Receipts into bookkeeping
Direct answer
Receipt work splits in two. One guide files the photo in a dated Drive folder and a one-line log. Another reads the photo into a bookkeeping row you check before anyone types it into the books. The sheet is not the statutory record. Nothing here files a return.
For the weekly receipt pile, not for filing a tax return. Figures get checked against the photo before they touch the accounts.
Purpose-built tools such as Dext or your accounting package's own capture exist because this job is fiddly. A chat model is a reasonable typist for a small pile if you check every row. It is a bad bookkeeper if you let it post straight into the ledger.
If you are inside Making Tax Digital, the checked figures still have to land in compatible software. This task does not file the update.
Finding the photo is a separate habit from coding it. The Drive filing guide puts the image in a month folder. The Claude guide is the row.
Playbooks
- Receipts into bookkeepingChatGPTOne sitting for the folders, then one photo at a time£0 on the free plan/mo
File receipt photos in Drive, without posting the books
File a receipt by putting the photo in a dated Drive folder and one checked line in a sheet. ChatGPT may propose the filename from the supplier, date, and total you type. Do not upload the photo. The free ChatGPT plan was listed on 25 October 2026 with no paid price in the text. This has not been live-tested.
- Receipts into bookkeepingClaude30 minutes to set up, then about half an hour a weekabout £0–£15/mo
Turn receipt photos into checked bookkeeping rows
Photograph each receipt and, once a week, ask Claude to read the date, supplier, and amounts into a row you check before typing it into your bookkeeping software. Always check the VAT. Do not give an agent write access. This has not been live-tested.
Questions
Can I point this at my bank feed?
No. These guides do not connect an agent to a bank or to accounting software with permission to post. You type the checked figure.
Is a photo of a receipt the record?
Keep the photo. The row is a transcript. If they disagree, the photo and the supplier's document win.
What about PDFs that are not receipts?
That is the data-entry task: forms and PDFs into a sheet, still checked by you. Do not mix that pile with the receipt habit if they need different columns.