Just so you know, YES!, we have received big bunches of disorganized receipts in shoeboxes. It really does happen! But, we should try to avoid that.

The Bookkeeping Department understands that every expense counts and you want to keep your costs low. You can help by organizing your receipts so that all we have to do is enter them into your bookkeeping software correctly.

Usually receipts come one in two forms: cash register/remote terminal receipt; invoice printout. Either way, they prove you spent money for your business, which how you earn the expense deduction.

Send them to us so they’re all ready for processing to save time and money. Here are some tips:

Write the expense purpose on each receipt, connecting it to your company’s Chart of Accounts

• Your expenses are categorized as things like, Office Supplies, Advertising, Meals & Entertainment, Rent, on so on. Work with us to decide which ones to use so you’ll be consistent.
• Write the category on the receipt itself; you can shorten them so long as it’s clear (e.g. M&E instead of Meals & Entertainment)

Separate Meals & Entertainment receipts from the others

• We have to treat these differently; only one half of the GST can be claimed
• Restaurant receipts often are in two parts; staple them together and write purpose of meal

Organize receipts by date

• We take each receipt and compare it to withdrawals in your bank account and purchases with your credit card (if you have one), which are shown in the statement by date
• If you have many receipts, consider buying a 1-31 sorter
• If some are large (e.g. a full page invoice from a vendor) and others are small (e.g. a cash register receipt) then you can create two groups, one large and the other small
• Use a paper clip to hold the receipts together

Itemize multiple categories on single receipt

• Sometimes you go into a store and buy multiple categories of items on a single receipt (e.g. you can buy office supplies and computer equipment at a place like Staples)
• Circle, highlight or otherwise indicate which items are for which category; if necessary make notes on a sticky note or full page

Let us know if you lost a receipt

• Lost receipts are not necessarily a lost expense deduction
• We can create a ‘Missing Receipt Affidavit’ where you can swear the expense is real

Print online receipts

• Sometimes receipts are ‘soft,’ i.e. come only in digital form; we recommend you print these as you receive them and turn in on paper
• Forget paperless! It’s a myth for the foreseeable future

Foreign purchases are treated differently

• As soon as possible, write the Canadian currency equivalent on the receipt (e.g. from bank or credit card statement)

None of these tips take up much time if they’re done along the way. Get into the habit of organizing your receipts every time you get one and it’ll take just a few seconds. This will add up to a lot of time you won’t be paying your bookkeeper sorting things out for you.