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Free Expense Report Template

Add each expense with its date, category and receipt, log your business miles, take off any advance, and the report totals itself. Print it, save it as a PDF for your manager, or download a CSV for the spreadsheet.

What an expense report needs

  • Who and when

    Your name, team and the manager who approves it, the period the report covers and the date you submit it.

  • The business purpose

    One line on why you travelled or spent: the customer visits, the trade show, the territory. Approvers and auditors look for it first.

  • Every expense, dated

    Date, category, a short description and the amount for each cost: travel, lodging, meals, client entertainment, supplies.

  • Receipts

    A receipt for each line, or a note on why there is none. The report flags lines without one.

  • Mileage

    Each business trip with the distance and the rate used, kept apart from fuel receipts so nothing is claimed twice.

  • Advances and the bottom line

    Any cash advance or prepaid amount taken off the total, the amount due, and two signature lines.

How mileage is worked out

Mileage pays you for using your own car on business. The usual method is distance times a rate per mile. Many employers use the IRS business standard mileage rate, which changed in the middle of 2026: 72.5 cents a mile for trips from 1 January to 30 June and 76 cents from 1 July. The template picks the rate from each trip's date, so a report that spans the change is still right.

If your company pays its own rate, type it once and it applies to every trip. Each trip is rounded to the cent and the mileage total is the sum of the trips, so the printed report and the spreadsheet add up.

Need one trip or a whole month's log? Use the mileage reimbursement calculator.

Paid a daily allowance instead of receipts? Try the per diem calculator.

Tips for a report that is approved first time

  • Submit weekly

    A week of receipts takes ten minutes. A quarter of them takes an afternoon and a few guesses.

  • Photograph receipts on the day

    Thermal receipts fade and pockets lose them. A photo the same evening is a receipt you still have in March.

  • Write the purpose, not just the place

    "Lunch, Acme, renewal discussion with the plant manager" is approved. "Lunch" is questioned.

  • Keep personal spend off the card

    If something personal ends up on the company card, note it and take it off the claim rather than leaving it for the approver to find.

More for reps on the road: the outside sales rep's role and typical day, field sales management, the sales call report template.

Fill it in from your notes, not your memory.

Say the trip details into a voice note after each visit: who you saw, the miles, what you paid for. ParrotNotes turns it into a written note and a to-do list, so the report takes minutes on Friday. Free for 100 minutes of recording a month.

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Expense report questions