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How to Go Paperless as an Australian Small Business Using Xero (2026)
Going paperless in Australia means connecting your email inbox to Xero so financial documents flow in automatically rather than getting re-keyed by hand. For most small businesses, this requires two things: your business email (Gmail or Missive) and Xero. eggz connects them and handles the extraction, so invoices, bills, and quotes stop piling up as manual entry tasks.
What "paperless" actually means for a small business
There are two distinct problems when people talk about going paperless:
Problem 1: Physical paper — receipts, invoices by post, statements from suppliers that arrive as printed documents. This requires scanning or photographing.
Problem 2: Digital documents that still require manual re-keying — PDF invoices attached to emails, quote requests, bills from suppliers. These are already "digital" but still require someone to open Xero, find the right account, enter the figures, and post. This is where most small businesses lose the most time.
Most guides focus on problem 1. Problem 2 is where the actual hours go for a typical Australian service business. An email arrives with a supplier invoice attached. Someone has to download the PDF, open Xero, create a new bill, fill in the vendor, date, amount, and GST code, then save it as a draft. Multiply by 30 supplier invoices a month and you're looking at 2-3 hours of low-value admin.
eggz solves problem 2. You still need a scanning app or dedicated tool (like Dext's mobile app) for physical paper.
The core setup: Gmail + eggz + Xero
For email-based document automation, the setup is:
- Gmail or Missive (your inbox)
- eggz (reads emails, extracts document data)
- Xero (receives the structured records)
When a supplier sends you an invoice by email, eggz picks it up, extracts the vendor name, invoice number, date, line items, and GST, and creates a draft bill in Xero. You review the draft, approve it, and it's posted. No data entry.
When a client emails asking for a quote, you build the quote in eggz using saved line item templates, it syncs to Xero, and when the client approves, eggz converts it to a Xero invoice automatically.
This covers the document flow for most service businesses. The physical paper problem — receipts from hardware stores, petrol stations, coffee for meetings — is handled separately with a mobile capture app.
Tools you'll need
| Purpose | Tool | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Email-to-Xero automation (invoices, bills, quotes) | eggz | ~$29 AUD/month |
| Physical receipt capture | Dext (mobile app) | ~$38 AUD/month |
| Cloud document storage | Xero Files (included with Xero) | Free |
| Invoice reminders | Xero (built-in) | Free |
| Debtor chasing | Chaser | ~$55 AUD/month |
Most small businesses start with eggz for the email automation and add Dext if they have significant physical receipt volumes. The combination covers 80-90% of the typical document workload.
Going paperless in practice: step by step
Step 1: Connect eggz to your Gmail or Missive Sign up at app.eggz.ai and connect your business email via OAuth. eggz monitors your inbox for financial documents — no forwarding required.
Step 2: Connect eggz to your Xero account Authorise eggz to access your Xero organisation. eggz will use your existing contacts, accounts, and tax settings when it creates records.
Step 3: Set up supplier rules Add your regular suppliers so eggz recognises their invoices and codes them to the correct Xero account automatically. New suppliers get flagged for manual review the first time.
Step 4: Set up quote templates If you send quotes to clients, save your standard service lines as templates in eggz. This makes building a quote from a client email request a 2-minute task.
Step 5: Enable Xero invoice reminders In Xero Settings, turn on automatic payment reminders for outgoing invoices. Once invoices are in Xero via eggz, reminders run without you following up manually.
Step 6: Handle physical paper separately For paper invoices and receipts, use Dext's mobile app. Photograph the document, it extracts the data, and pushes it to Xero as a draft. Combine this with eggz for complete coverage.
Step 7: Tell suppliers to email invoices The biggest leverage point. If you have suppliers who still post paper invoices, ask them to switch to email. Most will. This eliminates the scanning step entirely for those suppliers.
Three statistics worth knowing
The Australian Taxation Office accepts digital records in place of paper for all business tax purposes, provided the digital copy is a true and clear reproduction and is retained for five years (ATO, 2025).
Research from Xero found that Australian small business owners spend an average of six hours per week on financial administration tasks, with manual data entry from invoices and bills accounting for a significant share of that time (Xero Small Business Insights, 2025).
Xero reports that Australian businesses using integrated add-ons spend less time on compliance tasks at year end, with bookkeepers and accountants citing better-organised digital records as the primary time saver at BAS and tax time (Xero Partner Report, 2025).
Common questions about going paperless in Australia
Is it legal to go paperless in Australia? Yes. The ATO accepts digital records for all business tax purposes, including GST claims and deductions, as long as the records are accurate, legible, and retained for the required period (generally five years). You don't need to keep paper originals if you have a valid digital copy.
What counts as a valid digital record for the ATO? A clear, legible digital copy of the original document. This can be a scanned image, a PDF received by email, or a record created by your accounting software. The ATO doesn't require a specific file format, but the document must be readable and complete.
Can I claim GST on a digital invoice? Yes. GST claims require a valid tax invoice. A PDF invoice received by email is a valid tax invoice if it includes the supplier's ABN, GST amount, and the required invoice details. eggz extracts this information and codes it correctly in Xero.
What happens to paper invoices I've already received? You can photograph or scan them using Dext's mobile app or a scanner, then delete or shred the paper originals once the digital copy is confirmed. For paper documents older than 5 years, they can generally be destroyed.
Does eggz handle both inbound bills and outbound invoices? Yes. eggz processes inbound supplier bills from your email inbox and lets you create outbound quotes and invoices that sync to Xero. It covers both directions of the document flow.
How does eggz handle attachments in email threads? eggz monitors your inbox for emails with financial document attachments. It extracts data from PDF and image attachments. If an email thread has multiple attachments, eggz processes each one as a separate candidate record for your review.
Do I need an accountant to set this up? No. eggz and the Xero connection are set up by the business owner directly, without technical help or an accountant. The OAuth connections to Gmail and Xero are point-and-click. Your accountant will benefit from better-organised Xero data at BAS and tax time.
What if I run both Gmail and Missive? eggz connects to both. If you use Gmail for personal client communication and Missive for team inboxes, you can connect both to eggz and process documents from either source.
Start free with eggz — connect Gmail or Missive to Xero and automate your document flow. Founding member pricing available for the first 100 customers.