What is a streamlined way to collect and report travel expenses?

Anonymous · ‎October 09, 2021

I frequently travel and would like to create expense reports for all purchases related to each trip easily. Thanks in advance!

Rea_M · ‎October 09, 2021

Collecting and reporting travel expenses in QuickBooks Online (QBO) is easy, and I'm here to guide you on how, @Anonymous.

You can create a new account on your Chart of Accounts to record your travel expenses. Then, you may add subaccounts to keep track of all your related purchases. This way, you'll get to organize and make more detailed reports for each of your trips easily.

To do this, here's how:

Go to the Accounting menu.
Select Chart of accounts.
Click the New button in the upper right-hand corner.
In the Account Type drop-down, select Expenses.
Under Detail Type drop-down, choose Travel.
Give your new account its Name.
Click the Is sub-account box, and select the parent account (only if you're adding a subaccount).
Select Save and Close.

Once you're done, create an expense transaction and make sure to select the appropriate account. This way, you can have a complete picture of your business or travel expenses. For the step-by-step guide, you can refer to this article: Enter and manage expenses in QuickBooks Online.

Then, I'd recommend pulling up an expense or transaction report (i.e., Transaction Detail by Account or Expenses by Vendor). This way, you can easily track your travel expenses and make sure you've recorded them accordingly. To do this, go to the Reports menu's Standard tab.

Also, I'm adding this article to further guide you in managing your business expenses and transactions using QBO: Expense Report: Meaning, Need, and How to Create an Expense Report?.

Please keep me posted on how it goes. Let me know in the comments if you have other concerns about recording travel expenses in QBO. I'm always around to help. Take care, and I wish you continued success, @Anonymous.

View solution in original post

Rea_M · ‎October 09, 2021

Collecting and reporting travel expenses in QuickBooks Online (QBO) is easy, and I'm here to guide you on how, @Anonymous.

You can create a new account on your Chart of Accounts to record your travel expenses. Then, you may add subaccounts to keep track of all your related purchases. This way, you'll get to organize and make more detailed reports for each of your trips easily.

To do this, here's how:

Go to the Accounting menu.
Select Chart of accounts.
Click the New button in the upper right-hand corner.
In the Account Type drop-down, select Expenses.
Under Detail Type drop-down, choose Travel.
Give your new account its Name.
Click the Is sub-account box, and select the parent account (only if you're adding a subaccount).
Select Save and Close.

Once you're done, create an expense transaction and make sure to select the appropriate account. This way, you can have a complete picture of your business or travel expenses. For the step-by-step guide, you can refer to this article: Enter and manage expenses in QuickBooks Online.

Then, I'd recommend pulling up an expense or transaction report (i.e., Transaction Detail by Account or Expenses by Vendor). This way, you can easily track your travel expenses and make sure you've recorded them accordingly. To do this, go to the Reports menu's Standard tab.

Also, I'm adding this article to further guide you in managing your business expenses and transactions using QBO: Expense Report: Meaning, Need, and How to Create an Expense Report?.

Please keep me posted on how it goes. Let me know in the comments if you have other concerns about recording travel expenses in QBO. I'm always around to help. Take care, and I wish you continued success, @Anonymous.

Anonymous · ‎October 10, 2021

Thank you Rae! Very helpful.

I'd like to keep my subaccounts as-is for cleaner bookkeeping and not add additional for each trip.

I see there are also tags. How can I use tags as a way to keep track and report all travel expenses for my client?

ChristieAnn · ‎October 10, 2021

Hi there, heyjo.

I appreciate you for coming back to the thread to ask additional questions on how to use other features available in QuickBooks. Then, how it helps in your business needs.

You can start using the Tags feature by enabling it in the Account and Settings section. Tags are customizable labels that allow you to track entries in any way you want. You can tag invoices, expenses, and bills and this allows you to track and report on all travel expenses for your client. Please note that Tags are more flexible and they don't impact your books. Instead, they're a way for your team to track the info that matters most to you.

Here's how to turn on the Tags:

Go to the Gear icon ⚙.
Choose Account and Settings.
Select the Sales tab.
From the Sales form content section, turn on Tags. Then, select Save.
Go to the Expenses tab.
In the Bills and Expenses section, turn on Show Tags field on expense and purchase forms.
Click Save and Done.

Once done, you can now start creating new tags and tag transactions. You can click this article to view detailed information on how to perform the process: Tag transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, I'm also adding this article to view details on how you can use the classes feature to track income, expenses, or profitability by business segment: Get started with class tracking in QuickBooks Online.

I'm always here to help if you have any other concerns or questions about tags. Just tag my name in the comment section and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Have a great day.

Anonymous · ‎October 11, 2021

Thanks again!

ZackE · ‎October 11, 2021

Thanks for following up with the Community, heyjo.

I'm happy to hear Rea_M and ChristieAnn were able to help with collecting and reporting travel expenses, as well as how to use tags.

You'll also be able to find many detailed resources about using QuickBooks in our help article archives.

Please don't hesitate to send a reply or create a new thread if there's any additional questions. Enjoy the rest of your day!

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What is a streamlined way to collect and report travel expenses?