How to turn purchase invoices into Excel for the monthly tax return

Every month the same job comes back: a folder of supplier invoices has to become a list with the date, invoice number, supplier, tax number, amount, VAT and total. Typed by hand, a hundred invoices take most of a day. This guide shows how to do it in minutes and still check every number.

What you need

• The month's invoices as PDFs, scans or phone photos
• An Invoice Extractor account (the first 20 invoices are free)
• The exchange rate you use for the month

Steps

1. Put the invoices together. One PDF with many invoices is fine, and so are separate photos.
2. Open the Workspace and choose Expense for purchases.
3. Upload the files. Each invoice becomes one row: date, invoice number, vendor, TIN, description, amount, VAT and total.
4. Check the rows. Anything that does not add up, or looks like a duplicate, carries a warning and is left unticked until you have looked at it.
5. Correct what needs correcting by clicking the cell, as in a spreadsheet.
6. Export to Excel. The file has a summary sheet and a detail sheet, in USD and KHR.

Tips for cleaner results

• If your supplier emails the invoice as a PDF, upload that file rather than a scan of the printout. It reads faster and more exactly.
• Photograph paper invoices flat, in good light, one invoice per photo.
• When the invoice prints no exchange rate, the rate you set is used and shown in italics in Excel, so you can see which ones were assumed.
• Always look at the rows with warnings before you export. The software reads; you decide.

What it does not do

It does not file your return and it does not replace your accountant's judgement. It removes the typing, so your time goes into checking.