How to Migrate from Xero to Zoho Books — UK Business Guide

Xero is excellent accounting software. But UK businesses moving to Zoho Books are typically doing it for one of three reasons: cost (Zoho Books is significantly cheaper), native integration with Zoho CRM, or consolidating onto Zoho One. Whatever your reason, this guide covers the full migration process — including the UK-specific considerations that generic migration guides skip.

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Before You Start: What You're Actually Migrating

A Xero to Zoho Books migration involves:

| Data | Complexity | |---|---| | Chart of accounts | Low — one-time setup | | Customer and supplier contacts | Low — CSV export/import | | Open invoices and bills | Medium — need careful mapping | | Historical transactions | Medium — depends on how many years | | Bank reconciliation | Low — reconnect feeds after migration | | VAT records | Medium — requires manual verification | | Fixed assets | Medium — recreate in Zoho Books | | Opening balances | High — must be accurate for accounts to balance |

The most important rule: don't try to migrate everything. Migrate open transactions and opening balances. Historical closed transactions can stay in Xero (keep read-only access) for reference.

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Step 1: Choose Your Go-Live Date

Pick a clean date — usually the start of a new financial quarter or the beginning of a VAT period. This simplifies VAT reconciliation and makes your opening balances cleaner.

Recommended: Start of a new quarter (1 April, 1 July, 1 October, or 1 January).

This means any VAT return periods that straddle the migration date are handled in Xero. Zoho Books takes over from the new period start.

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Step 2: Export from Xero

Chart of Accounts

Settings → Chart of Accounts → Export. Xero exports this as a CSV with account codes, names, and types.

Contacts (Customers and Suppliers)

Contacts → All Contacts → Export. Include all contact details, payment terms, and VAT numbers.

Open Invoices

Reports → Aged Receivables → Export. Filter for invoices with outstanding balances only — these are the ones you need to import as open transactions.

Open Bills

Reports → Aged Payables → Export. Same approach — outstanding bills only.

Bank Transactions (for opening balance verification)

Account Transactions → Export for your bank accounts. You'll use this to verify your opening balance matches reality.

VAT Returns History

Reports → Tax → VAT Returns. Export your VAT return history so your accountant has the record. These don't import into Zoho Books — they're a reference document.

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Step 3: Set Up Zoho Books

Chart of Accounts

Import your Xero chart of accounts via Settings → Chart of Accounts → Import. Map Xero account types to Zoho Books account types:

| Xero | Zoho Books | |---|---| | Revenue | Income | | Direct Costs | Cost of Goods Sold | | Overhead | Expense | | Current Asset | Other Current Asset | | Fixed Asset | Fixed Asset | | Current Liability | Other Current Liability | | Non-current Liability | Long-term Liability | | Equity | Equity |

Keep your existing account codes — your accountant will expect them.

VAT Configuration

Set up VAT before importing any transactions:

• Enable VAT: Settings → Taxes → VAT Settings
• Enter your VAT registration number
• Select your VAT scheme (Standard Rate, Flat Rate, Cash Basis)
• Connect to HMRC for MTD

Bank Accounts

Create your bank accounts in Zoho Books before importing transactions. Go to Banking → Add Bank Account for each account.

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Step 4: Set Opening Balances

This is the critical step. Opening balances in Zoho Books need to match your Xero balance sheet at your chosen go-live date.

From Xero, export:

• Balance Sheet as at your go-live date (e.g., 31 March)
• Aged Receivables summary as at go-live date (total outstanding by customer)
• Aged Payables summary as at go-live date (total outstanding by supplier)

In Zoho Books: Go to Settings → Opening Balances. Enter each account balance from your Xero balance sheet. The system will flag if debits don't equal credits — fix any discrepancies before proceeding.

Import open invoices after setting overall opening balances — Zoho Books will automatically create the debtors balance from open invoices.

Import open bills similarly — the creditors balance builds from open bills.

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Step 5: Import Contacts and Transactions

Contacts

Go to Contacts → Import. Map the Xero CSV columns to Zoho Books contact fields. Critical mappings:

• Payment terms (match your Xero defaults)
• VAT number (for B2B customers)
• Currency (for multi-currency customers)

Open Invoices

Go to Invoices → Import. Use the outstanding invoice list exported from Xero. These import as open invoices in Zoho Books with their original dates and amounts — matching your opening balance.

Open Bills

Same process for bills — go to Bills → Import.

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Step 6: Reconnect Bank Feeds

Don't try to import historical bank transactions from Xero. Instead:

1. Connect your bank accounts via Open Banking (Settings → Banking → Connect Bank)
2. Set the feed start date to your go-live date
3. Transactions from the go-live date onwards will flow in automatically
4. Manually enter the bank opening balance matching your Xero balance sheet

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Step 7: MTD Reconnection

After go-live, reconnect Zoho Books to HMRC for MTD:

Go to Settings → Integrations → HMRC → Connect to HMRC

Re-authorise Zoho Books on the HMRC government gateway. Your open VAT obligations will appear. Do not submit a VAT return for any period that straddles the migration date — handle those in Xero.

Your first Zoho Books VAT return should be a complete VAT period that starts on or after your go-live date.

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What to Do with Xero After Migration

Keep Xero active for at least 6 months in read-only mode. You'll need it to:

• Look up historical transactions
• Reference closed periods for your accountant
• Handle any VAT queries from HMRC about pre-migration periods

After 12 months, you can cancel Xero or downgrade to the cheapest plan for archive access.

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UK-Specific Considerations

Pension auto-enrolment: If you use Xero for pension contribution tracking alongside payroll, set up the equivalent in Zoho People + Payroll before migrating HR data.

PAYE references: If Xero is connected to HMRC's PAYE system, those connections are separate from the accounting migration. Your payroll records stay in Xero Payroll until you're ready to migrate payroll separately.

Prior period VAT amendments: If you need to submit a VAT correction for a prior Xero period after migration, submit it through Xero — not Zoho Books. Zoho Books only knows about periods from your go-live date onwards.

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Realistic Timeline

| Phase | Duration | |---|---| | Xero data export and cleanup | 1–2 days | | Zoho Books setup (COA, VAT, users) | 1–2 days | | Opening balances and validation | 1–2 days | | Contact and transaction import | 1 day | | Bank feed reconnection | 1 day | | MTD reconnection and test | 1 day | | Accountant review | 1–3 days | | Total | ~1–2 weeks |

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VoltVave handles Xero to Zoho Books migrations for UK businesses — including full MTD reconfiguration, chart of accounts mapping, opening balance setup, and accountant onboarding. Get in touch for a free scope assessment.