AccountsExpenses
Creating an Expense
How to add a new expense and decide which fields should be linked to customers, jobs, services, and categories.
From Accounts > Expenses, click New Expense. The popup uses the same ledger form as transactions, but here the aim is to record business cost cleanly so it can be reported and traced later.
Fields Worth Getting Right
- Transaction Type: On the Expenses screen this should stay as Expense. If you meant to record a different kind of ledger line, use the Transactions screen instead.
- Entry Date: Set this to the date the cost belongs to in your records.
- Expense Category: This is the main reporting label for the cost. Use the category that best matches what the money was spent on.
- Vehicle: The van or car the cost was for. As the hint underneath says, Fuel, repairs, insurance and the van's other costs count against it in its reports. That's its profit and loss in the Vehicles Report. When the expense category is one you've put in HMRC's Car, van and travel expenses for Income Tax and no van is chosen yet, the hint changes to This is a vehicle cost. Choose the van it was for, so it counts against that van in its reports. Leave it on No vehicle for costs that aren't for one vehicle. It shows once your business has a vehicle, if your role can see vehicles, and only vehicles still in use are offered.
- Description: Write what the expense actually was, not just where it came from. This makes later searching much easier.
- Amount: Enter the gross amount of the cost.
- VAT Rate (%), VAT, and Net Amount: If VAT applies, set the rate and let Work Planner calculate the split for you.
- Payment Reference: Use this for supplier invoice numbers, card references, or bank references you may need again later.
Optional Links
- Customer: Link this only when the cost clearly belongs to one customer account.
- Job: Use this when the expense belongs to one job and you want that trail visible later.
- Service: Useful when the cost is tied to a specific kind of work.
- Payment Method: Add this when the method matters for audit or traceability.
Fields Most People Leave Alone
- Invoice: Leave this empty unless the expense genuinely needs to sit against one invoice record.
- Missed: This is usually not used for expenses. It is there for special ledger cases rather than normal supplier costs.
Attaching The Receipt
- Attachments tab: Attach the receipt while you are recording the cost, so the evidence and the figure stay together.
- Accepted files: JPG, PNG, GIF, and WEBP images, plus PDFs, up to 10MB each. A photo of a till receipt and an emailed PDF invoice are both fine.
- Upload timing: Files upload immediately after the expense saves. If that upload fails the expense is still saved, and you can edit the expense to attach the receipt.
After Save
The new expense appears on the Expenses list and also exists in the wider Transactions ledger, because every expense is still a transaction underneath.
Related articles
- Expenses List: Shows where the new cost appears after saving.
- Editing an Expense: Useful when the cost was saved with the wrong category or links.
- Transactions List: Helps when you need to see the expense alongside the rest of the ledger.
- Transaction Attachments: Covers accepted file types, previewing, and removing receipts.