cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Announcements
Everything you need to know about banking in QuickBooks Online - Discover more
susanwarren1
Level 3

How do I calculate mileage for expenses?

Using QBOAP and I'm wondering how we can let our employees claim mileage as an expense, as there isn't a calculation for the cost for them.

 

Currently our expenses forms are a spreadsheet, where we have set up the calculation so that they input the number of miles they have done, and the spreadsheet calculates the amount of money owed (at 45p per mile). I can create an expense type called Mileage, but I can't make it calculate the cost. I don't want my users to have to input the cost themselves, as I can foresee issues where they put the number of miles into the price field and instead of claiming say 100 miles at 45p, they put it in as £100.

 

We can't see this in either the Employee Portal, WorkZone app, or Admin level of QBOAP - there must be a way to calculate the mileage for an employee, surely? Can anyone point me at the relevant settings please?

Solved
Best answer May 15, 2020

Accepted Solutions
Becky29
QuickBooks Team

How do I calculate mileage for expenses?

Hello susanwarren1 :waving_hand:, Thanks for bringing your query to our attention, You will need to manually do the calculations in the way your doing it now, appreciate your concern as to how an error may happen when you have other users going to do it, you can leave feedback for the product engineers to pick up as this may be something they can implement into the system. To leave feedback go to the gear icon, and feedback. Thanks 

View solution in original post

6 REPLIES 6
Becky29
QuickBooks Team

How do I calculate mileage for expenses?

Hello susanwarren1 :waving_hand:, Thanks for bringing your query to our attention, You will need to manually do the calculations in the way your doing it now, appreciate your concern as to how an error may happen when you have other users going to do it, you can leave feedback for the product engineers to pick up as this may be something they can implement into the system. To leave feedback go to the gear icon, and feedback. Thanks 

susanwarren1
Level 3

How do I calculate mileage for expenses?

Thanks Becky. I have left feedback, and will have to write up our user guides to work around this.

Su WM
Level 2

How do I calculate mileage for expenses?

Did this ever get added as a feature? We're looking at whether we can include expenses through our QBOAP and, along with trying to figure out how an employee can claim an expense (is this something they can do through the Employee Portal / WorkZone app?), is whether or not mileage can be input as a claim.

 

I remember this being that you had to input the value (as per the question here), which is always going to be a problem for staff to get right - was anything done about adding the right functionality in the last 4 years?

 

GeorgiaC
QuickBooks Team

How do I calculate mileage for expenses?

Hi Su WM, thanks for adding to this thread. QuickBooks Payroll doesn't support mileage, but employees can apply for expense reimbursements on the WorkZone app. 

 

First, create an appropriate Expense Category defined for this expense. This can then be entered as an earnings line on the payroll, or the employee can submit an expense claim on the app to be approved on the next pay run.

 

Please note, the expense claim can only be entered as an amount, meaning the employee would need to calculate their mileage. 

 

To allow employees to apply for expense reimbursement, go to Payroll > Payroll settings > Employee portal settings > Tick Employees can apply for expense reimbursement > Save
 

For full details, see our guide on Adding employee expenses to a pay run in QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll. We'll be here if you need any further support. 

Su WM
Level 2

How do I calculate mileage for expenses?

Thanks GeorgiaC.

 

If staff still have to calculate the value of the mileage then it's not worth us using the Expenses section direct, as it's only a matter of time before the wrong information in put in as someone enters the miles instead of the value, and it's going to be too much extra work to check it.

 

We will look instead at what external programmes there are which do expenses and connect to QBO. It's a shame as I asked this question 4 years ago and you still don't support doing mileage properly.

 

One last question - if we do connect to using the expenses feature, does this have to be processed in a pay run or can we pay staff expenses more than once a month? e.g. if someone has a large expense at the start of the month, they won't want to wait until payday at the end of the month to be reimbursed.

MichaelaS
QuickBooks Team

How do I calculate mileage for expenses?

We value the effort you've put into making the mileage feature available, @Su WM. Allow me to address your queries.

 

When using the expense reimbursement feature, you don't need to process it during the pay run. You can reimburse your employees as often as you need to. Below are the outlined steps to achieve this:

 

  1. Select + New.
  2. Select Cheque or Expense.
  3. Select the Payee dropdown and find the name of your employee.
  4. Select the Category dropdown, then select a liability account. 
  5. Enter the other necessary information.
  6. Select Save and Close.

 

You can check this article for detailed steps to record expenses for future payments and check your employee reimbursements: Reimburse an employee in QuickBooks Online.

 

Moreover, you can run payroll reports to help you view your business's financial status and employee history.

 

The community is always around to back you up if you have other questions about managing expenses. Stay safe.

Need to get in touch?

Contact us