How to Use Expense Claims

Q: What is the difference between a receipt line and a mileage line?

A receipt line is for out-of-pocket purchases — you enter a merchant, subtotal, and tax. A mileage line is for vehicle travel — you pick a vehicle, enter origin, destination, and kilometres, and the system calculates the amount using CRA mileage rates.

Q: Why is the Post button missing?

The Post button only appears in bookkeeping mode (when you are working inside a specific client). It also only appears on claims with Approved status.

Q: Can I pay a claim partially?

Yes. When you click Pay , enter an amount less than the full balance. The claim moves to Partially Reimbursed status. You can make additional payments later until the full amount is reimbursed.

The Expense Claims page lets you submit, review, approve, post, and reimburse employee expense claims — all in one place. Employees can claim receipt-based expenses (meals, supplies, travel) or mileage using their assigned vehicles, with built-in policy checks, tax handling, and AP integration.

This guide walks through every section of the page, step by step, in the order you see on screen.

Getting Here

Open the main sidebar and select a Bookkeeping Client.
In the client sidebar, click Expense Claims (under the Purchases section). You can also reach it from the Client Dashboard by clicking Open Claims on the Expense Claims card.

The page opens to the claims dashboard. Across the top you will see six summary metrics, and below them the claim queue and side panels.

Understanding the Dashboard

Top Metrics

Six cards sit across the top of the page. They give you a quick read on the state of every claim for this client:

Metric	What It Shows
Open Amount	Total reimbursable dollars still outstanding (not yet paid or denied).
Queue Total	Sum of every claim in the system regardless of status.
Pending	Claims waiting for approval.
Approved	Claims that have been approved but not yet posted to AP.
Posted Unpaid	Claims posted to a purchase bill but not yet paid.
Exceptions	Total policy exceptions across all claims.

Workflow Lanes

Below the metrics, four lanes group claims by where they sit in the workflow:

Lane	Statuses Included	What To Do Here
Intake	Draft, Sent Back	Finish and submit unfinished claims.
Review	Submitted, Manager Review, Bookkeeping Review	Approve, send back, or deny claims.
Accounting	Approved, Posted, Partially Reimbursed	Post to AP or record payments.
Complete	Reimbursed, Denied, Void	Historical record — no further action needed.

Each lane shows a count of claims and a total dollar amount.

Adding a Vehicle

Before anyone can submit a mileage claim, you need at least one vehicle on file. Vehicles are saved once and reused across all mileage claims.

Click the Add Vehicle button near the top-right of the page.
A dialog opens with the following fields:

Field	What To Enter
Label	A friendly name for the vehicle (for example, "John's 2024 Civic").
Employee	Which payroll employee or firm user this vehicle belongs to.
Province	The province where the vehicle is registered.
Default	Set to Yes if this is the go-to vehicle for the employee.
Make	The manufacturer (for example, "Honda").
Model	The model name (for example, "Civic").
Year	The model year.
Plate	The licence plate or identifier.

Click Save.

The vehicle now appears in the Vehicles panel on the right side of the page. Each vehicle card shows total claimed kilometres, total claimed dollars, number of claims using it, the latest claim number, and the latest claim date.

Creating a New Claim

Click the New Claim button. A start dialog opens with two paths.

Path 1: Upload Receipts (OCR)

Drag and drop receipt files into the dashed upload area, or click Upload to browse your files.
Accepted formats: PDF, JPG, PNG, and WEBP.
If your client plan includes OCR credits, the system scans each receipt and extracts the merchant, date, amount, and category automatically.
If OCR credits are exhausted or unavailable, you will see an amber notice. You can buy more credits or continue manually.

ℹ Info: OCR extraction happens in the background. You can continue working while it processes.

Path 2: Enter Manually

Click Enter Manually at the bottom of the start dialog to skip receipt upload and fill in everything yourself.

Either path opens the Claim Wizard — a three-step form.

The Claim Wizard

The wizard has three steps shown as clickable tabs at the top: Details, Lines, and Review. You can move between steps freely. A running total appears on the Lines and Review tabs.

Step 1: Details

Fill in the header information for the claim:

Field	What To Enter
Claim Date	The date the expense was incurred. Defaults to today.
Type	Receipt for out-of-pocket expenses, Mileage for vehicle use, or Mixed for both.
Employee	(Firm mode only) Which firm employee is claiming.
Business Purpose	A short description of why the expense was necessary. Required before you can submit.
Department	The department to associate with this claim.
Location	The work location or site.
Supplier Override	(Bookkeeping mode) Override which supplier the eventual AP bill is tied to.
Receipt Threshold	The dollar amount above which a receipt is required per your policy.
Meal Limit	The maximum reimbursable amount for a meal under your policy.
Mileage Rate Override	A custom per-kilometre rate to use instead of the default provincial rate.

⚠ Warning: Changing the claim Type resets any lines you have already added.

When ready, click Next to move to the Lines step. You can also click Save Draft at any time to save your work and come back later.

Step 2: Lines

This is where you add each individual expense. Click Receipt to add a receipt line or Mileage to add a mileage line. You can mix both types in a single claim.

Receipt Lines

Each receipt line has these fields:

Field	What To Enter
Date	The date on the receipt.
Expense Account	The chart of account to charge this expense to.
Class	A tracking class (if your client uses classes).
Tracking Location	A tracking location (if your client uses locations).
Merchant	The name of the store or vendor.
Category	A label to group similar expenses (for example, "Office Supplies").
Tax	The tax rate that applies to this line.
Subtotal	The amount before tax.
Tax Amount	The tax portion.
Total	The full amount including tax.
Meal Amount	The portion of this line that is a meal (checked against your meal limit policy).
Description	Any additional notes about this line item.
Override Reason	If you changed the mileage rate or meal limit from the default, explain why here.

✓ Tip: Fill in the Subtotal and Tax Amount fields — the system calculates the rest. A green banner at the bottom of the line shows the calculated total.

Mileage Lines

Each mileage line has these fields:

Field	What To Enter
Date	The date of the trip.
Vehicle	Which vehicle was used (pick from the vehicles you added earlier).
Origin	Where the trip started.
Destination	Where the trip ended.
Kilometres	The distance driven.
Tax Year	The tax year for this mileage (defaults to the current year).
Province	The province the trip occurred in (determines the default rate).
Rate Override	A custom per-kilometre rate if the default provincial rate does not apply.
Description	Any additional notes.
Override Reason	Explain why you overrode the rate, if applicable.

A green Mileage Estimate banner appears below the line showing:

The calculated dollar amount.
The vehicle label.
The origin and destination.
The number of kilometres.
A breakdown of first-tier and second-tier kilometres and rates (since provincial mileage rates often have two tiers).

ℹ Info: Mileage rates are determined by the province and tax year you select. The system applies the CRA-prescribed rates automatically.

Managing Multiple Lines

Click Receipt or Mileage to add another line.
Click Remove on any line to delete it.
All line totals roll up into the running claim total shown in the step navigation.

When your lines are complete, click Next to review.

Step 3: Review

The Review step shows everything before you submit.

Left side — Submission Readiness:

A green banner with "Ready to submit" means your claim passes all checks.
Amber warnings list any problems you need to fix (for example, a missing business purpose or a line with no amount).

Right side — Claim Total:

Number of receipt lines and their total.
Number of mileage lines and their total.
Grand total for the entire claim.

Attachments:

Use the file input to attach PDFs, images, or other supporting documents.
File names appear below the input once selected.

⚠ Warning: You cannot submit a claim with zero lines or without a business purpose.

Finishing the Claim

Click Save Draft to keep working later. The claim stays in Draft status.
Click Submit to send the claim into the review workflow. The status changes to Submitted.

After saving or submitting, a toast confirmation appears at the top of the screen, and the claim appears in the queue.

Editing a Claim

You can edit a claim that is still in Draft or Sent Back status. You cannot edit claims that have been posted, partially reimbursed, reimbursed, or voided.

In the Claim Queue table, find the claim you want to edit.
Click the pencil icon in the Actions column.
The Claim Wizard opens with the existing data. Make your changes across any of the three steps.
Click Save Changes on the Review step, or Save Draft to keep it open.

Working the Claim Queue

The main table on the left side of the page lists every claim. You can filter and act on claims directly from this table.

Filtering Claims

Use the status tabs above the table to narrow the list:

Tab	Shows
All	Every claim regardless of status.
Draft	Claims that have not been submitted yet.
Review	Claims awaiting approval (Submitted, Manager Review, Bookkeeping Review).
Approved	Claims that passed review but are not yet posted.
Posted	Claims that have been posted to AP (Posted, Partially Reimbursed).

Use the search box to find a claim by claim number, claimant name, or business purpose.

Table Columns

Column	What You See
Claim	The claim number and date.
Claimant	The employee name and source (firm or client).
Status	A coloured badge showing the current status, plus any policy exception count.
Context	The business purpose and department or client name.
Total	The total claim amount, with the reimbursable portion below.
Actions	Buttons that change based on the claim's status (see below).

Available Actions

The buttons that appear depend on the claim's status and your role:

Status	Actions Available
Draft	Edit (pencil), Submit (send icon)
Sent Back	Edit (pencil), Submit (send icon)
Submitted / Manager Review / Bookkeeping Review	Approve (checkmark), Send Back (undo icon), Deny (X icon)
Approved	Post (button — bookkeeping mode only)
Posted / Partially Reimbursed	Pay (button — bookkeeping mode only)

ℹ Info: Firm partners and bookkeeping users can review any claim. Regular employees can only edit their own draft or sent-back claims.

Sending a Claim Back

When you send a claim back, it returns to Draft status so the employee can fix issues. The default reason is "Needs update." The employee sees the claim in their Intake lane.

Denying a Claim

Denying a claim moves it to the Complete lane with a Denied status. The default reason is "Denied from claim queue." Denied claims cannot be reopened from this page.

Posting a Claim to AP

Once a claim is Approved, you can create a purchase bill in Accounts Payable for the reimbursement.

In the Claim Queue, find an approved claim.
Click the Post button in the Actions column.
A dialog opens with these fields:

Field	What To Enter
Supplier	Which supplier (vendor) the bill should be associated with. Usually you pick the employee's vendor record.
Bill Date	The date for the AP bill.
Due Date	When the bill is due for payment.
Notes	Any internal notes about the bill.

Click Post.

The claim status changes to Posted, and the related purchase bill number appears on the claim. You can now pay it through the normal AP payment workflow, or use the Pay button on this page.

Recording a Reimbursement Payment

After a claim is posted (or partially reimbursed), you can record the actual payment to the employee.

In the Claim Queue, find a posted or partially reimbursed claim.
Click the Pay button in the Actions column.
The dialog pre-fills the amount with the remaining balance due. Fill in the remaining fields:

Field	What To Enter
Payment Date	The date the payment was made.
Bank Account	Which bank account the payment came from.
Amount	The dollar amount being paid (can be a partial payment).
Reference	A cheque number, EFT reference, or other identifier.
Notes	Any internal notes.

Click Record.

The claim status updates to Reimbursed (if paid in full) or Partially Reimbursed (if a partial payment was made). Both move to the Complete lane.

Vehicles Panel

The right side of the page has a Vehicles card showing all saved vehicles. Each vehicle card displays:

The vehicle label with a Default badge if applicable.
The province, make, model, and year.
Total claimed amount and kilometres across all claims.
A mini-summary: number of claims, latest claim number, and latest claim date.
The two most recent trip routes (origin to destination) with amounts.

Click Add on the Vehicles card to open the same vehicle dialog described earlier.

Claims Reporting Panel

Below the Vehicles card, the Claims Reporting panel gives you live rollups:

Row	What It Shows
Mileage Claimed	Total dollar amount of all mileage claims.
Expense Distribution	How many unique expense accounts have charges.
Policy Exceptions	Total number of policy exceptions across all claims.

The panel also lists the top three expense accounts by amount, showing the account number, account name, and total.

Click Open to go to the full Expense Claims Report page, which includes:

Seven summary metrics (Claims, Pending Approval, Approved Unposted, Posted Unpaid, Reimbursed, Total Reimbursable, Policy Exceptions).
A Mileage By Employee table with kilometres and amounts per employee.
An Expense Distribution table with amounts and share percentages by expense account.
Quick-action links to return to the claims queue for pending approvals, posting, policy exceptions, or mileage detail.

Click Reports (next to the Add Vehicle button) to reach the same report page from the main claims dashboard.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I submit a claim without attaching receipts?

Yes. Receipts are optional. If you are over the receipt threshold set in the claim details, the system will flag a policy exception but will not block submission.

What is the difference between a receipt line and a mileage line?

A receipt line is for out-of-pocket purchases — you enter a merchant, subtotal, and tax. A mileage line is for vehicle travel — you pick a vehicle, enter origin, destination, and kilometres, and the system calculates the amount using CRA mileage rates.

Why is the Post button missing?

The Post button only appears in bookkeeping mode (when you are working inside a specific client). It also only appears on claims with Approved status.

What happens when I change the claim type?

Changing the Type dropdown resets your lines. If you switch from Receipt to Mileage, any receipt lines you entered are replaced with one empty mileage line. Switch to Mixed to keep both types.

Can I pay a claim partially?

Yes. When you click Pay, enter an amount less than the full balance. The claim moves to Partially Reimbursed status. You can make additional payments later until the full amount is reimbursed.

Where do posted claims appear in the accounting?

Posted claims create a purchase bill in Accounts Payable. You can find the bill in the Bills list under Purchases. The bill number appears on the claim row in the queue.