Ever have to dump your purse out to find your chapstick? Or frantically search for your phone? Or go to pay and not be able to find your wallet?

These may or may not be personal experiences 😅 

Not fun. And it can leave you with a little pit in your stomach until you find the item. Well the phone and wallet will leave a pit, the chapstick probably won’t leave a pit in your stomach that one’s just annoying.

That’s how finding a business receipt can feel. Sometimes it’s just annoying because you miss an expense. But sometimes you claim an expense and then need to prove it was a business expense. That one will leave a pit in your stomach.

Keeping receipts as proof of a business expense is necessary but often overlooked. Or not overlooked but just thrown in a box of “I’ll be able to find that later” optimism. Or we think we have a good system but searching for a receipt later proves that to be false. 😅

Want to know more about my simple system?! I spill all the details below.

Why keep copies of business receipts?

The receipt shows when, where, the amount, and a brief description of what was purchased. 

At times the name of the company or what you’re purchasing make it very obvious it’s a business expense. For example, an email from Convert Kit regarding your invoice for the month  being paid.

Other times, a trip to Target can be for business expenses but it can also be for personal expenses. The receipt in this example is proof of what was purchased to prove it was an actual business expense.

What kind of business receipts do you keep?

I make a digital copy of all my receipts. 

For receipts that are emailed I use the print option and save as a pdf to my computer.

For physical receipts I take a clear picture or scan of the receipt and save to my computer as well.

How to track receipts digitally

Keeping digital copies of receipts makes it so much easier for me to organize, sort and find a receipt.

Step One:

Create a digital copy of the receipt by either printing it as a pdf, taking a picture, or scanning the receipt.

Step Two:

Name the digital receipt. My prefer method to name each receipt is:  date - source - dollar amount. For example, the file name would be 03-12-2023 Canva $13.77.

Step Three:

Have a Business Receipt Folder for each year. 

Step Four: 

Put the digital receipts into the business receipt folder.

Why do I take the time to file my receipts digitally?

Saving my receipts like this makes them more organized as they are then listed in the folder by date order. It also allows me to quickly search for a receipt using the search bar function on my computer.

This system for tracking business expense receipts is not only quick and easy, but it helps me not miss a receipt, which means I’m not missing a business expense.

It also helps me find the digital copy of a receipt should I ever need to prove something was an actual business expense.

Now if only I could find a system that stops the frantic “where’s my phone” searches. 😅😂 

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