The Entertainment accounts check gives you a view of your client's staff and business entertainment spend. For staff entertainment, it tracks cumulative spend from the start of the tax year against the HMRC per-employee threshold. For business entertainment, it shows total expenditure for the selected period and the VAT that can't be reclaimed.
To access it, go to a client's account and select Data Health in the left navigation, then select Entertainment under Tax.
Important: Before the check shows any data, you need to configure the account codes. Select the settings cog at the top of the page to open Entertainment Accounts Configuration and set up both sections. This check is available for Xero clients only.
Who can use this check
The Entertainment accounts check is available to practices with the Data Health & Insights add-on, on Practice Essentials and Practice Advanced plans.
Configuring the check
To configure the Entertainment accounts check, select the settings cog at the top of the page.
3 settings are available:
Number of employees — the headcount used to calculate spend per person for the staff entertainment threshold. Update this whenever your client's headcount changes.
Staff entertainment — the account code(s) used to record staff entertainment in Xero. Select Change to search and select the relevant accounts.
Business entertainment — the account code(s) used to record business entertainment in Xero. Select Change to search and select the relevant accounts.
Select Save to apply. The check populates immediately using the configured accounts.
Note: The Entertainment accounts check isn't included in the Health Score by default. It can be added as part of a custom Health Score configuration — go to How to use the Health Score in Data Health & Insights for instructions.
Staff Entertainment
The Staff Entertainment section tracks cumulative spend from the start of the current tax year (6 April) across the accounts you've configured, regardless of the period selected at the top of the page.
2 summary figures are shown:
Spend Per Person — total combined spend divided by the number of employees configured
Combined Spend — total gross spend across all configured staff entertainment accounts since 6 April
If per-employee spend is approaching or has exceeded £150, Dext displays a warning that expenditure above this threshold may need to be reported to HMRC. Select the reported to HMRC link for HMRC's guidance on the annual functions exemption.
The transaction table below the summary lists all staff entertainment transactions for the period. It supports row grouping, filtering, and column customisation.
Business Entertainment
The Business Entertainment section shows entertainment spend for the selected period across the accounts you've configured for business entertainment.
2 summary figures are shown:
VAT unable to be reclaimed — the total VAT on business entertainment transactions for the period. VAT on business entertainment isn't reclaimable in the UK, so this figure represents a real cost to the client.
Expenditure for Period — the total gross (VAT-inclusive) spend on business entertainment for the selected period.
The transaction table lists all business entertainment transactions for the period and supports the same row grouping, filtering, and column customisation as the Staff Entertainment section.
Syncing and recalculating data
To update the Entertainment accounts check, use the two buttons at the top of the page:
Sync — pulls any new data or changes from Xero into Dext
Recalculate — recalculates the check based on the latest data pulled from Xero into Dext
If you've made changes in Xero, select Sync first, then Recalculate to see the updated figures.