MySpend.info · Help & Guides

Expense Reports: Tracking & Submitting for Third-Party Reimbursement

Scope: Tracking expenses you intend to submit to a client, employer, customer, or any external party. For tracking reimbursements between your own business and your personal accounts, see Tracking Business-to-Personal Reimbursements.

Quick-start summary

Read time: under 3 minutes

#What you doWhere in the app
1Create a named report — one per client, project, or submission periodDashboard → New Report
2Add expenses: scan a receipt, forward it by email, or enter manuallyCamera / receipts@myspend.info / + Add Expense
3Fill in date, vendor, amount, category, and notes (especially business purpose for meals)Expense form
4Review the report — verify totals, categories, and receipt imagesOpen report
5Export to PDF, CSV, or Word for email or portal submissionExport
6Or share a live review link — recipient views, comments, and exports without creating an accountShare → Create Link
7Follow up on payment; optionally mark settled items as reimbursedReimbursement Tracker
One report per context. Name it clearly — "Acme Project Q2 Travel", "May Client Expenses" — so it's unambiguous to both you and the reviewer.

Background

Whether you're an employee submitting monthly expenses to HR, a consultant billing a client for project travel, or a contractor passing through materials costs to a customer, the core workflow is the same:

  1. Capture every relevant expense as it happens.

  2. Organise it into a clear, documented report with receipts and notes.

  3. Submit it to the paying party via export or a review link.

  4. Follow up until you're paid — MySpend keeps the original record intact throughout.

MySpend handles steps 1–3 directly. Step 4 is always manual: the app has no direct connection to your employer's payroll, a client's accounts-payable system, or any external payment platform.

Step 1 — Create a report

Create one report per submission context. Don't mix reimbursable and non-reimbursable expenses in the same report, and don't mix clients or time periods.

  1. On the Dashboard, tap New Report.

  2. Give it a descriptive name: Q2 2026 — Client Travel, May Expenses — ABC Corp, AWS Summit — Reimbursable.

  3. Tap Create. The report opens ready to receive expenses.

Free: 3 reports · Standard: 20 reports · Pro: unlimited

Step 2 — Add expenses

Option A: Scan a receipt with AI (recommended)

  1. With the report open, tap the Camera button (or Scan Receipt).

  2. Take a photo of the receipt, or upload a saved image or PDF from your device.

  3. MySpend's AI reads the receipt and pre-fills vendor, date, subtotal, tax, total, and category.

  4. Review the pre-filled fields, correct anything the AI got wrong, and tap Save.

The receipt image is attached to the expense and will appear in PDF exports and review links.

AI scans/month — Free: 5 · Standard: 30 · Pro: 150 · Manual entry and email forwarding are always unlimited

Option B: Forward by email

If the receipt already exists as an email — an order confirmation, a hotel folio, an Uber receipt, a SaaS billing notification — just forward it to MySpend. No app needed.

  1. Open the receipt email in any email client on any device.

  2. Forward it to receipts@myspend.info — or compose a new email and attach a receipt image or PDF.

  3. Send from the email address registered to your MySpend account.

  4. MySpend's AI reads the email (body text and any attachments), extracts vendor, date, and amount, and adds the expense to your account automatically.

Works with any receipt format: inline HTML email bodies, plain-text confirmations, PDF attachments, and image attachments (JPEG, PNG) are all supported.

Option C: Enter manually

  1. Tap + Add Expense.

  2. Fill in Vendor (required), Total (required), Date, Category, and Notes.

  3. If paid in a foreign currency, select the correct currency code — MySpend converts automatically.

  4. Tap Save.

Subtotal + Tax + Tip: Instead of entering a single total, you can enter these components separately. The breakdown appears in exports and is useful for expense policies that separate tax from spend.

Dining and meal expenses

Select Food & Dining as the category. An extra section appears for:

These details are included in PDF exports and visible in review links.

Multi-day and trip expenses

For hotel stays, rental cars, or per-diem allowances, fill in Start Date and End Date. The date range appears in exports so reviewers can verify the duration.

Step 3 — Review before submitting

Before exporting or sharing, do a final check:

To edit any item, tap its row and choose Edit.

Step 4 — Export the report

Exporting creates a file you can attach to an email, upload to an expense portal, or print.

Available formats

FormatWhat it containsBest for
PDFFormatted report with optional receipt images per expenseMost expense policies; clean for email submission
CSVRaw rows, one expense per line, all fields includedUploading to HR or accounting software portals
XLSXTwo-tab workbook: Summary + ExpensesFinance teams that work in spreadsheets
Word (.doc)Formatted table, fully editablePortals that require an editable document
Free: CSV only · Standard: CSV, XLSX, PDF · Pro: all formats including Word

How to export

  1. With the report open, tap Export.

  2. Choose your format.

  3. For PDF: choose whether to embed receipt images. Embedding is recommended when the reviewer expects to see receipts without downloading separate attachments.

  4. The file downloads to your device — attach it to your submission or upload it to the required portal.

Combining reports in one export

On Standard and Pro plans, the Export modal lets you include expenses from other saved reports in the same file — useful if you track expenses in weekly reports but submit monthly summaries.

Step 5 — Share a live review link

Instead of — or alongside — a static file, you can share a live link that lets the recipient view the report directly in a browser. No MySpend account is required.

What the reviewer can do

How to create a review link

  1. With the report open, tap ShareCreate Review Link (or find it in the header menu).

  2. Optionally set a password. Share the password separately from the link — never in the same message.

  3. Tap Generate Link. Copy the URL and send it to the reviewer.

Managing links and reading comments

  1. Tap ShareReview Links to see all active links for the current report.

  2. Comments from reviewers appear in this panel under each link.

  3. Delete a link at any time to revoke access immediately.

Review links are available to all signed-in users — no paid plan required.

Step 6 — Share with another MySpend user (optional)

If your reviewer or approver also uses MySpend, you can give them direct access to the report:

  1. Tap ShareShare Report.

  2. Enter the recipient's email address.

  3. Choose View (they can see and export) or Edit (they can add or edit expenses — Pro plan only).

  4. Tap Share. The report appears in their MySpend under "Shared with me."

Standard: up to 2 collaborators, view-only · Pro: up to 10 collaborators, edit access available

Step 7 — Following up on payment

MySpend does not have a built-in mechanism to track payments from external parties. Once you've submitted, follow up through your normal channel (email, HR portal, invoicing tool, etc.).

Optional: mark settled items to clear your balance

If you also use the Reimbursement Tracker to monitor what you're owed overall, you can mark the items from this report once you've been paid:

  1. Open the Dashboard and tap the Reimbursements card.

  2. Find the expenses from the submitted report (use search or filter by vendor).

  3. Select them and tap Mark as Reimbursed.

This flags the items as settled in your personal balance tracker. It does not alter the report or notify the paying party.

Alternative: use notes for status tracking

Add a note to each expense such as "Submitted 2026-06-10 · Reimbursed 2026-06-20 — check #1042". Notes appear in exports and review links.

Tips by use case

Employee submitting to an employer

  • Create one report per submission period (match your company's cadence).
  • Attach receipts to every item above your company's threshold.
  • Export to PDF with images for the clearest single-file submission.
  • Keep the report in MySpend after submitting — if there's a dispute, regenerate the export or re-share the review link.

Freelancer or consultant billing a client

  • Create one report per project or invoice cycle.
  • Share a review link before invoicing so the client can verify items — this often speeds up approval.
  • Export to PDF or Word to attach to your invoice.
  • Record PO numbers or contract references in Notes.

Contractor passing through costs

  • Use a separate report per customer contract.
  • Export to XLSX if the customer requires a breakdown by category.
  • Record purchase order numbers in the Notes field on every item.

Using the AI Bookkeeper (Standard/Pro)

  • "What's in my May Client Expenses report?"
  • "Total travel costs across all my open reports."
  • "Show me all Food & Dining items above $50 this quarter."
  • The AI reads all your reports but cannot submit or send them on your behalf.

What this feature does not cover

Out of scope

  • Receiving reimbursements from your own business — if you are a business owner tracking expenses your company owes you personally, see Tracking Business-to-Personal Reimbursements.
  • Invoicing or billing — MySpend documents expenses; you still need to attach the export to your own invoice or use a dedicated invoicing tool.
  • Automatic payment confirmation — MySpend has no connection to payroll systems, accounts-payable platforms, or banks of the paying party. Payment tracking is manual.
  • Reimbursing your own employees — tracking what your business owes its staff is not part of this flow.
  • Tax filing — MySpend is a tracking tool. Consult a tax professional about how reimbursed expenses interact with your taxable income.

→ Related: Tracking Business-to-Personal Reimbursements