How to set up my own Exchange Rate through the API

Israel_Sotomayor_Azc · 15 April 2015 11:34

Hi there!

I’ve being trying to set up the exchange rate for my invoices manually
instead of using the xe.com service but every invoice that I create doesn’t
get my manual added exchange_rate

This is the request I sending to FreeAgent

{
“invoice”:{
“comments”:“ref: in_15rWpk2lIZmICk0sMeCU7Tsq”,
“currency”:“usd”,
“contact”:“https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com/v2/contacts/29446”,
“dated_on”:“2015-04-15T12:25:55+01:00”,
“payment_terms_in_days”:1,
“exchange_rate”:0.68264462809917,
“ec_status”:“UK/Non-EC”,
“invoice_items”:[
{
“item_type”:"-no unit-",
“description”:“One month Standard subscription to Contactzilla
from 14th Apr 2015 to 14th May 2015”,
“price”:5,
“quantity”:1,
“sales_tax_rate”:21
}
]
}
}

What could be wrong? I’m using the version 2 of the API
https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com/v2/

BTW The invoice got create properly the problem is the exchange rate
doesn’t get reflected what that could be happening?

Thanks,

Israel_Sotomayor_Azc · 15 April 2015 13:11

Just say that I tested it with other random exchange_rates values as 111 or
12345 or 0.11 but still the same result just to discard that my number on
the previous example was too long.On Wednesday, 15 April 2015 12:52:48 UTC+1, Israel Sotomayor Azcuna wrote:

Hi there!

I’ve being trying to set up the exchange rate for my invoices manually
instead of using the xe.com service but every invoice that I create
doesn’t get my manual added exchange_rate

This is the request I sending to FreeAgent

{
“invoice”:{
“comments”:“ref: in_15rWpk2lIZmICk0sMeCU7Tsq”,
“currency”:“usd”,
“contact”:“https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com
/v2/contacts/29446”,
“dated_on”:“2015-04-15T12:25:55+01:00”,
“payment_terms_in_days”:1,
“exchange_rate”:0.68264462809917,
“ec_status”:“UK/Non-EC”,
“invoice_items”:[
{
“item_type”:“-no unit-”,
“description”:“One month Standard subscription to Contactzilla
from 14th Apr 2015 to 14th May 2015”,
“price”:5,
“quantity”:1,
“sales_tax_rate”:21
}
]
}
}

What could be wrong? I’m using the version 2 of the API
https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com/v2/

BTW The invoice got create properly the problem is the exchange rate
doesn’t get reflected what that could be happening?

Thanks,

Tom_Holder · 15 April 2015 14:51

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the help, but this is a massive problem. On this basis your VAT
returns for EU based sales are just plain wrong.

If we invoice at one exchange rate, and then get paid at another… you
are taking the invoice amount and applying it to the VAT return.

We must be able to set the exchange rate to the actual exchange rate of the
money taken.

In Xero, you can set the exchange rate via the interface and the API.

Thanks
TomOn Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at 3:38:23 PM UTC+1, David Jones wrote:

Hi There,

Thanks for your message and I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble.

I’ve double checked behind the scenes and it looks like our documentation
is misleading - I’m afraid the exchange_rate attribute is read-only and
cannot be set as part of a POST request. Instead, FreeAgent sets the
exchange rate based on data from XE.com
We do this so that, if an invoice is re-dated in the future, we can update
the exchange rate automatically, thus keeping exchange rates consistent.

By our reading of HMRC’s guidelines, they’re happy to accept exchange rate
from XE.com
Are you aware of a situation where this is not the case and where you need
to manage the exchange rates yourselves?

Sorry for the confusion and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind regards,
Dave J

On Wednesday, 15 April 2015 12:52:48 UTC+1, Israel Sotomayor Azcuna wrote:

Hi there!

I’ve being trying to set up the exchange rate for my invoices manually
instead of using the xe.com service but every invoice that I create
doesn’t get my manual added exchange_rate

This is the request I sending to FreeAgent

{
“invoice”:{
“comments”:“ref: in_15rWpk2lIZmICk0sMeCU7Tsq”,
“currency”:“usd”,
“contact”:“https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com
/v2/contacts/29446”,
“dated_on”:“2015-04-15T12:25:55+01:00”,
“payment_terms_in_days”:1,
“exchange_rate”:0.68264462809917,
“ec_status”:“UK/Non-EC”,
“invoice_items”:[
{
“item_type”:“-no unit-”,
“description”:“One month Standard subscription to
Contactzilla from 14th Apr 2015 to 14th May 2015”,
“price”:5,
“quantity”:1,
“sales_tax_rate”:21
}
]
}
}

What could be wrong? I’m using the version 2 of the API
https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com/v2/

BTW The invoice got create properly the problem is the exchange rate
doesn’t get reflected what that could be happening?

Thanks,

Tom_Holder · 16 April 2015 09:53

Thank you David.

This is very helpful. You should publish this in a more formal format,
perhaps as a blog post, as it’s really not clear and the error in your API
regarding being able to set exchange rate (when you can’t) and the sandbox
having wildly wrong exchange rates only adds to the confusion.

Regards
TomOn Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 10:45:41 AM UTC+1, David Jones wrote:

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your message.

Section 7.7 of HMRC’s VAT Guide states that currency conversion should be
applied at the time of supply (i.e. upon the invoice issue date, rather
than the invoice payment)

“Whatever rate or method you adopt, the appropriate rate for any supply is
that current at the time of the supply.”

VAT guide (VAT Notice 700) - GOV.UK

FreeAgent will then handle any fluctuations in exchange rate, between the
date of supply and date of payment, with automated postings to Currency
Exchange Gain/Loss

Thanks,
Dave

On Thursday, 16 April 2015 10:20:54 UTC+1, Tom Holder wrote:

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the help, but this is a massive problem. On this basis your
VAT returns for EU based sales are just plain wrong.

If we invoice at one exchange rate, and then get paid at another… you
are taking the invoice amount and applying it to the VAT return.

We must be able to set the exchange rate to the actual exchange rate of
the money taken.

In Xero, you can set the exchange rate via the interface and the API.

Thanks
Tom

On Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at 3:38:23 PM UTC+1, David Jones wrote:

Hi There,

Thanks for your message and I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble.

I’ve double checked behind the scenes and it looks like our
documentation is misleading - I’m afraid the exchange_rate attribute is
read-only and cannot be set as part of a POST request. Instead, FreeAgent
sets the exchange rate based on data from XE.com
We do this so that, if an invoice is re-dated in the future, we can
update the exchange rate automatically, thus keeping exchange rates
consistent.

By our reading of HMRC’s guidelines, they’re happy to accept exchange
rate from XE.com
Are you aware of a situation where this is not the case and where you
need to manage the exchange rates yourselves?

Sorry for the confusion and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind regards,
Dave J

On Wednesday, 15 April 2015 12:52:48 UTC+1, Israel Sotomayor Azcuna wrote:

Hi there!

I’ve being trying to set up the exchange rate for my invoices manually
instead of using the xe.com service but every invoice that I create
doesn’t get my manual added exchange_rate

This is the request I sending to FreeAgent

{
“invoice”:{
“comments”:“ref: in_15rWpk2lIZmICk0sMeCU7Tsq”,
“currency”:“usd”,
“contact”:“https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com
/v2/contacts/29446”,
“dated_on”:“2015-04-15T12:25:55+01:00”,
“payment_terms_in_days”:1,
“exchange_rate”:0.68264462809917,
“ec_status”:“UK/Non-EC”,
“invoice_items”:[
{
“item_type”:“-no unit-”,
“description”:“One month Standard subscription to
Contactzilla from 14th Apr 2015 to 14th May 2015”,
“price”:5,
“quantity”:1,
“sales_tax_rate”:21
}
]
}
}

What could be wrong? I’m using the version 2 of the API
https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com/v2/

BTW The invoice got create properly the problem is the exchange rate
doesn’t get reflected what that could be happening?

Thanks,

David_Jones · 15 April 2015 14:38

Hi There,

Thanks for your message and I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble.

I’ve double checked behind the scenes and it looks like our documentation
is misleading - I’m afraid the exchange_rate attribute is read-only and
cannot be set as part of a POST request. Instead, FreeAgent sets the
exchange rate based on data from XE.com
We do this so that, if an invoice is re-dated in the future, we can update
the exchange rate automatically, thus keeping exchange rates consistent.

By our reading of HMRC’s guidelines, they’re happy to accept exchange rate
from XE.com
Are you aware of a situation where this is not the case and where you need
to manage the exchange rates yourselves?

Sorry for the confusion and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind regards,
Dave JOn Wednesday, 15 April 2015 12:52:48 UTC+1, Israel Sotomayor Azcuna wrote:

Hi there!

I’ve being trying to set up the exchange rate for my invoices manually
instead of using the xe.com service but every invoice that I create
doesn’t get my manual added exchange_rate

This is the request I sending to FreeAgent

{
“invoice”:{
“comments”:“ref: in_15rWpk2lIZmICk0sMeCU7Tsq”,
“currency”:“usd”,
“contact”:“https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com
/v2/contacts/29446”,
“dated_on”:“2015-04-15T12:25:55+01:00”,
“payment_terms_in_days”:1,
“exchange_rate”:0.68264462809917,
“ec_status”:“UK/Non-EC”,
“invoice_items”:[
{
“item_type”:“-no unit-”,
“description”:“One month Standard subscription to Contactzilla
from 14th Apr 2015 to 14th May 2015”,
“price”:5,
“quantity”:1,
“sales_tax_rate”:21
}
]
}
}

What could be wrong? I’m using the version 2 of the API
https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com/v2/

BTW The invoice got create properly the problem is the exchange rate
doesn’t get reflected what that could be happening?

Thanks,

David_Jones · 16 April 2015 09:45

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your message.

Section 7.7 of HMRC’s VAT Guide states that currency conversion should be
applied at the time of supply (i.e. upon the invoice issue date, rather
than the invoice payment)

“Whatever rate or method you adopt, the appropriate rate for any supply is
that current at the time of the supply.”

FreeAgent will then handle any fluctuations in exchange rate, between the
date of supply and date of payment, with automated postings to Currency
Exchange Gain/Loss

Thanks,
DaveOn Thursday, 16 April 2015 10:20:54 UTC+1, Tom Holder wrote:

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the help, but this is a massive problem. On this basis your VAT
returns for EU based sales are just plain wrong.

If we invoice at one exchange rate, and then get paid at another… you
are taking the invoice amount and applying it to the VAT return.

We must be able to set the exchange rate to the actual exchange rate of
the money taken.

In Xero, you can set the exchange rate via the interface and the API.

Thanks
Tom

On Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at 3:38:23 PM UTC+1, David Jones wrote:

Hi There,

Thanks for your message and I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble.

I’ve double checked behind the scenes and it looks like our documentation
is misleading - I’m afraid the exchange_rate attribute is read-only and
cannot be set as part of a POST request. Instead, FreeAgent sets the
exchange rate based on data from XE.com
We do this so that, if an invoice is re-dated in the future, we can
update the exchange rate automatically, thus keeping exchange rates
consistent.

By our reading of HMRC’s guidelines, they’re happy to accept exchange
rate from XE.com
Are you aware of a situation where this is not the case and where you
need to manage the exchange rates yourselves?

Sorry for the confusion and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind regards,
Dave J

On Wednesday, 15 April 2015 12:52:48 UTC+1, Israel Sotomayor Azcuna wrote:

Hi there!

I’ve being trying to set up the exchange rate for my invoices manually
instead of using the xe.com service but every invoice that I create
doesn’t get my manual added exchange_rate

This is the request I sending to FreeAgent

{
“invoice”:{
“comments”:“ref: in_15rWpk2lIZmICk0sMeCU7Tsq”,
“currency”:“usd”,
“contact”:“https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com
/v2/contacts/29446”,
“dated_on”:“2015-04-15T12:25:55+01:00”,
“payment_terms_in_days”:1,
“exchange_rate”:0.68264462809917,
“ec_status”:“UK/Non-EC”,
“invoice_items”:[
{
“item_type”:“-no unit-”,
“description”:“One month Standard subscription to
Contactzilla from 14th Apr 2015 to 14th May 2015”,
“price”:5,
“quantity”:1,
“sales_tax_rate”:21
}
]
}
}

What could be wrong? I’m using the version 2 of the API
https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com/v2/

BTW The invoice got create properly the problem is the exchange rate
doesn’t get reflected what that could be happening?

Thanks,

Israel_Sotomayor_Azc · 16 April 2015 08:32

Hi Dave!

That’s helpful to understand what was going on, however could you please
let me know a reference from where you are reading that HRMC are happy with
XE.com exchange rates? that will help us.

Because there a few place where you find information pointing out to the
exchange rates provided by HRMC as you can see on this link
http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/anyanswers/question/exchange-rate more
specifically on the second post.

Thanks Dave,On Wednesday, 15 April 2015 15:38:23 UTC+1, David Jones wrote:

Hi There,

Thanks for your message and I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble.

I’ve double checked behind the scenes and it looks like our documentation
is misleading - I’m afraid the exchange_rate attribute is read-only and
cannot be set as part of a POST request. Instead, FreeAgent sets the
exchange rate based on data from XE.com
We do this so that, if an invoice is re-dated in the future, we can update
the exchange rate automatically, thus keeping exchange rates consistent.

By our reading of HMRC’s guidelines, they’re happy to accept exchange rate
from XE.com
Are you aware of a situation where this is not the case and where you need
to manage the exchange rates yourselves?

Sorry for the confusion and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind regards,
Dave J

On Wednesday, 15 April 2015 12:52:48 UTC+1, Israel Sotomayor Azcuna wrote:

Hi there!

I’ve being trying to set up the exchange rate for my invoices manually
instead of using the xe.com service but every invoice that I create
doesn’t get my manual added exchange_rate

This is the request I sending to FreeAgent

{
“invoice”:{
“comments”:“ref: in_15rWpk2lIZmICk0sMeCU7Tsq”,
“currency”:“usd”,
“contact”:“https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com
/v2/contacts/29446”,
“dated_on”:“2015-04-15T12:25:55+01:00”,
“payment_terms_in_days”:1,
“exchange_rate”:0.68264462809917,
“ec_status”:“UK/Non-EC”,
“invoice_items”:[
{
“item_type”:“-no unit-”,
“description”:“One month Standard subscription to
Contactzilla from 14th Apr 2015 to 14th May 2015”,
“price”:5,
“quantity”:1,
“sales_tax_rate”:21
}
]
}
}

What could be wrong? I’m using the version 2 of the API
https://api.sandbox.freeagent.com/v2/

BTW The invoice got create properly the problem is the exchange rate
doesn’t get reflected what that could be happening?

Thanks,