Receipts by chat: how a receipt is read, checked and posted

When you send a receipt photo in a chat, the bookkeeping software extracts the supplier, date, amounts and VAT, checks that the figures add up and that the VAT rate exists in the supplier's country, assigns a category, checks for duplicates and shows you the result within seconds. Clear documents are ready to export; anything doubtful waits for your decision.

Step 1: intake

A receipt arrives as a WhatsApp photo, an e-mail forwarded to the company's own inbox address or an upload in the browser. Each channel delivers something different: a chat photo has uneven light and creases, an e-mail may carry a PDF invoice or a structured e-invoice such as a ZUGFeRD file. Structured XML skips extraction entirely, because its fields are already defined. Any text sent with the photo ("client lunch, 3 people") is kept as a hint for categorisation. See receipts by chat for the channels.

Step 2: extraction

For photos and unstructured PDFs, extraction reads supplier name and VAT ID, date, document number, line items, net amounts, VAT rates and amounts, total and payment method. Crumpled, skewed and faded thermal receipts are the normal case, not the exception.

Two checks separate a careful process from a naive one:

• Arithmetic. Net plus VAT must equal the total, and lines must add up to the subtotal.
• Plausibility. The VAT rate must exist in the supplier's country. A 20 % rate on a receipt from Milan, where rates are 22 %, 10 %, 5 % and 4 %, points to a reading error.

When a check fails, the document is flagged, not booked.

Step 3: supplier identification

"Shell" in Vienna and "Shell" in Rotterdam are different suppliers for VAT purposes. The supplier is resolved using the VAT ID or registration number when printed, otherwise the address and country. EU VAT IDs can be checked in the European Commission's VIES service, which also matters for deciding whether a cross-border purchase falls under the reverse charge. You can try the same check in our VAT ID check.

Step 4: categorisation

The expense is placed in a category from the supplier, the line items, your message and your history, and mapped to the chart of accounts used in your country: SKR03 or SKR04 in Germany, the Plan General de Contabilidad in Spain, the Plan Comptable Général in France. When you correct a category, the next document from the same supplier goes to the right place. Ambiguous documents are left in "Other" for your decision instead of being guessed. More in automatic categorisation.

Step 5: VAT treatment

VAT is where receipts differ most from invoices. A till receipt is usually a simplified invoice: under Article 220a of the VAT Directive member states may allow simplified invoices up to EUR 100, and Article 238 lets them set a higher limit of up to EUR 400, such as EUR 250 in Germany. The questions per document are:

• which rates exist in the supplier's country and which applies to each line,
• whether the document meets the formal requirements for input VAT recovery,
• whether the purchase is domestic, intra-EU or an import,
• whether your business is VAT-registered at all; below your country's registration threshold you book gross amounts and reclaim nothing.

Kontevia takes rates and thresholds from maintained country rules, not from whatever the receipt seems to say.

Step 6: deductibility

Deductibility for income or corporate tax is separate from VAT. A legitimate business cost can still be only partly deductible. Typical areas where EU countries differ:

A good process does not silently apply a percentage. It books the expense, flags items that may be deductible or need extra details (for example guest names for a business meal) and marks fines as non-deductible straight away. The final call on borderline items belongs to your accountant.

Step 7: duplicates, review and export

The same receipt often arrives twice: once as a photo at the till, once as a PDF by e-mail. Every document is compared with those already processed across all channels; a suspected duplicate is flagged and you decide. Two identical coffees in a row are legitimate, so nothing is discarded automatically. See duplicate detection.

The original image stays attached to every document as an immutable copy for your country's retention period, so each figure in the books can be traced back to its source.

What the sister product's pilot shows

Our sister product DokladBot (Czechia, April to August 2026) processed 2,455 documents in its pilot. The design lesson Kontevia took from it: showing every breakdown and leaving uncertain documents to the user matters more for trust than squeezing out the last bit of automation.

Where Kontevia stands

Kontevia is in early access. Intake by WhatsApp, e-mail and upload, extraction with arithmetic and rate checks, VIES checks, country charts of accounts and VAT rules, duplicate detection and the review step are the core of the product. Expect a process that says when it is unsure, not magic.

Official sources

• Council Directive 2006/112/EC (VAT Directive) on EUR-Lex
• European Commission: VIES VAT number validation
• Your Europe: invoicing rules
• Your Europe: VAT refunds

This article is general information and does not replace advice from a tax adviser. Information valid as of 11 October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Is a photo of a receipt enough for the tax authority?

In most EU countries a digital copy is accepted if its authenticity, integrity and legibility are ensured for the whole retention period, which the VAT Directive leaves to each country. Some countries have extra archiving rules, so check yours and keep the original image with the record.

What happens when a field is read wrongly?

The breakdown is shown to you before anything goes to your accountant. Totals that do not add up and ambiguous documents are left for your decision rather than booked silently, and you can correct any field. The system remembers corrections for the same supplier.

Can I reclaim VAT on a receipt from another EU country?

Not in your own VAT return. Foreign VAT is reclaimed through the EU refund procedure, submitted online via the tax authority of your own country, by 30 September of the year after the purchase.

Does the system know what is deductible in my country?

It flags expenses that may be tax-deductible under the rules of your country and marks fines and penalties as non-deductible. The final assessment of borderline items stays with your accountant.

Topics:receiptsreceipt scanningcategorisationVATWhatsAppbookkeeping automation

Kontevia is in early access. Country-specific behaviour described here reflects the rules of each state, not a promise that every feature is live in your country today.