4 — Configure Mapping Settings

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Still on the Mapping tab, complete the remaining fields:

• Sales Account Code — Select the Xero account code that your product and fee revenue should be posted to. This is typically your main sales income account (e.g. 200 – Sales in a standard Xero chart of accounts). If you are unsure, check with your accountant.
• Invoice Due in Days — Sets the payment due date on invoices in Xero. For example, entering 14 means invoices will show a due date 14 days after the order date. The default is 14 days.
• Update Existing Contacts — When ticked, the plugin will update a customer’s phone number and address in Xero every time they place an order. This is useful for keeping contact records current. Untick this if you manage contact details manually in Xero and do not want them overwritten.

Click Save changes when done.

Step 5 — Configure Behavior Settings

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Click the Behavior tab to control when the sync triggers and whether payments are recorded:

• Create Invoice Immediately on Order — When ticked, the Xero invoice is created as soon as the order is placed, regardless of payment status. This is useful if you accept bank transfers (BACS), cheques, or other offline payment methods where the order exists before payment is confirmed. If you only accept online payments (card, PayPal), you can leave this unticked — invoices will be created when the order reaches Processing status.
• Create Payment on Paid — When ticked, the plugin will automatically record a payment against the Xero invoice when the WooCommerce order is marked as paid. This keeps your Xero accounts receivable up to date without any manual input.
• Payment Account Code — If Create Payment on Paid is ticked, select the Xero bank or clearing account where payments should be recorded (e.g. 090 – Business Bank Account). Ask your accountant which account to use if you are unsure.
• Enable Debug Logging — Tick this only when troubleshooting. It writes detailed information about every sync attempt to a log file you can view at WooCommerce > Status > Logs (look for a log named wc-xero). Leave it unticked in normal operation to keep your logs clean.

Click Save changes.

Usage

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Automatic sync

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Once setup is complete, the plugin works automatically in the background. Every time an order reaches the trigger status (Processing or Completed), a Xero invoice is created with:

• The customer matched or created as a Xero contact, looked up by email address to help reduce duplicate contacts.
• All product line items, with quantities, prices, and your mapped account code and tax type.
• Shipping charges as a separate line item, using the configured shipping tax type.
• Any order fees (payment surcharges, handling fees) as individual line items.
• Tax amounts taken directly from WooCommerce to keep Xero invoice totals aligned with WooCommerce order totals.
• The invoice date set to the WooCommerce order date, not the sync date.
• The invoice currency set to the WooCommerce order currency.

After a successful sync, an order note is added to the WooCommerce order with a direct link to the created Xero invoice. If the sync fails, the error is recorded as an order note and the customer’s checkout experience is not affected.

Manual sync

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You can send any individual order to Xero at any time, even if automatic sync is disabled:

1. Open the order in WooCommerce > Orders.
2. Find the Order Actions panel on the right side of the screen.
3. Select Send to Xero as Invoice from the dropdown.
4. Click Update.

The result — success or error — will appear as an order note immediately.

Troubleshooting

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Invoice not created after an order is placed
Check that Enable Automatic Sync is ticked under WooCommerce > Settings > Xero Invoice Sync > API. Also check the connection status indicator on that same page — if the token has expired or the connection was revoked, click Connect to Xero to reconnect. Finally, check the order’s notes section for any error message recorded at the time of the order.

Xero invoice shows an “Includes adjustments to tax” line
This message appears in Xero when the tax amount on the invoice does not match what Xero expects based on its own tax rate calculations. The most common cause is that WooCommerce has no tax rates configured, so the tax amount passed to Xero is zero. To fix this: go to WooCommerce > Settings > General and enable Enable taxes, then go to WooCommerce > Settings > Tax > Standard Rates and add your local tax rate. If your products are genuinely tax-free, set the plugin’s Default Tax Type to a zero-rated or exempt type such as GST Free Income or No GST so that Xero does not expect any tax at all.

Invoice created but the tax amount is wrong
The tax amount on the Xero invoice is sourced directly from WooCommerce. If the amount looks wrong, the issue is almost always in WooCommerce’s tax configuration — check that the correct tax rate is applied to your products and shipping under WooCommerce > Settings > Tax. Also confirm that the products in your store have the correct tax class assigned (on each product’s edit page).

Error: “The tax type code is invalid” or invoice rejected by Xero
You have selected an INPUT tax type (used for supplier purchases) instead of an OUTPUT type (used for sales). Go to the Mapping tab and change the Default Tax Type to an OUTPUT type. Refer to the tax type table in Step 3 above for guidance.

Error: “The contact name must be unique”
Xero requires every contact to have a unique name. The plugin handles this automatically by appending a unique identifier when a duplicate name is detected. If the error persists, it is likely there are multiple contacts in Xero with the exact same name — open Xero, search for the contact name, and merge or rename the duplicates.

Invoice created but shows the wrong currency
Xero must have multi-currency enabled, and the currency used in WooCommerce must already be added to your Xero organisation before orders are synced. Go to your Xero organisation settings and add the required currency under Currencies.

Connect to Xero button redirects but returns an error
Double-check that the Redirect URI in the plugin settings exactly matches the OAuth 2.0 redirect URI entered in your Xero app’s Configuration page — including the trailing slash. Even a single character difference will cause the authorisation to fail.

Where do I find sync error details?
Enable Debug Logging in WooCommerce > Settings > Xero Invoice Sync > Behavior, then place a test order (or manually trigger a sync) and view the log at WooCommerce > Status > Logs. Look for a log file named wc-xero. Individual order errors are always recorded as order notes regardless of whether debug logging is enabled.

FAQs

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