Syncing Trade2Base with Xero
The Trade2Base–Xero integration pushes invoices, payments, and contacts from Trade2Base into Xero automatically, eliminating double-entry and keeping your accounts up to date in real time. This guide covers connecting your Xero account, what gets synced, how VAT is handled, and what to do if something goes wrong.
Connecting Xero to Trade2Base
The connection uses Xero's secure OAuth flow — you never share your Xero password with Trade2Base. You'll need Admin access in both Trade2Base and your Xero organisation.
- In Trade2Base, go to Settings → Integrations → Xero.
- Click Connect with Xero. You'll be redirected to the Xero login page.
- Log in to Xero (or use an existing session) and select the organisation you want to link.
- Click Allow access to grant Trade2Base the required permissions.
- You'll be redirected back to Trade2Base. A green Connected badge will appear next to Xero in the Integrations list.
Only one Xero organisation can be connected per Trade2Base account. If you manage multiple Xero organisations, you'll need a separate Trade2Base account for each.
What Syncs Automatically
All sync is one-directional: from Trade2Base into Xero. Changes made directly in Xero are not reflected back in Trade2Base.
Invoices
When you mark an invoice as Sent in Trade2Base, a corresponding draft invoice is created in Xero. When you mark it Paid in Trade2Base, the Xero invoice is updated to Paid automatically. Invoice numbers, line items, and due dates are all carried across.
Payments
Payments recorded in Trade2Base (including Stripe payments) are synced to Xero as payment records against the corresponding invoice. The payment date and amount match exactly.
Contacts
When an invoice is synced, Trade2Base checks whether the customer already exists as a Xero contact (matched by email address). If not, a new Xero contact is created automatically using the customer's name, email, and billing address from Trade2Base.
How VAT Is Handled
Trade2Base maps its VAT rates to the corresponding Xero tax rates automatically. The standard mapping is:
- 20% Standard VAT → Xero Tax on Sales (20%)
- 5% Reduced VAT → Xero Tax on Sales (5%)
- 0% Zero-rated → Xero Zero Rated Income
- Exempt → Xero Exempt Income
- Outside scope → Xero No VAT
If your Xero account uses custom tax rate names, you can remap each Trade2Base VAT rate to the correct Xero rate from Settings → Integrations → Xero → VAT mapping.
Mapping Invoice Lines to Xero Account Codes
Each line item category in Trade2Base (e.g. Labour, Materials, Call-out charge) can be mapped to a Xero account code so that income is posted to the right account automatically.
Go to Settings → Integrations → Xero → Account code mapping. For each Trade2Base line-item category, select the corresponding Xero revenue account from the dropdown (populated from your Xero chart of accounts). Click Save mapping.
If a line item doesn't match any mapped category, it will fall back to your Xero organisation's default sales account. You can set or change that default from within Xero itself.
What Happens If a Sync Fails
If Trade2Base cannot push a record to Xero — for example, because of a temporary network issue or a Xero API error — it will automatically retry the sync up to three times over the following 30 minutes.
If all retries fail, the affected record is marked with a Sync failed badge in Trade2Base. You'll also receive an email notification. To view all sync failures, go to Settings → Integrations → Xero → Error log. Each entry shows the record type, the error message returned by Xero, and a Retry now button.
Common causes of sync failures include an expired Xero token (reconnect using the steps above), a locked Xero accounting period, or a mismatch between a tax rate or account code that no longer exists in Xero.
Disconnecting and Reconnecting Xero
To disconnect, go to Settings → Integrations → Xero and click Disconnect. This revokes Trade2Base's access to your Xero organisation. No data is deleted from either Trade2Base or Xero — all previously synced records remain intact.
While disconnected, new invoices will not sync to Xero. To reconnect, follow the connection steps above. After reconnecting, any invoices that failed to sync during the disconnection period can be manually retried from the Error log.
Already using QuickBooks instead? See our QuickBooks sync guide.
Still need help?
Contact our UK support team via live chat or email support@trade2base.com.