Business trip receipts: what to keep and how to file them
Updated 2026-10-30 · 6 min read
A trip generates receipts in six places — transport, lodging, meals, fuel, parking and everything else. Keep them in one project, file them under the right two categories, and the trip becomes one line in the monthly report instead of twenty loose slips.
The six receipt types a trip produces
Transport and lodging carry most of the money; meals, fuel and parking carry most of the paper.
| What you paid for | Category | What to check on the receipt |
|---|---|---|
| Train, flight, bus, taxi, ride-hailing | Transportation & Fuel | Date matches the travel day, not the booking day |
| Hotel or short-term rental | Travel & Lodging | Total including city tax, not just the room rate |
| Meals during the trip | Meals & Entertainment | Separate the ones with a client |
| Fuel and tolls | Transportation & Fuel | Fuel only counts if the vehicle is used for business |
| Parking and airport fees | Transportation & Fuel | Keep the stub, not only the card statement |
| Anything else | Other | Describe what it was in the record |
File the whole trip into one project
A project is a store or a line of business, so a trip belongs to whichever one it was for.
A trip does not need its own project. Create one project per line of business, and file the trip's receipts into that project as they happen. The monthly report then shows what the business spent, travel included.
The exception is a business that runs two separate books: two stores, two projects, and the trip goes into the store it was for.
The three mistakes that cost the most
Missing receipts, wrong dates, and expenses that cross a month boundary.
The first one is a habit problem and the third one is not a problem at all — it is how monthly reporting is supposed to work. Only the second is a data problem, and it is fixed by checking the date field at capture time.
- Waiting until the trip ends: half the slips are gone by then, and the ones left are unreadable.
- Booking date instead of travel date: a flight booked on the 3rd and flown on the 9th belongs in the month it was flown.
- Crossing month end: a trip that runs from the 28th to the 2nd has receipts in two reports. That is correct, and no manual moving is needed.
What to hand to an accountant afterwards
A monthly CSV with the trip's records grouped by category, not a shoebox.
The export carries vendor, amount, date, tax and category for every record, which is exactly the set an accountant reconciles against bank statements. Receipts themselves stay in the app as signed links, so the paper does not have to survive the trip.
Frequent questions
Can I photograph a receipt after I get home?
It works, but expect more corrections. Thermal paper fades, creases form in a bag, and the date on the receipt is easier to read than the date you remember.
Do fuel receipts count as a business expense?
Only the fuel used for business travel. The app records what you enter; whether a specific litre is deductible is the accountant's call, not the app's.
Should a trip be its own project?
Usually not. Projects are for stores or lines of business, so file the trip into the business it was for. A separate project per trip fragments the monthly report into many one-week reports.
Read your first receipt in about a minute
The free plan covers 5 receipts a month and 1 project. No card required, no app to install.