Tracking your mileage expenses could not be easier with the Xero Add-on ‘Tripcatcher’. With a multitude of features to help you, you’ll never have to use a spreadsheet or forms again.
As accountants, one thing we notice month-to-month is the time burden businesses face keeping adequate records in addition to their already full days in running a business. It’s for this reason that we like to seek out innovative software to make this burden lighter and as Xero specialists this often comes in the form of an add-on such as Tripcatcher.
Easy and time saving? Sign me up.
Using Tripcatcher’s website or app to record your mileage expenses is both incredibly easy and a great time saver (more time to spend on on Facebook, when you should be working!). All you need to do is enter some simple details such as date, type of vehicle, reason and distance and Tripcatcher will do the rest.
If you have no desire to calculate the distance yourself (I can’t imagine many of you would), you have the option to enter the addresses instead. Tripcather will then use Google Maps to calculate the distance for you. No need to mental arithmetic here!
For the regular traveller
If you’re a regular business traveller, there are some additional features with you in mind. ‘Favourite Trips’ provides the option to save a trip you’ve made so that the next time you make the trip, there is no need for you to fill in the details again, these will be automatically populated. In a similar feature to this, ‘Recurring Trips’, if you’re work at a location for a few days, weeks or months, you can enter the details once, select a date range and Tripcatcher will create the individual recurring trips for you. Even MORE time saved!
Taxes
Keeping the taxman happy is an arduous but necessary part of business but luckily for you, Tripcatcher is there to help with this also. The software will use HMRC’s recommended rates for your business trips based on the type of vehicle and whether there are business passengers. Using this plus the distance calculator, Tripcatcher assists you to make both accurate and tax efficient claims.
For the business owners among you, you can also use Tripcatcher reclaim VAT on the fuel element of car business trips. By selecting the engine type of the car used, Tripcatcher will select the relevant VAT rate and include this information when the claims are submitted to your accounting software.
Two pieces of software, one cloud
Tripcatcher provides the option to integrate with both Xero and Receipt Bank. By connecting Tripcatcher to either software, with the click of a button you can publish your expense claims without the need of copy the information over yourself.
If you would like to find out more about the software, you can visit their website here. If you’d also like to find out more about how this software can benefit you and your business, you can contact the team at Bright Horizon here.