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Xero + Brex + Casa Moksha — Phased Setup Plan

SUPERSEDED 2026-05-09 by accounting/xero-buildout.md. The 4-tier rollout structure below remains useful as a reference, but the live state and forward roadmap are tracked in the buildout scaffold. Several items here were already completed (Moksha rollup, tracking-category install, Brex duplicate cleanup, Portilla merge, IVA rates, daily backups) but the prose below still reads as not-yet-done. The buildout scaffold reflects the corrected current state, the post-2026-05-08 JME framing reset, and the 2026-05-09 Chuck/Cindy corrections.

Don't update this file going forward. Update xero-buildout.md instead.

Objective

Stand up Xero as the accounting system of record for Renfroe Family Holdings, LLC and all subsidiary US LLCs, with summary journals from Renfroe Hospitality Group and Renfroe Holdings GK flowing in from their local accountants. Brex feeds US transactions via the official Xero connector; Amex connects via its native direct feed; non-Amex US cards feed via a Plaid → Python → Xero pipeline; Santander MXN is summarized in monthly journals from JME; Tokyo Star Bank is summarized in monthly journals from the Japanese accountant.

This plan supersedes the earlier two-Xero-org design (see decisions/log.md 2026-04-19).

Anchoring decisions

Every tier here hangs off decisions already made and logged in decisions/log.md:

  • One Xero org for all US-side operations (2026-04-19, supersedes 2026-04-18 two-org decision)
  • Two tracking categories: Entity + Asset Class (2026-04-19)
  • Intercompany within disregarded stack = capital contributions, not loans. Exception: AFR loan from Austin's parents to Five Points BHM IS a real loan. (2026-04-19)
  • Intercompany RFH ↔ RHG = intercompany settlements, NOT capital contributions. Austin's personal contributions to RFH = owner contributions. Brex memos like "OWNER CONTRIBUTION" are autogenerated, not legally descriptive. (2026-04-19)
  • Historical Brex backfill to Jan 1, 2024 via CSV (Brex native sync only covers ~90 days) (2026-04-19)
  • SBA EIDL payments from Five Points book as distribution-then-personal, not Five Points liability (2026-04-19)
  • Casa Moksha revenue stays multi-channel intentionally — fix is documentation, not routing (2026-04-19)
  • Amex native direct feed + Plaid→Python→Xero pipeline for non-Amex (2026-04-19)
  • Xero vs. Monarch scope: Xero = operating entities, real estate, debt, business cards, intercompany, foreign-corp summary journals. Monarch = personal lifestyle, VC/convertible/direct investments, retirement, crypto, vehicles. (2026-04-19)
  • Monarch historical archive strategy (Path D): full Monarch CSV export archived in source-data/monarch/ for disaster recovery; RFH-side subset imported to Xero as pre-feed backfill; RENFROE-side subset held separately in the same archive for the future RENFROE books stand-up; personal stays live in Monarch. (2026-04-19)
  • Xero API integration via Custom Connection (not Web App): Python CLI at scripts/fpa/xero_client.py uses client-credentials grant. Dev against Xero Demo Company (free); real RFH org connection pending $10/mo Custom Connection subscription at Tier 1 go-live. (2026-04-19)
  • ✅ All entity legal names confirmed: Renfroe Family Holdings, LLC; Renfroe Hospitality Group SA de CV (→ S. de R.L. de C.V. 2026); Renfroe Holdings GK (Japan); five US disregarded sub-LLCs; personally-held assets. See context/entities.md.
  • ✅ Casa Moksha revenue framing settled: RHG owns all revenue, RFH is collection agent for USD portion.
  • ⏳ JME monthly deliverable sample — pending upload. Defines what's already tracked in Mexican books and in what format.
  • ⏳ Japanese accountant monthly deliverable sample — pending upload. Same for GK.
  • ⏳ Intercompany services agreement (papers the RFH↔RHG framing) — pending counsel draft.

Tier 1 — RFH + US sub-LLCs live in Xero

Goal: Xero is the system of record for Renfroe Family Holdings and every US disregarded sub-LLC, with the Brex 15-account bank feed running, opening balances set, and the chart of accounts and tracking categories in place.

1. Xero organization setup

One Xero org under Renfroe Family Holdings, LLC.

  • Base currency: USD
  • Fiscal year: calendar year (matches Austin's 1040 and the US disregarded sub-LLCs)
  • Tracking categories:
  • Entity: Renfroe Family Holdings (parent/unallocated), W 3101 Holdings, W 3603, ATX Marine, Austin Marine, Renfroe Marine, Five Points BHM, Oceana 433, Renfroe Hospitality Group (summary), Renfroe Holdings GK (summary)
  • Asset Class: Holdings/Mgmt, Residential Rental, Commercial Rental, Marina, Hotel, Primary Residence, Foreign Real Estate

2. Chart of Accounts

Finalize accounting/chart-of-accounts.md. Current file is a detailed skeleton; the final version depends on the JME monthly deliverable (for Mexico side) and Pearce Bevill input (for tax-prep efficient structure).

Items already flagged for explicit COA coverage: - Intercompany receivable/payable between RFH and Renfroe Hospitality Group - Austin's owner-contribution tracking (~$4.44M cumulative per Brex full history) - AFR loan from Austin's parents to Five Points BHM (real debt, interest accruing) - SBA EIDL payments from Five Points — distribution-then-personal - First Horizon mortgage — W 3101 Holdings (Monarch acct 6574) - Mita mortgage at Tokyo Star Bank (summary line, via GK tracking category) - Crypto gain/loss accounts (Bitcoin retreat pattern; banking/coinbase.md) - IVA on Mexican bank fees — separate recoverable-VAT line

3. Brex → Xero bank feed (15 accounts)

  • Each Brex sub-account becomes a separate bank account in Xero, mapped to its entity via the Entity tracking category
  • Native OAuth sync covers ~90 days of history going forward; older data comes via CSV import at setup time (full history already in source-data/brex/2026-04-19-full-history-analysis.md)
  • Spring 2025 Brex release added bill-pay and bank-feed data to the Xero sync (previously card-only)

4. Opening balances

Set as of Xero go-live date (target: end of Q2 2026 or aligned with Austin's preference).

Source data: - Brex sub-accounts: end-of-period balance per statement - JPMorgan Chase: end-of-period balance per statement (pending statement upload) - W 3101, W 3603, other real estate: basis per appraisal or last cost study - Mortgages: current outstanding per servicer statement (First Horizon; Tokyo Star for the GK summary) - Intercompany: per JME's RHG books and the Japanese accountant's GK books, reconciled to RFH side - AFR loan payable: per amortization schedule (TBD — needs to be created; tax/2025-filing-prep.md Q12) - Equity: per Austin's tax basis records (Pearce Bevill should have)

Tier 1 exit criteria

  • Brex 15-account feed is running in Xero with no manual patching needed
  • Chart of Accounts and both tracking categories are live
  • Opening balances are reconciled to external statements
  • One full monthly close has been run through Xero successfully

Tier 2 — Amex direct feed + Plaid → Python → Xero for non-Amex cards

Goal: Every US business card and checking source that isn't already flowing via Brex is automated into Xero. Amex via native feed, everything else via Plaid-backed pipeline.

5. Amex native direct feed → Xero

  • Amex's Xero direct feed is free, automated daily, and official
  • Each Amex card gets its own Xero bank account (so cardholder + entity are easy to filter)
  • Auto-categorization rules per accounting/vendor-mappings.md handle common merchants

6. Plaid → Python → Xero pipeline (non-Amex cards + JPMorgan Chase)

Build out of band (runs on dev-vm or equivalent):

  • Plaid client connects to each non-Amex card issuer + JPMorgan Chase
  • Python service polls daily, transforms Plaid transactions into Xero bank-feed format, posts via Xero API
  • Cost: ~$0.30–0.60/card/month in Plaid fees
  • Tokens stored in an encrypted secret store (1Password recommended), not in plaintext config

Tracking item in todo/tech-automation.md under "Pipelines to build (Tier 2 of the Xero rollout)."

7. Vendor mappings / auto-categorization rules

Load the rules from accounting/vendor-mappings.md into Xero and into Brex's categorization engine where supported:

  • Casa Moksha guest revenue (Brex Casa Moksha Dep inflows) → intercompany clearing
  • Recurring vendors (Revel, Dovenmuehle, Travis County, Edgewood, SBA, Billpay, etc.)
  • Professional fees (Pearce, Portilla, Withers, Alex Snider)
  • Payroll pass-through (for RHG side once summary journal is live)

Iterate on edge cases through the first two Xero close cycles.

Tier 2 exit criteria

  • Amex feed running for every RFH cardholder
  • Plaid pipeline running for every non-Amex card + JPMorgan Chase
  • Auto-categorization is catching 80%+ of transactions without manual intervention

Tier 3 — RHG and GK summary journals

Goal: Mexico-side (JME) and Japan-side (Japanese accountant) monthly close outputs flow into Xero as summary journal entries under their respective Entity tracking categories. No direct Santander MXN or Tokyo Star Bank feeds — the detail lives in the local accountants' software; Xero gets the roll-up.

8. RHG monthly summary journal (from JME)

  • JME continues to maintain RHG's books in Mexican software (CONTPAQi or Aspel — confirm) for CFDI/SAT compliance
  • Each month JME produces a trial balance + P&L + capex summary + payroll summary + IVA summary in a format we agree on
  • Claude (or Austin) posts a single summary journal into Xero under Entity = "Renfroe Hospitality Group (summary)"
  • Intercompany clearing happens in the journal: RHG's receivable from RFH offsets RFH's payable to RHG, and Brex→Santander MXN wires clear both sides

Blocker: JME monthly deliverable sample pending upload. Once received, design the agreed format and the summary-JE template.

9. GK monthly summary journal (from Japanese accountant)

Same pattern for Renfroe Holdings GK: - Japanese accountant maintains GK books in Japanese software for local tax compliance - Monthly financials in USD equivalent (or JPY with FX at month-end) flow into Xero under Entity = "Renfroe Holdings GK (summary)" - Depreciation basis for Mita Garden Hills is tracked here (using Japanese corporate depreciation, with US-side depreciation separately for 5471 support) - Intercompany clearing captures capital flows down from RFH + any GK→RFH movements (e.g., the $1.155M sweep)

Blocker: Japanese accountant monthly deliverable sample pending upload. Also pending the accountant's name for context/people.md.

10. Payroll reconciliation (RHG)

  • JME provides monthly payroll summary: Alfredo, Rosa Maria, Lucila, Miroslava (and historical Daniel through July 2025)
  • One monthly payroll JE on RHG's side, summarized into Xero via the RHG summary journal
  • Reconcile Santander MXN payroll outflows against JME's payroll reports monthly

11. Intercompany reconciliation workflow

Three intercompany flows to track:

RFH ↔ RHG (intercompany settlement): - USD revenue collected by RFH on RHG's behalf → "Due to RHG" on RFH books - Mirror: "Due from RFH" on RHG books - Brex→Santander MXN wires clear the payable - Monthly reconciliation memo comparing outbound Brex wires against inbound Santander MXN wires — see todo/tech-automation.md for the automation item

RFH ↔ GK (capital + financing flow): - Capital flows down (Austin → RFH → GK for Mita deposits and operations) - Cross-border settlement events ($1.155M GK→Primary sweep + future flows) - Mortgage interest and rent collection tracked at GK book level, summarized into Xero

RFH ↔ each US disregarded sub-LLC: - Capital contributions and distributions only - No intercompany loans (except the AFR loan at Five Points, which is real debt to Austin's parents)

Tier 3 exit criteria

  • JME-produced RHG summary journal posting cleanly every month
  • Japanese accountant-produced GK summary journal posting cleanly every month
  • Monthly intercompany reconciliation runs with <5 unmatched items

Tier 4 — Forecasting tool

Goal: A forecasting layer connected to Xero that supports cash-flow scenarios, what-if analysis, and multi-year planning — the thing Xero's native reports don't do well.

12. Tool selection

  • Fathom, Spotlight Reporting, Float — short-list. All three connect natively to a single Xero org.
  • Evaluation criteria:
  • Cash-flow forecast quality (Float is strong here)
  • Multi-entity reporting via tracking categories (Fathom is strong here)
  • Scenarios and sensitivities (Spotlight is strong here)
  • Pricing
  • Decision deferred until Tier 1 is live and 3+ months of clean Xero data exist — without that, the tool doesn't have enough to work with.

13. First forecast

Once the tool is selected, build the initial forecast: - Baseline scenario: current revenue (Casa Moksha run-rate, W 3101 rent, marine sublicense, Mita rent post-GK close) - Expansion scenario: additional Casa Moksha bookings, Mita rent ramp, potential new entity - Mita refi scenario: Tokyo Star Bank rate change or refi into a different lender - Liquidity-event scenario: partial or full liquidation with NOL absorption against gain

Forecasts rebuilt quarterly.

Tier 4 exit criteria

  • Forecasting tool connected to Xero
  • Baseline + 3 scenarios live
  • Quarterly rebuild cadence established

Advanced / specialist work (parallel, not sequential)

These don't fit the 4-tier rollout because they're specialist engagements rather than accounting-plumbing milestones. Pursue in parallel once Tier 1 data is available.

  • Cost segregation study — Casa Moksha + Mita Garden Hills. Pending check-the-box clarity from Pearce Bevill. See tax/tax-strategies-reference.md §4.
  • STR loophole eligibility — Casa Moksha avg stay analysis + material participation test. See tax/tax-strategies-reference.md §2.
  • Augusta rule setup — W 3603 / RENFROE rental tracking ≤14 days/year. Prospective for 2026. See tax/tax-strategies-reference.md §1.
  • Form 5471 prep automation — Xero data export → Pearce's 5471 prep workflow.
  • FBAR / Form 8938 reporting workflow — annual cadence, aggregating foreign-account max balances.

Known integration gotchas

  • Brex → Xero sync occasionally breaks for some users for weeks at a time. Monthly reconciliation checks are mandatory.
  • Brex's expense categorization doesn't always match Xero's COA 1:1. Document mappings in accounting/vendor-mappings.md.
  • Santander Mexico has no clean Xero feed. The design is a summary JE from JME, not a CSV import workflow. Do not try to build a direct Santander MXN feed.
  • Multi-currency in Xero is supported but requires careful FX rate management. Use Xero's built-in Banxico rates for MXN and BOJ rates for JPY, applied at month-end.
  • Tracking categories are capped at 100 options each. Plenty of headroom for current entity count, but plan ahead.
  • Plaid reliability varies by bank. Some banks (Wells Fargo notably) have intermittent issues. Build retry logic into the pipeline.

Monarch stays (for personal and investment positions)

Personal lifestyle accounts, VC fund positions, convertible notes, direct investments, retirement accounts, crypto, vehicles — all stay in Monarch, not Xero. Xero is a general ledger for business activity; Monarch is a position tracker for net-worth visibility. See decisions/log.md 2026-04-19 "Xero-vs-Monarch data scope."

Historical CSV archive (disaster recovery + pre-feed backfill)

Separately from Monarch's live role, Monarch's historical CSV data is handled per the 2026-04-19 "Monarch historical archive strategy" decision (Path D): - Full Monarch CSV → source-data/monarch/ in Gitea — every account, every year. Versioned, self-hosted, searchable by Claude. Re-exported at least annually. - RFH-side subset → Xero — imported as pre-feed backfill (Monarch reach: ~12 mo most accounts, ~18 mo Chase). Closes the gap between Xero go-live and where direct feeds reach back. - RENFROE-side subset → held in source-data/monarch/ as a separate file — ready for when RENFROE S-corp's books are stood up. NOT imported to this Xero org (separate taxpayer). - Personal subset → stays in Monarch live, with the CSV archived in source-data/monarch/ for disaster recovery only.

Prerequisite to all of this: Austin sorts Monarch accounts into the three piles (personal / RFH / RENFROE). See todo/for-austin.md.

What's blocked on what

Blocker Blocks
JME monthly deliverable sample Chart of Accounts finalization, RHG summary journal design (Tier 3)
Japanese accountant monthly deliverable sample GK summary journal design (Tier 3)
Intercompany services agreement Defensible RFH↔RHG flow documentation
Pearce Bevill capacity check Whether 5471 + PFIC work happens in-house or with specialist
Mita closing docs Basis calculation, depreciation start, GK 5471 prep
JPMorgan Chase statements JPMorgan→Xero feed plan (Plaid vs. CSV), owner-contribution basis verification

References

  • decisions/log.md — formal decisions (single Xero org, tracking categories, intercompany framing)
  • accounting/chart-of-accounts.md — COA detail (skeleton, pending JME)
  • accounting/vendor-mappings.md — auto-categorization rules
  • banking/brex.md — Brex 15-account map
  • banking/santander-mxn.md — RHG MXN operations
  • banking/tokyo-star-bank.md — GK Japanese operations
  • tax/2025-filing-prep.md — Pearce Bevill agenda
  • todo/tech-automation.md — pipeline build items tracked as automation work