# Submit an expense

Record what you spent for the firm, with its category, amount, payer and receipt, submit it to your approver, and follow it in the figures above your expenses.

An expense is money an employee spends for the firm: a taxi to the court, a hotel for a hearing in another city, court fees paid in cash. Each expense is recorded, submitted and approved on its own; there is no expense report gathering several of them.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- Every user can record and submit their own expenses; no access right on **Expenses** is needed for that.
- Your user is linked to an employee: the form fills **Employee** with it, and the figures above the list follow it.

## Record the expense {#record}

1. Open **Expenses/My Expenses/My Expenses** and click **New**.
2. In **Description**, say what it was. In **Category**, choose the kind of expense, such as **Travel & Accommodation**. The category brings its expense account and its taxes, and may show a guideline under the field.

![A description and a category; the category brings its account and taxes.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10908-4aed083a/vendor-bills-submit-expense-expense_category-en.png)

3. In **Total**, type the amount paid, taxes included. **Included taxes** comes from the category, and the tax part shows next to the amount. A category with a fixed cost, such as **Mileage**, shows its **Unit Price** and asks for the **Quantity** instead.
4. Choose who paid in **Paid By**: **Employee (to reimburse)** when you paid with your own money, so the firm owes it to you; **Company** when the firm's money was used, a company card or the petty cash, so nothing is reimbursed and a **Payment Method** is asked for.

![The amount paid and who paid it; the employee is reimbursed.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10912-88b5dc0a/vendor-bills-submit-expense-expense_paid_by-en.png)

**Expense Date** starts at today, and **Manager** shows who will approve the expense. A category that is charged on to clients also shows **Customer to Reinvoice**, to name the sales order the cost is added to.

5. Click **Attach Receipt** to add the photo or the PDF of the receipt. An expense with a receipt that another expense already carries shows a warning.

![Attach Receipt adds the photo or the PDF of the receipt.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10916-21d4eee7/vendor-bills-submit-expense-expense_receipt-en.png)

## Submit it {#submit}

Click the cloud icon **Save manually**, then choose **Submit** in **Actions**. The status turns to **Submitted**, and an **Expense Approval** activity is planned for the manager. When nobody would approve it (no manager found for you), **Submit** approves the expense at once.

![Submitted, the expense waits for its approver.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10920-6e7cf2ad/vendor-bills-submit-expense-expense_submitted-en.png)

Back on **Expenses/My Expenses/My Expenses**, three figures sum your expenses and those of the employees under you: **To Submit** (drafts), **Waiting Approval** (submitted) and **Waiting Reimbursement** (approved, paid by the employee). They show on a computer only; on a phone, the status of each expense tells the same.

![The figures above the list follow your own expenses.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10924-3804c3e1/vendor-bills-submit-expense-expense_waiting-en.png)

## Other ways to record expenses {#other-ways}

- **Upload** above the list (**Scan** on a phone) creates one draft expense per file, with the file as its receipt; complete the category and the amount, then submit it.
- Employees can e-mail their receipts when the e-mail option of [Expenses settings](expenses-settings) is on and an alias domain exists.
- **Split Expense** in **Actions** divides a draft into several expenses, each with its own category and amount, for a receipt that mixes, say, a hotel and a meal.

## FAQ {#faq}

### Can I change an expense after submitting it? {#change}

Choose **Reset** in **Actions**: the expense goes back to draft, and you can change it and submit it again.

### A message says the same expense already exists. {#duplicate}

Another expense of yours has the same category, amount and date. Click **Ok** if both are real: the expense is submitted, and a note on the expenses concerned records that you confirmed it is no duplicate.

### Why do the figures stay at zero? {#zero}

They count only the expenses of the employee linked to your user and of the employees under it. A user without an employee sees zeros.

### Who approves my expense? {#who-approves}

The person in **Manager**. [How bills and expenses fit together](how-bills-and-expenses-fit-together) explains how it is chosen; [Approve and reimburse expenses](approve-and-reimburse-expenses) shows the approver's side.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/vendor-bills/submit-an-expense
- Updated: 2026-10-23
- Version: Vendor bills and expenses 19.0.2.1
- Verified: 2026-10-23