Biller Genie integrates with Xero so your customers and invoices stay in sync between the two systems automatically. That said, the Xero integration doesn't have full feature parity with Biller Genie's QuickBooks Online integration — some Biller Genie features that QBO users rely on aren't available on Xero. This article explains what syncs, what doesn't, and the manual workflows you'll use for the features that can't be automated.
What syncs between Xero and Biller Genie
The two systems share customer and invoice data. The table below shows what flows where:
| Data | Xero → Biller Genie | Biller Genie → Xero |
|---|---|---|
| Customers (contacts) | ✓ Syncs | ✓ Syncs |
| Invoices | ✓ Syncs | ⚠ Fees only (late fees, technology fees added as line items) |
| Items / line items | ✓ Syncs | ✓ System items created |
| Chart of Accounts | ✓ Syncs | ✗ Not modified |
| Email addresses | ✓ Syncs | ✓ Syncs |
| Contact Groups → Customer Types | ✓ Syncs | ✗ Not synced |
| Payments / payment records | ✓ Syncs | ⚠ Indirect (Biller Genie marks invoice paid via fee/payment line) |
| Refunds | ✗ Not synced | ✗ Not synced |
| Sales receipts | ✗ Not synced | ✗ Not synced |
Feature parity with QuickBooks Online
Several Biller Genie features that work with QuickBooks Online aren't supported when your account is connected to Xero. If any of these are important to your workflow, plan around the limitation or consider QuickBooks Online instead.
| Feature | QuickBooks Online | Xero | Workaround for Xero |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refunds (credit memo sync) | ✓ | ✗ | Issue refund in Biller Genie, then record manually in Xero |
| Automatic Batch Reconciliation (ABR) | ✓ | ✗ | Reconcile bank deposits manually in Xero |
| Sales receipts (immediate-payment docs) | ✓ | ✗ | Use an invoice with immediate payment instead |
| Bill With Parent (parent pays sub-customer) | ✓ | ✗ | Manage each sub-customer's billing individually |
| Sub-customers / hierarchy | ✓ | ⚠ Limited | Xero Projects appear as sub-customers; see "Projects" section |
| Auto-sync toggle in Biller Genie UI | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Webhook-driven real-time sync | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Custom fields on invoices | ✓ | ✗ | Use Xero's built-in invoice fields |
| Full history resync (one-click) | ✓ | ✗ | Contact Biller Genie support for a manual resync |
| Auto open button for customer / invoice (jump to record in source) | ✓ | ✗ | Open Xero in a new tab manually |
| Attachment forwarding to invoices | ✓ | ✗ | Add attachments in Xero directly |
Why the gap exists
QuickBooks Online's API exposes a richer set of entities (Refund Receipt, Sales Receipt, sub-customer hierarchy) that map cleanly to Biller Genie's features. Xero's API and document model are simpler — for example, Xero treats sales receipts as just a paid invoice rather than a separate document type. Some gaps are technical (no Xero equivalent), some are integration scope (Biller Genie hasn't built the Xero version yet). When parity matters for your workflow, QuickBooks Online is the more complete integration.
Recording refunds and voids manually in Xero
When you issue a refund or void a transaction in Biller Genie for a Xero merchant, the invoice in Xero still shows as paid because Biller Genie can't sync the refund back. To keep your books accurate, record it manually:
- Log in to Xero and locate the invoice the refund or void is for.
- Click the payment line on the invoice and remove the payment. The invoice reopens with the original outstanding balance.
- If you want to fully credit the customer, create a Credit Note in Xero for the refunded amount and apply it to the invoice (or leave it as a credit on their account).
This is a known limitation. Refund sync to Xero is on the roadmap but not yet available. For workflows that depend on automatic refund sync, the QuickBooks Online integration is the better fit.
Sales receipts in Xero
Xero doesn't have a separate "sales receipt" document type — what Biller Genie calls a sales receipt (an immediate-payment document) is just a regular invoice in Xero that gets paid on the same day it's issued. The result is similar; the document type is different.
If you need the QuickBooks Online "Sales Receipt" syncing behavior (a distinct entity in your accounting software), QBO is the only option. With Xero, every transaction is an invoice — Biller Genie syncs the invoice and marks it paid; you don't have a separate sales-receipt entity in your books.
Automatic Batch Reconciliation (ABR) — not available on Xero
Biller Genie's ABR add-on automatically reconciles deposit batches against your bank feed in QuickBooks Online. The feature isn't available for Xero merchants — when you have Xero connected, the ABR add-on is removed from your Add-ons Marketplace entirely, so you won't see it as an option.
If you need automated batch reconciliation, do it manually in Xero: open the bank feed, find the Biller Genie deposit, and match it against the invoices in that batch. The "Bulk Autopay" report in Biller Genie shows which invoices were included in each deposit, which makes the manual match easier.
Projects (Xero's version of sub-customers)
In Xero, sub-customers are called Projects. Each Project is linked to a parent Contact (customer). When a Xero customer has Projects, they appear in Biller Genie as sub-customers under the parent contact. The relationship is one level deep — sub-projects of projects aren't supported.
How Xero Projects appear in Biller Genie
- All customers and their Projects appear in the Biller Genie customer list after syncing.
- Projects show with an info icon next to the name. Hovering over the icon shows the name of the parent Contact.
- Biller Genie refers to all sub-customer types as "sub-customers," regardless of whether they're called Projects in Xero.
Creating a new Project in Xero
- In Xero, click the Projects tab.
- Click All Projects, then New Project.
- Select the Contact (customer) you want to associate with the Project from the dropdown.
- Complete the project details and save.
Once the next sync runs (typically within seconds via webhook, or at the next scheduled polling sync), the new Project appears in Biller Genie as a sub-customer under the associated Contact. Projects cannot be created in Biller Genie — they must be created in Xero first.
Changing a Project's parent Contact
Projects in Xero must always be connected to a Contact; they can't exist on their own. To move a Project to a different Contact:
- In Xero, go to Projects and click Overview.
- Click the three-dot menu next to the Project and select Edit.
- Use the Contact dropdown to select the new parent Contact.
- Save the change. On the next sync, Biller Genie updates the Project's parent.
Project limitations in Biller Genie
- Projects can't be detached from a Contact. Xero requires every Project to have a parent.
- Bill With Parent isn't available for Xero. Each Project's billing, reminders, and autopay must be managed individually on the sub-customer record. The Bill With Parent feature is QuickBooks Online only.
- Display Invoices with Parent works one level deep. If you turn on Display Invoices with Parent for the parent Contact, that Contact's portal view includes its Projects' invoices.
Customer Types from Xero Contact Groups
Xero's Contact Groups map to Biller Genie's Customer Types. If you've grouped your Xero contacts into Groups (Wholesale, Retail, etc.), those Groups appear as Customer Types in Biller Genie and you can apply different defaults to each type.
Contact Groups are managed in Xero (Biller Genie can't create them) and sync over on each Biller Genie sync.
Multi-currency
Xero supports multi-currency invoicing on certain plans, but Biller Genie doesn't currently expose multi-currency handling for Xero merchants. If your Xero organization uses multiple currencies, Biller Genie syncs amounts as the raw numbers — without currency conversion — which can cause inaccurate totals and reporting in Biller Genie. Single-currency Xero organizations work fine.
Draft invoices in Xero
Xero invoices have three statuses: Draft, Authorised, and Paid. Biller Genie only syncs Authorised (and later Paid, Voided, Deleted) invoices — drafts are skipped because they're not yet considered "real" invoices in Xero.
If you create an invoice in Biller Genie but it doesn't appear in Xero (or vice versa), check the invoice's status in Xero. Drafts won't sync until you Approve them in Xero, which moves them to Authorised.
Tax handling
Xero handles tax differently from QuickBooks Online. In QBO, each line item has an explicit tax code. In Xero, tax is inferred from the account the line item posts to — so a "Sales — Taxable" account applies the configured tax rate automatically.
What this means in Biller Genie: tax on Xero invoices appears as the calculated tax total but Biller Genie doesn't expose Xero's per-line tax codes in its UI. Late fees and technology fees added by Biller Genie inherit the tax setting of the Sales Account configured for those items in Xero. If you need fine-grained tax control per line item, configure that in Xero before the invoice syncs to Biller Genie.
Frequently asked questions
Why isn't my refund showing up in Xero?
Refund sync to Xero isn't available — the refund is recorded in Biller Genie (and in your payment gateway), but you need to record it manually in Xero. See the "Recording refunds and voids manually in Xero" section above.
My deposit batches don't reconcile automatically. How do I get ABR?
ABR isn't available for Xero merchants. You'd reconcile deposits manually in Xero or, if automated batch reconciliation is critical to your workflow, switch to QuickBooks Online (which supports ABR).
Can I have parent customer pay all my sub-customers' invoices?
Not with Xero. Bill With Parent is a QuickBooks Online-only feature. With Xero, each Project (sub-customer) handles its own billing, autopay, and reminders independently — you can't route them all through the parent's payment method.
I see my Xero Project as a sub-customer in Biller Genie, but it doesn't have its own settings page.
Projects appear as sub-customers in Biller Genie and have their own customer record with their own settings — open the customer list, find the Project, and click into it. Each Project has its own per-customer overrides for things like reminders and autopay configuration.
What if I create an invoice in Biller Genie? Does it show up in Xero?
Invoices created directly in Biller Genie sync to Xero, but the integration is optimized for the pattern where invoices are created in Xero and Biller Genie picks them up. If you primarily create invoices in Biller Genie, double-check that they're appearing in Xero as expected after the next sync, and verify their status (Draft vs. Authorised) in Xero.
Can I disconnect Xero without losing data?
Yes. Disconnecting removes the Biller Genie ↔ Xero authorization but leaves all your already-synced customers and invoices in Biller Genie. You won't receive new updates from Xero until you reconnect.