# Record an Expense

Five fields and a file.

The one that matters is the account, because that is the line it lands on in your profit and loss, and the one people skip is the receipt, which is the one they need six months later.

![The Create Expense screen opens on a mode chooser headed Choose how you want to record your expense. Three options are offered: Record Expense, one transaction at a time, selected by default; Record Mileage, distance times rate, which calculates the amount from a configured mileage rate; and Bulk Add Expenses, a multi-row spreadsheet for a stack of receipts or a card statement. Cancel and Continue sit at the foot.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/expenses/new-expense-form.png)

*The mode is chosen before the form appears, and can be switched again until you save.*

## Record it

- **Choose the date and amount**

  The date the money actually left, which is what your cash reporting uses.
- **Pick the expense account**

  This is the line it appears on in your profit and loss. If a vendor default exists, it is filled in already.
- **Choose the paid-through account**

  Which card, bank or cash account the money left from. This is what your reconciliation matches.
- **Set the vendor, if there is one**

  Optional. Add it when you want spend grouped by supplier.
- **Attach the receipt**

  It lands in Documents and stays linked to the expense.
- **Mark it billable, if a customer will pay it**

  Billable expenses can be pulled onto that customer's next invoice.

> **Note:**
>
> **Attach the receipt now**
>
> Reconstructing what a card line was for three months later is the single most avoidable job in bookkeeping. Attaching at the point of entry costs seconds.

## Splitting one receipt

One expense can carry several lines, each with its own account, amount and tax rate. A hotel bill split between accommodation and meals is the usual case, and it is worth doing because the two are often treated differently for tax.

| Receipt | Lines |
| --- | --- |
| Hotel with dinner | Accommodation, and Meals and entertainment |
| Fuel and a car wash | Motor fuel, and Motor running costs |
| Office supplies with one personal item | Office supplies, and Drawings or Director loan |
| A mixed grocery run for the office | Staff welfare, and anything else on its own line |

## Tax on an expense

Tax is set per line, not per document, because a single receipt can mix rates. Only record recoverable tax where you actually hold a valid receipt, since it is the receipt rather than the entry that your tax authority will want to see.

- The vendor's tax treatment sets the default, and the line can override it.
- An expense with no tax line is treated as zero-rated rather than as tax inclusive.
- Recoverable tax appears in your Tax Summary for the filing period the expense date falls in.