How to Categorise Transactions in Pandle
A focused guide to Pandle’s Check tab, Bank Rules, UK VAT codes (NV / ST / RR / EX / ZR), and the volume threshold where pattern-learning becomes the right move.
Quick answer
In Pandle, open the Imported Transactions screen. Bank lines waiting for you sit on the Check tab. For each line, choose the contact, pick the category from the chart of accounts (Sales, Office Supplies, Travel, etc.), set the VAT code (NV No VAT, ST Standard 20%, RR Reduced 5%, EX Exempt, ZR Zero rated), then confirm it into your books. Set up Bank Rules to categorise recurring lines automatically, with the option to auto-confirm them. Pandle has a free tier and is fully MTD for VAT compatible. CodeIQ’s deepest platform integration is with Pandle: connect via API, read the chart of accounts and VAT codes, run the eight-phase coding pipeline, and post coded transactions back to Pandle for review.
Why Pandle is different (and surprisingly capable)
Pandle is the UK’s most cost-effective serious accounting platform. The free tier is genuinely usable for sole traders and very small businesses, the paid tier (Pandle Pro) is significantly cheaper than Xero or QuickBooks at equivalent feature levels, and the entire platform is built around UK bookkeeping conventions: HMRC integration, MTD for VAT compliance, and a chart of accounts that maps directly to common UK reporting categories.
For categorisation specifically, Pandle uses a five-code VAT system that is tighter than Sage’s ten-plus T-codes and easier to learn. The Check tab is fast and uncluttered, and Bank Rules can take repetitive entries off your hands entirely by confirming them automatically. Where Pandle starts to feel limiting is at higher volumes or in practices managing many clients: that is where pattern-learning starts to earn its keep.
The Check tab workflow
Where everything happens
Bank feed and imported statement lines land on Pandle’s Imported Transactions screen, on the Check tab. A counter on the tab shows how many are still waiting to be confirmed. Lines a Bank Rule has matched arrive with their fields already filled in, and lines a rule auto-confirmed skip the Check tab altogether: they appear on the Confirmed tab, marked as automatically confirmed.
What “doing it properly” looks like per line
Work down the Check tab
Each line shows the bank narrative, date and amount. Where a Bank Rule has matched, the category and VAT code are already filled in, so check them rather than retype them.
Choose the entry type
Pandle offers: Money In (income or refund), Money Out (expense or payment), Customer Receipt (payment for a Pandle invoice), Supplier Payment (payment for a Pandle bill), or Bank Transfer (movement between your accounts).
Pick the contact
Type the contact name. Pandle filters as you type. Create a new contact inline if needed. Keep contact naming consistent.
Choose the category
Select from the chart of accounts. Pandle’s default UK chart is sensible and short: about 40-50 categories covering most SME use cases. Custom categories can be added in Settings » Categories.
Set the VAT code
Pick from NV, ST, RR, EX, ZR. Pandle pre-fills based on the category, but always check.
Confirm, and add a rule if it will recur
Once every required field is filled in, Pandle marks the line as checked; confirm the checked lines to post them to your books. If the same payment will come round again, choose Create New Bank Rule from the Check tab menu so Pandle handles it next time.
UK VAT codes in Pandle: NV, ST, RR, EX, ZR
Pandle’s VAT code naming is the cleanest of any major UK accounting platform. Five two-letter codes cover the entire system.
| Code | Meaning | VAT return effect |
|---|---|---|
| NV | No VAT (outside the scope) | Excluded from VAT return entirely. Wages, dividends, MOT fees, internal transfers. |
| ST | Standard rate 20% | Box 1 (output) or Box 4 (input), Box 6/7 net. Most UK sales and purchases. |
| RR | Reduced rate 5% | Box 1 or Box 4, Box 6/7 net. Domestic fuel and power, children’s car seats, mobility aids for people over 60. |
| EX | Exempt | Box 6 or Box 7 only (no VAT). Insurance, postage, education, finance services. |
| ZR | Zero rated | Box 6 or Box 7 only (no VAT, but in the system). Books, food, public transport, women’s sanitary products, energy-saving materials in homes (until March 2027). |
NV vs EX: the same trap as Sage T9 vs T2
NV means outside the VAT system entirely; the transaction does not appear on the VAT return. EX means exempt: still in the system, appears in Box 7 (net purchases) but contributes no VAT. Use NV for wages, dividends, drawings; use EX for insurance, postage, financial services.
The chart of accounts: simpler than Sage
Pandle ships with a clean default UK chart of accounts: Sales, Direct Costs, Overheads, Salaries, Bank Charges, etc. About 40-50 categories cover most SME bookkeeping needs. Custom categories can be added in Settings » Categories; nothing is rigidly fixed by code, unlike Sage’s 4000s/5000s/7000s structure.
The accountant’s shortcut
If you are migrating a client from Sage to Pandle, you can largely keep the same category structure: just add custom Pandle categories that mirror your Sage 4000-7900 codes. The MTD VAT return on either platform reads the same way. Just make sure the VAT code mapping is consistent (Sage T1 = Pandle ST, T0 = ZR, T2 = EX, T9 = NV, T5 = RR).
Bank Rules: automating recurring entries
Pandle’s automation is Bank Rules. Create one from the Check tab menu on the Imported Transactions screen (Create New Bank Rule), or manage them all from Tools » Bank Rules. A new rule also picks up matching transactions already waiting on the Check tab, so nothing slips through while you set it up.
Each Bank Rule has:
- Conditions: money in or money out, the description (exact match or contains), and the amount (less than, equal to or greater than). Combine them to target one payment precisely, for example a £5.00 Money Out containing “Trainline”.
- Actions: the category, VAT code and project to apply on a match
- Auto confirm: tick Auto confirm transactions and matching lines are categorised and confirmed into your books with no manual check. Leave it unticked and they wait on the Check tab, pre-filled, for you to confirm.
- Auto ignore: a rule can ignore a line instead, which is how Pandle stops connected PayPal and Stripe transfers being counted twice
Rules run in the background, so you don’t need to stay signed in while they work through a feed.
Where Bank Rules shine
- Rent and rates direct debits with consistent narrative
- Subscriptions and licence fees
- Card processor settlements
- Loan repayments
- Recurring supplier payments that always read the same way
What still needs you
- New suppliers and one-off payments, until someone writes a rule for them
- Narratives that change from one payment to the next, which a fixed condition can miss
- Checking a new rule: Pandle lists every transaction each rule auto-confirmed or auto-ignored, so you can bulk edit any it got wrong and fix the rule
Pandle Free vs Pandle Pro
| Feature | Pandle Free | Pandle Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | £0/month | £5/month plus VAT per company, billed monthly (pandle.com, checked October 2026) |
| Bookkeeping | Yes | Yes |
| Bank feeds | Up to 1 connected account | Multiple connected accounts |
| Invoicing & bills | Yes | Yes, with templates and recurring billing |
| VAT returns (MTD) | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-user | Limited | Yes, with roles and permissions |
| Reporting | Standard P&L, BS, debtors, creditors | Plus management accounts, budgets, cash flow forecasting |
| Bookkeeper access | Yes | Yes |
When manual coding stops working
Pandle’s manual workflow is fast for low-to-medium volumes. The threshold where it starts to bottleneck is around 200 to 300 transactions per month per company, especially in practices managing 10+ Pandle clients.
Bank Rules do exactly what you tell them, which is their strength: a rule you have written is predictable and easy to audit. The work is in writing and maintaining them across every set of books you look after. Pattern-learning automation fills that gap by learning from the coding already in your ledger, so the lines nobody has written a rule for get coded too.
Pattern-learning automation: CodeIQ
CodeIQ has its deepest integration with Pandle. The integration covers everything that the Pandle API exposes: chart of accounts, VAT codes, contacts, outstanding invoices, bank transactions, and posting back coded transactions as drafts.
The eight-phase pipeline applied to Pandle
- Transfer detection » matched-amount internal moves between bank accounts get posted as transfers, not as expenses or income.
- Invoice matching » bank receipts and payments are linked to outstanding Pandle invoices and bills, with adjustments for partial payments and bank charges.
- Historical pattern » CodeIQ reads your existing Pandle GL history. Merchants you have categorised before get auto-categorised the same way.
- Universal pattern » anonymised patterns shared, with consent, across CodeIQ users.
- MCC category » merchant category codes provide a category floor where present.
- Semantic analysis » for transactions that fall through the rule-based phases, an embedding model classifies the transaction against your Pandle category names.
- User learning » corrections you make stick: the next session applies them as overrides.
- VAT classification » CodeIQ already uses Pandle’s NV/ST/RR/EX/ZR codes natively (its universal VAT codes match Pandle’s, by design). No mapping layer is needed for Pandle.
CodeIQ codes about 95% of recurring merchants and 80 to 85% of ones it hasn’t seen before exactly as you would, and anything it isn’t sure of waits for you. Coded results post back to Pandle as draft transactions for review. Same audit trail. Same MTD VAT compliance. Materially less time at the keyboard.
Try CodeIQ free with Pandle
Connect Pandle via API, upload a bank statement, and see how the deepest CodeIQ integration compares to working through the Check tab by hand. Automatic coding uses 4 credits a line, and every account starts with 1,000 free credits.
Try CodeIQ freeFrequently asked questions
How do I categorise transactions in Pandle?
Open the Imported Transactions screen and work through the lines on the Check tab. For each one, pick the contact, choose the category from the chart of accounts, set the VAT code (NV, ST, RR, EX, ZR), then confirm it. For recurring payments, create a Bank Rule (Create New Bank Rule from the Check tab, or Tools » Bank Rules) so Pandle categorises them for you.
What VAT codes does Pandle use?
NV (No VAT, outside the scope), ST (Standard 20%), RR (Reduced 5%), EX (Exempt), ZR (Zero rated). MTD VAT returns generate directly from these per-line codes.
Is Pandle free?
Pandle has a free tier (Pandle) suitable for sole traders and small businesses. A paid tier (Pandle Pro) adds multi-user access, advanced reporting, recurring billing, and more bank feeds. Both tiers are MTD for VAT compatible.
What are Pandle Bank Rules?
Bank Rules are Pandle’s automation for imported bank transactions. Each rule has conditions (money in or out, the description, the amount) and actions (category, VAT code and project). Tick Auto confirm transactions and matching lines are confirmed into your books without a manual check; otherwise they wait on the Check tab, pre-filled. Rules can also auto-ignore lines, and Pandle shows every transaction each rule confirmed or ignored.
Can I automate transaction categorisation in Pandle?
Yes. Bank Rules categorise, assign VAT codes to and optionally auto-confirm recurring transactions that match conditions you set. Pattern-learning tools go further by learning from the coding already in your books. CodeIQ has the deepest integration of any pattern-learning tool with Pandle: it connects via API, reads the chart of accounts and VAT codes, learns from your general ledger history, and codes transactions through an eight-phase pipeline before posting back as draft transactions for review.