Free expense report template for Excel (with mileage and receipt checks)
An expense report is how an employee (or an owner) gets paid back for business costs they covered: one line per expense with the date, merchant, business purpose, category and amount, plus mileage, then the total, what the company card already paid, any advance and the amount due. This free Excel template does the arithmetic and checks every line: mileage at the 2026 IRS rate, company card vs personal, the advance, a summary by category, and a flag on any lodging or 75.00-or-more line without a receipt. Below: what's in the file, the columns, a worked example, receipt and mileage rules, how to fill it in from receipts and card statements, and how the business books it.
Short answer: download the expense report template (.xlsx). Fill in your name, the purpose and the report period, then one line per expense: date, merchant, business purpose, category, Paid by (Personal or Company card), receipt Y/N and the amount. For mileage, type the miles instead of an amount; the rate starts at the IRS business rate of 76 cents a mile (July 1 – December 31, 2026). The template totals it, subtracts company card lines and any advance, and shows the amount due to you. The Example is a fictional September 2026 report with a Dallas client trip: 1,303.75 spent, 466.80 on the company card, a 300.00 advance, 536.95 due.
Download the free expense report template (.xlsx)
Three sheets: a blank Expense report with 100 lines, a filled-in Example expense report and How to use. Drop-downs for category (13 editable categories plus spares), Paid by and Receipt. It uses only SUM, SUMIF, COUNTIF, ROUND, IF, AND, OR, N and TEXT, so it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers. No sign-up, no email, no macros. It prints landscape on one page width with signature and approval lines.
1. What's in the template
- Inputs at the top: employee, department or project, purpose of the report, report period from and to, mileage rate per mile and any advance received.
- The expense list: 100 lines with date, merchant, business purpose, category, paid by, receipt, miles and amount, and three calculated columns: Claimed, Reimbursable and Check. A filter is on the header row.
- Totals and checks: total expenses, paid with the company card, paid personally, less the advance, and due to the employee (negative means the employee returns part of the advance). Below that, the number of lines, lines needing a receipt, lines with no date, no category, a date outside the period or mileage without miles, and any amount in a category that isn't in the summary.
- Summary by category on the right: total, paid personally and company card for each category, ready for whoever books the report.
- Status line, such as Ready to submit: 536.95 due to the employee, or 1 line(s) need a receipt (lodging, or 75.00 or more).
- Sign-off: employee signature and date, approved by and date.
Tracking your own spending against a budget rather than claiming it back? Use the expense tracker template instead.
Yellow cells are inputs; everything else is a formula. The category drop-down reads the summary's category column, so renaming a category there renames it in the list.
2. The columns, line by line
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Date | The date on the receipt (or the day you drove). A date outside the report period is flagged. |
| Merchant / payee | Who was paid, as on the receipt or card statement. "Own car" for mileage. |
| Business purpose | Who, what and why: "Workshop lunch with the client team (4 people)". This is the part approvers and the IRS look for. |
| Category | Airfare, Lodging, Meals, Ground transport, Mileage, Parking & tolls, Office supplies, Software & subscriptions, Phone & internet, Postage & shipping, Training & conferences, Client gifts or Other. Edit the list to match your chart of accounts. |
| Paid by | Personal (your own money or card: reimbursable) or Company card (already paid: listed, not reimbursed). |
| Receipt (Y/N) | Y if the receipt is attached. N lines are fine under 75.00 (except lodging); otherwise they're flagged. |
| Miles | Business miles for a Mileage line. Leave Amount blank; Claimed = miles × rate. |
| Amount | The receipt total, including tax and tip. |
| Claimed | Calculated: miles × rate, or the amount. |
| Reimbursable | Calculated: the claimed amount if paid personally, 0 if company card. |
| Check | Calculated: OK, No date, No category, Outside period, Receipt needed or Enter miles. |
3. Worked example: a September report with a client trip
The Example sheet is a fictional employee of the same design studio as our bookkeeping and aging report templates, for September 1–30, 2026. The office supply (86.43) and web hosting (94.56) lines are the two fictional receipt PDFs our receipt extractor uses as its sample. The rest is a Dallas workshop for a client (September 15–17) and two local client visits by car. A 300.00 travel advance was paid before the trip.
| Category | Total | Paid personally | Company card |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airfare | 348.20 | 0.00 | 348.20 |
| Lodging (2 nights) | 412.68 | 412.68 | 0.00 |
| Meals | 160.45 | 41.85 | 118.60 |
| Ground transport (2 rideshares) | 62.15 | 62.15 | 0.00 |
| Mileage (88 mi × 0.76) | 66.88 | 66.88 | 0.00 |
| Parking & tolls | 54.00 | 54.00 | 0.00 |
| Office supplies | 86.43 | 86.43 | 0.00 |
| Software & subscriptions | 94.56 | 94.56 | 0.00 |
| Postage & shipping | 18.40 | 18.40 | 0.00 |
| Total | 1,303.75 | 836.95 | 466.80 |
- 12 lines, 1,303.75 in total. The flight (348.20) and the client lunch (118.60) went on the company card, so 466.80 isn't reimbursed.
- Paid personally 836.95, less the 300.00 advance = 536.95 due to the employee.
- Two mileage lines: 46 miles (34.96) and 42 miles (31.92), 88 miles at 76 cents = 66.88.
- Two lines have no receipt: a 41.85 dinner (receipt lost) and 18.40 of postage. Both are under 75.00 and not lodging, so the Check column says OK. The 412.68 hotel has its receipt, as lodging always needs one.
- Every line reads OK, so the status line says Ready to submit: 536.95 due to the employee. Had the advance been 1,000.00, it would say the employee returns 163.05.
4. Mileage at the 2026 IRS rate
The IRS business standard mileage rate is 76 cents a mile for driving from July 1 to December 31, 2026, and 72.5 cents from January 1 to June 30, 2026 (the IRS raised it midyear; see irs.gov, Standard mileage rates). Employers can reimburse at a different rate, so the rate is an input. A report that spans June and July needs two reports, or the June miles converted at 72.5 cents before you enter them.
- Enter business miles only. Commuting between home and your regular workplace isn't business mileage. A mileage log template keeps the trips through the year, with the rate for each trip's date.
- Put the start and end in the business purpose ("Studio to Maple & Co. Realty and back, 42 mi"). A mileage line is its own record: no receipt is needed, but the date, places, miles and purpose are.
- The mileage rate covers gas, wear and insurance. Parking and tolls on a business trip are claimed separately, as in the example.
5. Receipts: which lines need one
IRS Publication 463 asks for documentary evidence (a receipt, a paid bill) for lodging, and for any other expense of $75 or more. For smaller expenses you still need a record of the amount, date, place and business purpose, which is what each line of the report is. Good receipts show the amount, date, place and what was bought; a hotel bill should show the dates and separate the room from meals and other charges.
How the Check column treats a missing receipt:
| Line | Receipt (Y/N) | Check says |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel, any amount | N | Receipt needed |
| Client lunch, 118.60 | N | Receipt needed |
| Dinner, 41.85 | N | OK (under 75.00) |
| Mileage, 46 miles | (blank) | OK (the line is the record) |
Many employers want a receipt for everything; if yours does, treat any N as a problem whatever the amount. The 50% limit on business meals is about how much of a meal the business can deduct on its tax return; it doesn't change what the employee is reimbursed.
6. How to fill it in from receipts and card statements
- Collect the period's receipts: paper, email and PDF. Photograph paper ones so nothing fades.
- Turn receipts into rows. Typing works for a dozen. For a stack, a receipt extractor reads the merchant, date, subtotal, tax and total from each PDF or photo into one CSV or Excel list you can paste into the Date, Merchant and Amount columns.
- Add what has no receipt: mileage from your calendar or a mileage log, parking meters, tips.
- Mark Paid by from your card statements. Lines on the company card statement are Company card; anything on your own card or in cash is Personal. If you put business costs on a personal card, the statement is also the proof of payment for receipts that went missing.
- Fill in category and purpose, then fix every line the Check column flags until the status line says Ready to submit.
- Print, sign and attach the receipts in list order. Keep a copy.
If you're the owner reimbursing yourself, the same report works: it documents the business purpose and gives the bookkeeper one total per category instead of a pile of receipts. For a cash box at the office, a petty cash log fits better.
7. Advances, deadlines and accountable plans
- Advance: money paid before the trip. The report subtracts it, so the amount due can be negative: the employee returns the unspent part.
- Accountable plan: when reimbursements follow the IRS accountable plan rules (business connection, adequate accounting, return of any excess), they aren't wages on the employee's W-2. Publication 463 treats an advance within 30 days of the expense, accounting for it within 60 days, and returning any excess within 120 days as on time.
- Approval: whoever approves checks the purpose and the receipts, then signs. The Check column means the arithmetic and the receipt rule are done before it gets to them.
8. Booking it: QuickBooks Online and Xero
The category summary is what goes into the books: one expense line per category, with the company card lines already in the books from the card statement. In QuickBooks Online, Intuit's "Reimburse an employee" help article records it either as a check or expense to the employee now, or as a journal entry to a liability account (for example Employee reimbursements payable) paid later or through payroll. In Xero (US), employee expense and mileage claims are part of Xero Expenses, included on the Established plan; an approved claim becomes a bill you pay. A spreadsheet report is still the simplest option for a small team or for occasional claims.
Turn a stack of receipts into rows for the report
Utilly's receipt extractor reads PDF receipts and invoices (and phone photos) into one list with vendor, date, number, subtotal, tax and total, as CSV or Excel. Check every field in the preview; batches of up to 3 receipts download free with no sign-up. Try it on the fictional sample receipts first, including the two used in this template's example.
Method: claimed = miles × the rate for mileage lines, otherwise the amount; reimbursable = claimed for lines paid personally; due = reimbursable − advance. Mileage rates per irs.gov Standard mileage rates (76 cents July 1 – December 31, 2026; 72.5 cents January 1 – June 30, 2026), receipt threshold and accountable plan timing per IRS Publication 463, QuickBooks Online steps per Intuit's "Reimburse an employee" help article and Xero plan details per xero.com/us, all checked November 3, 2026. Not tax advice; your employer's policy decides what's reimbursed. The employee, business and merchants are fictional. Template built and checked November 3, 2026: the Example recalculates in LibreOffice to the figures above and the status Ready to submit: 536.95 due to the employee.
FAQ
Is the expense report template free?
Yes. Download the .xlsx with no sign-up or email address. It has a blank Expense report sheet, a filled-in Example and instructions, and it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers.
What should an expense report include?
Who is claiming and for what period, then one line per expense with the date, merchant, business purpose, category, how it was paid and the amount, plus mileage with the miles and rate. At the bottom: the total, what the company card already paid, any advance and the amount due, with the receipts attached and a signature and approval.
What is the IRS mileage rate for 2026?
For business miles the IRS standard mileage rate is 76 cents a mile from July 1 to December 31, 2026, and 72.5 cents from January 1 to June 30, 2026 (irs.gov, Standard mileage rates). The template's rate cell starts at 0.76; change it if your employer uses another rate or the report covers the first half of the year.
Do I need a receipt for every expense?
IRS Publication 463 asks for documentary evidence, such as a receipt, for lodging and for any other expense of $75 or more, and a record of the amount, date, place and business purpose for everything. Many employers ask for receipts for every expense; follow your own policy. The template flags lodging and 75.00-or-more lines without a receipt.
How are company card expenses handled on an expense report?
List them so the report shows everything spent on the trip or project, and mark them Company card. They count in the total and the category summary but aren't reimbursed, because the company already paid them. Only lines paid personally are due to the employee.
How soon should an expense report be submitted?
Follow your employer's policy. For the IRS accountable plan rules, Publication 463 treats accounting for expenses within 60 days after they were paid or incurred, and returning any excess advance within 120 days, as a reasonable period of time.
Related guides
- Free mileage log template for Excel (IRS 2026 rates, business use %)
- Free expense tracker template for Excel (monthly budget vs actual)
- Free petty cash log template for Excel (with cash count and top-up)
- Receipt OCR without a subscription: turn receipts into a CSV for QuickBooks or Xero
- Free small business bookkeeping template for Excel (income, expenses and a bank check)
- Free credit card statement template for Excel (with a sample)
Related tools
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- Receipt to CSV: turn PDF or photo receipts and invoices into CSV, Excel, or QuickBooks and Xero bill imports.
