Automate Xero invoices with Make: a UK VAT-safe setup
Turn orders or jobs into Xero invoices with Make, pick the right UK VAT rate from your own Xero, and keep a person in control before anything is sent.
Published · Updated · By Edgars Lapins
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If you take orders on one system and invoice in Xero, someone in your business is probably retyping the same details every week. Make (make.com) can move them across for you. The risk is not the automation itself: it is an invoice going out with the wrong contact, the wrong account code or the wrong VAT. This guide shows a setup that avoids all three. It is based on Make’s Xero app documentation and Xero’s published API specification, not on our own test build.
Checked 13 October 2026 on Make's Xero app documentation and Xero’s API specification.
What Make can do in Xero
According to Make’s documentation, its Xero app can work with contacts, invoices, credit notes, payments, items, quotes, purchase orders, tax rates, bank transactions and more. For invoicing, the useful modules are:
- Watch Invoices, Create an Invoice, Update an Invoice and Search for Invoices
- Search for Contacts and Create a Contact
- Search for Tax Rates
- Send an Invoice via Email and Get a Sales Invoice PDF
You connect Xero once, choosing the permissions (scopes) the modules need. Make lists the scopes each module requires, for example accounting.transactions, accounting.contacts and accounting.settings for Create an Invoice.
The scenario, step by step
- Trigger on the new order or job. For example a new row in a spreadsheet, a new order in your shop, or a form submission.
- Find the contact. Use Search for Contacts by email address. If there is no match, use Create a Contact. This stops Xero filling with duplicate customers, the same problem we cover in our guide to website enquiries and duplicate CRM contacts.
- Pick the VAT rate from your own Xero. Use Search for Tax Rates and map each product or service type to the right rate. Do not type “20%” into the scenario.
- Create the invoice as a draft. Set the account code, the tax rate per line and a clear reference (such as the order number) so you can spot duplicates.
- Approve and send. A person reviews the drafts, approves them in Xero and sends them, or a later step uses Send an Invoice via Email once you trust the mapping.
Getting UK VAT right
GOV.UK lists the standard rate of VAT as 20%, with a reduced rate of 5% and a zero rate for some goods and services. Some supplies are exempt or outside the scope of VAT. That is why a single hard-coded rate is risky.
In Xero’s API, each invoice line carries a tax type. Xero’s published API specification shows codes such as OUTPUT2 on a standard sales account, but the safest approach is not to rely on codes you have read anywhere, including here. Instead:
- run Search for Tax Rates against your own Xero organisation and use the rates it returns
- keep a small mapping table (for example in a spreadsheet or a Make data store): product type, account code, Xero tax rate
- flag any line that does not match the table, rather than guessing
If you are not sure how a product or service should be treated for VAT, ask your accountant before you automate it.
Draft or approved?
Xero’s API allows an invoice to be created with the status DRAFT, SUBMITTED or AUTHORISED. Start with DRAFT:
- a draft can be edited freely before it is approved
- once an invoice is approved, corrections usually mean voiding it or raising a credit note
- drafts give you a weekly check point while you build trust in the mapping
When a few months of drafts have needed no corrections, you can consider approving and emailing automatically for simple, standard cases only.
Avoid hitting Xero’s limits
Make’s documentation warns that since 1 September 2024 Xero enforces volume limits on GET endpoints. Scenarios that run Search Contacts, Search Invoices, Search Manual Journals or Search Payments heavily may slow down or stop. Practical steps:
- search by a precise value (an email address or order number), not by broad filters
- trigger on new orders rather than polling every few minutes
- store the Xero contact ID against the customer in your source system once found, so you do not search again
What it costs to run
Make bills in credits, and most module actions use 1 credit, according to Make. As a rough estimate, each invoice uses about 4 to 6 credits, so 100 invoices a month is around 500 credits. Checks by a scheduled trigger also use credits, even when nothing is new, so use an instant trigger (a webhook) or a less frequent schedule. Limit Search for Tax Rates to one result, or keep the rates in a data store. Check your real usage in the scenario history and Make's pricing page before choosing a plan. You also need a Xero subscription (xero.com). For how credits work, see our Make review.
Before you go live: checklist
- A new customer creates exactly one Xero contact
- A repeat customer reuses the existing contact
- Each product type lands on the right account code and tax rate
- An unmapped item is flagged, not guessed
- The order number appears as the invoice reference
- Running the same order twice does not create a second invoice
- Your accountant has seen a sample of draft invoices
If you would rather have this built for you, browse Xero automation specialists or Make agencies in the UK. This guide is general information, not tax advice.
Good for
- Businesses retyping orders, job sheets or bookings into Xero
- Mixed VAT treatments that need clear, repeatable rules
- Teams that want invoices ready for a quick human check
Not for
- Very low invoice volumes, where Xero's own repeating invoices may be enough
- Complex VAT situations nobody has confirmed with an accountant
- Xero HQ users (Make says its Xero app does not support Xero HQ)
