Scanning receipts and bulk upload

Receipts are an optional convenience: the app records your figures with or without them. When you do want to capture costs, you can scan a single receipt to auto-fill a transaction, attach a file to any transaction, or upload a batch and create transactions in one go.

What this is

Receipt capture is an optional convenience. Every transaction needs only a date, an amount and a category (against the property or business it belongs to). A description and a receipt are always optional. When you do want a receipt on file, there are three ways to add one:

• Scan to auto-fill: while adding a transaction, scan a receipt and let the app read the amount, date and vendor and suggest a category.
• Attach to a transaction: add one photo or PDF to any transaction as supporting evidence.
• Bulk upload: add up to 20 receipts at once, scan them all, then create transactions from them in one go.

Receipts are your own evidence. They are never sent to HMRC: your submissions carry category totals only.

Before you start

• You need to be signed in.
• Receipt capture and scanning are available on Free and MTD Lite.
• On Free, uploading or scanning a receipt both draw on one shared allowance of 5 a month, plus a 100 MB storage cap. MTD Lite is unlimited. See Plans and pricing.
• To bulk upload against a self-employment business, your account needs to include self-employment income. Bulk upload to a property works either way. See Do I have to scan receipts? for the short answer on whether you need receipts at all.

Scan a receipt to auto-fill

This runs on the Add Transaction form and saves typing.

1. Start a new transaction and find the Drop a receipt here dropzone (subtext "JPG, PNG, WebP or PDF · AI reads the amount, date, vendor and picks the HMRC category"). Use Choose file, drag and drop, or Use camera on mobile.
2. Add a receipt as a JPG, PNG, WebP or PDF, up to 5MB. (The camera option captures a photo.)
3. Wait while it shows AI extracting, cycling through messages such as "AI is reading the receipt" and "Detecting vendor".
4. Review the auto-filled amount, date and description (the vendor) and the suggested category. A "NN% confidence" note shows how much was read.
5. Adjust anything that is wrong, then save the transaction.

Tip: Scanning is always optional. If a scan reads nothing, just type the fields in by hand. Receipts are treated as expenses, so the scanned category is an expense suggestion you can change.

Attach a receipt to a transaction

Use this to keep a copy of evidence on an existing transaction.

1. Open the transaction (the details dialog, or the receipt cell on the Transactions list). Expense rows with no receipt show Add Receipt (Recommended).
2. Choose a JPEG, PNG, WebP or PDF file (max 5MB).
3. The file uploads and attaches automatically. The receipt cell then shows it as Attached (the details dialog shows View Receipt), and you click either to open it.
4. To replace it later, delete the existing receipt first, then upload the new one. Only one receipt is allowed per transaction.

Note: Deleting a receipt only unlinks it from the transaction. The file itself is kept for record-keeping, so the transaction is never affected and the file still counts towards your storage.

Bulk upload many receipts

Best when you have a stack of receipts to process together.

1. Open Bulk Receipt Upload from the Bulk Receipts button (camera icon) on the transactions header, or go to /transactions/bulk-receipts.
2. Choose the destination in the For: pill (a property, or a self-employment business if your account includes self-employment income).
3. Add receipts: use Take photo (on mobile), Browse files or Choose from library, or drag and drop onto the dropzone ("Drop receipts here"). You can add up to 20 per batch, each up to 5MB, as JPEG, PNG, WebP or PDF.
4. Each receipt uploads and scans automatically. The status strip shows how many are ready, need editing, or failed.
5. Edit any row that needs a date, amount or category before it can be created.
6. Click Create N Transactions to insert them all at once.

Important: A row can only be created once it has a date, an amount and a category, and a destination is selected in the For: pill. Rows still missing one of these stay marked as needing editing and the Create button stays disabled until you complete them.

Limits and storage

• Free: uploading or scanning a receipt both count against one shared allowance of 5 a month, with a 100 MB total storage cap.
• MTD Lite: unlimited receipts, scans and storage.
• Adding a transaction by hand, or importing from a CSV, never uses the receipt allowance.

If something goes wrong

• "You've reached your 5 receipt limit for this month." On Free, uploads and scans share one allowance of 5 a month. Wait until the next calendar month (it resets) or upgrade to MTD Lite. Typing transactions in or importing a CSV does not count.
• Scan returns nothing or 0% confidence. The receipt may be unreadable, or scanning is briefly unavailable. Type the fields in by hand: scanning is optional.
• "A receipt is already attached. Please delete it first before uploading a new one." Only one receipt is allowed per transaction. Delete the current one, then upload the replacement.
• "File too large. Maximum size is 5MB." or an invalid file type. Use a JPEG, PNG, WebP or PDF under 5MB.
• "This file would exceed your 100 MB storage limit." This is the Free storage cap. Remove receipts you no longer need or upgrade to MTD Lite for unlimited storage. Note that unlinking a receipt keeps the file, so it still counts towards storage.
• Bulk upload rejects the batch ("Please upload between 1 and 20 receipts."). Split it into batches of 20 or fewer.
• The bulk page sends you to an upgrade prompt. Receipt scanning is included on both Free and MTD Lite, so this only happens on an account with no active plan (for example an invite-only co-owner or a cancelled subscription). Start or restore a plan to use it. See Plans and pricing.

Frequently asked questions

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