Receipts

I hear a lot of misinformation about receipts, so I'd like to clear that up and talk about some best practices.

Clearing Up Misinformation

Can't I just use my bank statements?

NO.

There are some cases where bank statements will work. If the statement reads 'BURGER KING - TN $7.50' and you're based in NC then, yeah, that's probably acceptable as a travel meal.

But if it reads 'BEST BUY - NY - $700' then you need a receipt for that. You need the itemized receipt to be able to prove that it was a legitimate business expense.

Why do we keep receipts again?

For two main reasons: Reimbursements and Audits

Reimbursement receipts should have an as fast as possible turn around.

Record-keeping receipt (for an audit) are like insurance. You hope you never need them but if you do, then you are so glad you have them. In the case of an audit, you probably won't need every receipt, but you will need potentially any receipt.

Especially keep receipts that are from unusual vendors, mom and pop shops, or in any way out of your typical business spending area. These are the receipts most likely to asked for during an audit.

Isn't there a $75 de minimis the IRS allows?

Again, NO.

If you are audited, the de minimis they set is likely to be much lower, like $0.25.

How long do I need to keep receipts?

3 years, for most filers.

For some circumstances, 7 years. See IRS - How long should I keep records?

Best Practices

Storing Receipts

Receipts can be kept physically or digitally.

I do not recommend keeping them physically – they get lost, they get damaged, they fade, not to mention trying to find a specific one is a nightmare. But if you do! Have dedicated areas for them, and make sure they get there. Have an envelope in the car, or a box you empty into at the end of the day or week then LABEL IT.

But really, keep them digitally. There are tons of ways to do this but broadly:

On Hard Storage you own - your phone, your computer hard drive
On the Cloud - iCloud, Google Drive, SharePoint, Sync, Dropbox, Evernote, etc. Pick one that you are already using, create a folder and stick 'em in there.
On an App or Accounting Platform - If you are already using an accounting software, see if it has a receipt scanning or upload feature. QB has it as part of its app.

Hard Storage is secure and easy to organize however you like, but it can be potentially impossible to recover if it's not backed up.

Cloud Storage is accessible everywhere, also generally easy to organize, but typically less secure. You may also face load times. For receipts I'm less concerned about security because those could literally blow away in the wind and no one can do anything with the info on it. It's only meaningful to you.

On an App or Accounting Platform means it is nicely tied to your transactions in a way that makes them very intuitively accessible, but you're also banking that the platform is always going to be there. Many also have ways of automatically pulling data from the receipts in a way that might be very beneficial to you. For instance you could use something like QuickReceipts (iPhone app) and it will automatically create some basic expense reports for you.

My advice is that you pick at least two of the above and do your best to keep up with it. Make time once a week and promise yourself a treat after you do it.

What's my favorite?

Have a dedicated email to send receipts to. You can do this several ways:

Create a new email
Create a folder or filter in an existing email
(Gmail) Send all your receipts to "[your email]+receipts@gmail.com" - Adding "+" then any text before the @ symbol of a gmail account will still send to the same gmail account, BUT you can now filter by this. (Also useful when signing up for this, you can have +xyz go straight to trash, or its own inbox, or see who gave your email away).

Now always send an image of your receipts to this email and voila -- a date sorted filing system complete with the ability to add notes, projects, tags, anything you want in as much detail as you want.

Bonus tip!

I recently learned this. On iPhone you can create Shortcuts (it is it's own app). There are pre-created Shortcuts for you. Scroll down and find one called "Text last image" under "Starter Shortcuts".

Option 1: Use As Is

Now, you can just text your self images. Tap the word "Recipients" and add yourself and/or a business phone number you have.

Option 2: Edit for Email

Click the 3 dots to edit.
At the top, tap the name of the shortcut "Text last image" > tap "Duplicate"
In the copy that opened automatically, tap the name at the top "Text Last Image 1" > tap "Rename" then call it something like "Email Last Photo" (go ahead and change the icon too if you want)
Tap the "x" on the right side of the 2nd action (the one that says "Send " Last Photo " to Recipients >") to delete it
Tap the Search Actions bar at the bottom
Type "Send email" and tap on that action when it shows up in the list. It will close the search and add it to the Shortcut you are editing.
Now tap "Recipients" and add your designated receipts email - it will now always autofill this email for this Shortcut (don't worry, you can change it at the time of sending if you want)
You don't have to put anything for "Subject" but I edited mine:
1. Tap "Subject"
2. Scroll to the right in the blue horizonal list directly above the keyboard that starts with 'Select Variable' until you find "Current Date" and tap it
3. In the "Current Date" edit menu that pulled up automatically, you can choose your selected date and time formats (and if you want both or just one) > hit the "x" to exit the Current Date edit menu
4. If you want it to add the current location you're sending from, tap the edit Subject area around Current Date (but not those words or that will re-open its edit menu), Scroll right in the list again to "Device Details"
5. In the Device Details edit menu, tap "Type" and scroll down to tap "Location" then select what kind of location detail/format you want it to add
6. You can also tap the Subject edit area and add plain text, like the word "receipt"
7. Finally, I added "Ask Every Time" so that I can tap the mic and add any details I want to the subject. Although this is not necessary--it always gives you the chance to review & edit before sending.
8. Tap "Done" in the upper right, and that's it!
9. Try it out!

You can use Siri and say "Email Last Photo" or "Email Last Image" (I actually edited shortcuts for both so I can say either and it works the same). You can also add the short cut to your home screen and use it at the tap of a button like any other app. (Get back into editing the shortcut via 3 dots > tap shortcut name at top > then tap "Add to Home Screen"

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