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Record an expense and its receipt

An expense is one purchase: who you paid, how much, what it was for and the receipt that proves it.

Record an expense at 1280

  1. Open Record an expense from the header's record button or its menu. For mileage or use of home, choose Claim mileage or Use of home at the top of the page instead.
  2. Under Supplier and date, enter the Supplier. The Date starts as today, which you can change.
  3. Under Amount and VAT, enter Total paid including VAT, choose a Category and choose a VAT rate. The app suggests the VAT amount, and you may type your own if the receipt differs.
  4. Under Details, set Who paid to The company or You, personally.
  5. Tick This is a capital asset only for a single purchase of £2,000 or more including VAT, since that is the one case where VAT can be reclaimed.
  6. Under Receipts, press Take a photo or Choose a file. Photos or PDFs are accepted, up to 10 MB each.
  7. Read What will be recorded to check the figures, then press Save expense. A message names the supplier and the total.

Cases

  • The VAT is recorded, but under the Flat Rate Scheme it cannot be reclaimed, except on a qualifying capital asset.
  • The suggested VAT never overwrites what you typed. You see a notice instead.
  • A total of £0.00 is refused, and an amount with more than two decimals is rejected rather than rounded.
  • A refund is entered as a negative total, and its VAT is negative too.
  • One invoice of £2,400.00 covering three items is one capital asset. Three invoices of £800.00 are three expenses, each below the threshold.
  • If a photo is too large or the wrong type, the expense still saves and tells you the photo was not attached.
  • A receipt is not required to save an expense, and an expense without one says so. Uploading the same file twice warns you but never refuses it.
  • A company that is not VAT registered records the whole amount as the cost.

Good practice

  • Keep one invoice as one expense, even with several receipts attached. An itemised receipt plus the card slip is one purchase.
  • Say honestly who paid. An expense you paid personally goes on your director's loan ledger, and it is never matched to a company bank line.
  • Attach the receipt when you record the expense, while you still have it to hand.