Average time to complete: 5-7 minutes
Estimated difficulty rating: Medium (Best to involve your accountant)
***DISCLAIMER***
The team at Link My Books are happy to provide users with technical assistance in applying tax rules to their Link My Books setup. We are not Tax Advisors and so our advice and suggestions on the application of tax rules cannot be construed as tax advice. We highly recommend that users seek advice from qualified accountants for their tax compliance.
***END DISCLAIMER***
Link My Books makes setting up your accounts and tax rates preferences very straightforward thanks to our proprietary Tax Wizards.
Since the process of setting up each sales channel varies slightly and Xero and QuickBooks have some unique aspects too, we have broken this help article up into sections so that you can quickly navigate to the section that fits your needs.
The step by step guide linked below covers all sales channels and both bookkeeping platforms.
The video guides linked below are specifically focused around each different combination of sales channel + bookkeeping platform.
Step by step guide with screenshots
Step 1 - Choose which Wizard you need
Before mapping your transactions, start by choosing the wizard that best fits your setup:
Default Wizard – Perfect if you're just getting started or prefer a simple setup. We'll create all the necessary accounts for you automatically using default mappings.
Custom Wizard – Ideal if you already have accounts set up in your bookkeeping software and want to map transactions to those existing accounts.
👉 Tip: Most people use our default accounts as it means it's nice and easy to see which data has been sent through from Link My Books to your bookkeeping software.
Step 2 - Map transactions to an account
For each sales channel we group the many different types of transactions into around 9 main categories.
If you selected the Custom Wizard in the first step, you will then need to assign an account for each category from the dropdown menus.
However, if you selected our Default Wizard will create them as new account codes in your bookkeeping platform
👉 Tip: Throughout the setup wizard when you see the blue "i" icon beside something, that means that further clarification is available if you hover over it:
If you'd rather pick your own accounts to use then you can do so via these dropdown menus:
Step 3 - Confirm VAT registration status (UK users only)
Here you will confirm if your business holds any VAT registrations. We use this information to group your sales accordingly so it's important that you select the correct option:
Step 4 - Optional product VAT groups (UK users only)
IMPORTANT
If completing the wizard after 2nd May 2023, Amazon and Shopify accounts won't see this step as product grouping is now handled automatically. Read more here.
If the products your business sells are all Standard Rated for UK VAT then you can select the top option on this page to skip setting up product groups.
If you do sell any Zero Rated or Reduced Rated goods then you should select the second option and continue to set up product groups:
Link My Books will create 3 product groups if you turn on this setting:
Standard Rated Products
Reduced Rated Products
Zero Rated Products
After the setup wizard you will be able to allocate your products to the correct groups via the Product Groups page which is contained in the Inventory menu.
You will also confirm the tax rate you wish to apply to zero and reduced rated products on this page too. These tax rates will override the main tax rate set for sales where UK VAT is due.
Step 5 - Confirm tax rates
At first glance this may look intimidating but based on your answers you have given so far plus your businesses location (which we have detected from your connected bookkeeping account) we will provide you with a set of default tax rates to confirm.
If you selected that you held at least one VAT registration then your tax rates are broken down into three sections:
Sales
Fees & Other Transactions
For more information on how Link My Books calculates VAT see this article.
👉 Tip: Remember when you see the blue "i" icon more information is available when you hover over it.
👉 Tip: If you are connecting a non-UK sales channel account or you selected that your business did not hold any VAT registrations then your taxes will be much simpler:
Once you've reviewed your chosen tax rates and checked them with your accountant, tick the checkbox to confirm that you take full responsibility for their accuracy, then click Confirm to apply them.
Step 6 - QuickBooks bank accounts (QuickBooks users only)
Here you will select which bank accounts each marketplace deposits funds into and which bank account or credit card they charge if your seller balance goes into the red:
This will complete the setup wizard and you will be taken to your settlement dashboard.
Troubleshooting setup wizard errors
"Failed to save accounts" error
If you see a "failed to save accounts" error during the setup wizard, it means Link My Books was unable to automatically create the required accounts in your bookkeeping software (Xero or QuickBooks).
Why this happens:
A temporary connection issue between Link My Books and your bookkeeping software
Your bookkeeping software already has accounts with conflicting names or codes
Permission restrictions on the connected bookkeeping account
How to resolve it:
Try again — refresh the page and re-run the setup wizard. The issue may have been a temporary glitch.
Create the accounts manually — if the Default Wizard continues to fail, you can create the required accounts directly in Xero or QuickBooks first, then come back to the setup wizard and choose the Custom Wizard option instead. This lets you map your transactions to the accounts you've already created.
Check your connection — go to Settings > Connections and confirm your Xero or QuickBooks connection is active. If it shows as disconnected, reconnect it and try the wizard again.
💡 Tip: If you're an accountant or bookkeeper setting this up for a client and the Default Wizard fails, switching to the Custom Wizard and mapping to your existing chart of accounts is often the quickest fix. You can always adjust the mappings later from Settings > Accounts & Taxes.
If you continue to experience issues after trying these steps, please contact our support team with a screenshot of the error and details of which sales channel and bookkeeping platform you're connecting.
Video guides
Amazon + Xero
Amazon + QuickBooks
eBay + Xero
eBay + QuickBooks
Shopify + Xero
Shopify + QuickBooks
Etsy + Xero
Etsy + QuickBooks
Can't find your setup?
Try our Demo Link My Books account to explore how it works before connecting your own sales channel and bookkeeping software.
If you have any questions about this article or feedback on how we could make it better please reach out to the support team via the blue chat icon on the bottom right of the page or via email to [email protected].