#Expenses

An expense claim is money an employee spent for the business and wants back — or spent on a company card and needs to account for. Claims go through a short approval, then reimbursement, and every step is visible to the person who made the claim. Expenses lives on the left rail.

#A claim's life

Click a claim in the list to open its panel: what it is, where it stands, what was posted and paid — and the next step for you, as a button. You only see the steps your role allows in that state. Each row's ⋮ offers the same steps, by what you may do now — the ones that undo or remove something (send back, take back the payment, delete) last, below a line, in red.

Every state wears the same pill on every Expenses page, in every theme: Submitted blue (waiting on someone), Approved and Reimbursed green, Rejected and Cancelled red, Draft grey.

#Creating a claim

Expenses → New Expense. The claim has a date, the employee (yourself unless you file for others), an optional category (travel, meals, office — whatever you've used before is suggested), and lines: a description, the amount paid — VAT included, as on the receipt — the expense account (defaulted from the category), the VAT where the receipt is a tax invoice, and a receipt attachment. Several lines on one claim are normal — a trip with its taxi, hotel and meals.

A line paid in another currency takes the rate on or before its own date (the receipt's date, or the claim's when the line has none), never 1.00 by default; with no rate on file the line says so, and you type the rate from the receipt or add one in Settings → Exchange Rates. A rate you type stays. A line's amount and VAT are written the way its currency is: three decimals for dinars, whole yen, two for the rest — on the phone too.

A line in a mileage category asks for the distance in km instead of an amount (see Mileage). The tag button at the end of a line says what it was for — a project, a customer, and whether to bill it to them (see Projects, customers and billing).

Save draft as often as you like; Save & submit when it's complete. A submitted claim can't be edited — Withdraw it (from its panel, or on the phone) and it comes back to you as a draft.

#Reading receipts

Attach a receipt to a line and Tamra reads it into the line: the amount paid, the VAT inside it, the supplier and their TRN, the receipt number, the date — and a description and category. Only empty fields are filled; what you typed stays, and anything that doesn't agree with the receipt is said under the line ("The receipt's total is 105.00; the line says 100.00"). Check what it read against the receipt before you submit.

• Several at once — From receipts on the Expenses list (or Add from receipts in a claim): choose the photos or PDFs, and each becomes a line, read in turn.
• Read again — the scan button beside View reads an attached receipt again: it fills what is empty and notes what differs.
• On the phone — Take a photo on a new line: the receipt is read into it. When you've already typed the amount, the photo is attached and left at that.
• The category — the one this supplier was claimed under before; otherwise a guess by kind (fuel, taxis and parking, flights, hotels, meals, phone, office, government fees) among your own categories.
• VAT you can recover — a receipt showing VAT gets the matching rate, with the receipt's own VAT figure; a receipt with neither VAT nor a supplier TRN is set to No VAT; a receipt in another currency is VAT paid abroad, so No VAT, in that currency (if the company doesn't use that currency, enter what it cost in AED). A VAT rate you chose yourself is never changed — a note says if the receipt disagrees.
• Where it is read — here, in your browser: a PDF's own text, or the photo read on screen. No AI service sees your receipts. The first time, the reader is downloaded (a few MB) and the browser keeps it.

Good photos read best: flat, in good light, the whole receipt in the frame. A PDF e-mailed by the supplier (a ride, a hotel, an online order) is read exactly.

#The same receipt twice

As you fill a claim, Tamra looks for its receipts on other claims and says so under the line: the same receipt file, the same supplier TRN and receipt number, or the same receipt number and amount ("Looks like Omar's EXP-0042, line 1 (approved)"). The same person, day and amount is only a hint ("Similar to…") — two taxis of 25.00 on one day are normal. Two lines of one claim with the same receipt are pointed out too. If you can't see the other claim, you're told that another person's claim has the receipt — not whose. Cancelled claims don't count.

Approvers see the same checks on the claim's panel before deciding.

#Mileage

Driving your own car for work is paid per km. Give a category a rate — Expenses → Categories → edit it → Paid per km (mileage), in base currency (AED 0.75, say) — and every line in that category becomes a distance:

• Enter the km; the amount is the distance × the rate, to the fils, shown beside it ("× 0.75 = 37.50").
• No VAT — mileage is an allowance, not a purchase, so there is no VAT to recover — and no receipt is needed.
• Always in base currency, whatever the claim's currency.
• The rate a claim was approved at stays. Changing the category's rate changes new lines (and drafts saved again), never approved claims; an approver correcting a mileage line in its own category keeps the rate it was made at.
• On the phone a mileage category asks for the Distance (km) instead of the amount.

Approvers and admins set the rate, like the category's other rules. The claim, its print and the reports show the km.

#Projects, customers and billing

Each line can say what it was for: click the tag at the end of the line and choose a project and a customer (a project brings its own customer). The Reports show what each project and customer cost.

Tick Bill to the customer — with a markup if you charge one — and once the claim is approved the line waits to be billed. There are two ways to put it on an invoice:

• From Expenses — Bill to customer on the claim's panel, To bill customers on the dashboard, or Bill on the Reports page: choose the customer and the lines, then Create the invoice (a new draft in base currency) or add them to one of the customer's drafts, which keeps its discount. The invoice opens for you to check and post.
• From the invoice — on a draft invoice for that customer, Billable expenses appears with a count when lines are waiting: choose them, and they're added to the draft; saving bills them.

Each line is billed at what it cost you plus the markup — its amount before VAT, and any VAT you can't recover, which approval booked as part of the cost: a dinner of 1,050 with 50 of VAT you can't recover, at 10% markup, is billed at 1,155.00. It is converted at the invoice's rate if the invoice is in another currency, described as Taxi to Falcon site · EXP-0012 · Falcon Tower fit-out, on your revenue account, with a sales VAT rate at the same percentage the claim carried — check the VAT before posting: costs you recharge are usually taxed like your own service, while government fees paid on the customer's behalf usually aren't.

A claim line is billed once:

• It is on one live invoice at a time. Removing the line from a draft, deleting the draft or cancelling the invoice frees it to be billed again; restoring a cancelled invoice takes back the lines still free.
• While it's billed, the claim can't be sent back or corrected — take the line off the invoice (or cancel the invoice) first. The panel shows Billed on INV-0042, which opens the invoice.
• An invoice that bills claims keeps its customer — remove those lines and save before changing it.
• Duplicate on such an invoice leaves the claim lines out of the copy, and the copy's notes name the claims; an invoice that bills nothing but claims isn't copied.
• Credit notes never carry claim lines.

Billing needs the Invoices permission to create (a new invoice) or edit (adding to a draft).

#Category rules

Each category can carry rules (Expenses → Categories → edit a category), in base currency with VAT included:

• Receipt needed above — a line above this amount can't be submitted without its receipt attached. Submit says which line ("Line 2 (ADNOC): Fuel above AED 50.00 needs its receipt attached").
• Limit per line — a line above it goes through, flagged for the approver (on the panel, and in the claim's history).
• Paid per km — makes it a mileage category.

Approvers and admins set the rules; everyone sees them on the categories list.

#VAT on a claim

Each line has a VAT choice beside the amount paid. Pick the rate on the receipt and Tamra works out the VAT inside the amount — 105.00 paid at 5% is 100.00 plus 5.00 VAT. If the receipt shows a slightly different figure, type it over; your figure is kept. A line with VAT asks for the supplier, their TRN and the receipt number, as printed on the tax invoice — the VAT return and the FTA audit file list them.

• Choose No VAT for VAT paid abroad, for receipts that aren’t tax invoices (no supplier TRN on them), and for things that carry no VAT, such as government fees. Only VAT you can recover goes to input VAT.
• VAT you can’t recover — a client dinner or other entertainment: pick Standard Rated (5%), not recoverable. The receipt’s VAT is kept on the line, and approval books it as part of the cost instead of input VAT. A reverse-charge rate isn’t offered on a claim: a supplier abroad’s invoice to the company is entered as a bill.
• Categories bring a starting rate. Expenses → Categories → edit a category → Default VAT (Fuel at 5%, Government fees with none). A rate you choose on a line is never changed by the category.
• On the phone the claim form has the same VAT choice under Amount paid, with the supplier and TRN beneath it.

The claim shows the VAT inside its total, and its details list Net, VAT (recoverable) and Total, with VAT not recoverable (in the cost) when a line is on such a rate.

#Approving

Approvers are told when a claim waits for them — in the bell, and in Approvals on Home. Open it: lines, amounts, receipts, the employee — and, under Before deciding, a missing receipt the category asks for, a line above its limit, or its receipt on another claim. Approve, or Reject with a reason — the reason is required, and the employee sees it on the claim. Several submitted claims can be approved at once: tick them in the list and choose Approve.

Approval writes the expense to the books: each line’s amount before VAT to its expense account, the VAT to VAT Input (recoverable) — the Tax Input (Recoverable) account in Settings → Account Mapping — and the total to a liability owed to the employee. The entry points back to its claim (the Trace pill on either opens the other). On a rate with VAT you can’t recover, that share goes to the expense account (or the account the rate names) with the amount, not to input VAT. Approved and reimbursed claims are part of the VAT return (Tax Returns): each receipt line with VAT appears with the purchases, under its supplier, in the period of the date its approval posted, so a claim approved after a quarter was filed counts in the next one.

• Your own claim waits for another approver. An approver doesn't see Approve on their own claim, and it isn't in their Approvals. For a one-person finance team, an admin can allow it: Expenses → Categories → Rules → Approvers may approve their own claims.
• A claim dated in locked books (Settings → lock date) is approved with a posting date after the lock: Tamra asks for it, offering the first open day. The claim keeps its own date. On the phone, Approve books it on the first open day.

Who can approve is a permission (Expenses → approve); typically Managers and above.

#The employee's manager first

Turn on Expenses → Categories → Rules → Send claims to the employee's manager (admins) and a submitted claim goes to the employee's manager — the Manager on their record in Employees — when that person can approve claims. Only they are told, and it waits in their Approvals and under Waiting for me in the list; the claim shows Waiting for Omar — their manager. After three days without a decision it appears in every approver's Approvals too. Any approver can still decide it (Tamra says it was sent to the manager). A claim whose employee has no manager — or whose manager can't approve claims, or is the claimant — goes to every approver, as before.

#Who sees which claims

Everyone sees the claims they made, the ones they filed for someone, the ones waiting for them and their direct reports' (Employees → Manager). Approvers, accountants (who reconcile or post journals), admins and roles given Expenses → See all (Settings → Users & Roles) see every claim; the Manager role has See all, since managers approve claims. The Viewer role doesn't: a read-only user sees their own claims, not other people's. The VAT return reads every claim's VAT lines for anyone with Tax Returns access. Advances follow the same rule: everyone sees their own; those who see every claim see every advance.

#Reimbursing

Reimburse on an approved claim (its panel, its row menu, or Expenses → Reimbursements) asks:

• How — bank transfer, cash, cheque or card; From an advance (see Cash advances); or With the salary (see Paid with the salary).
• Paid from — the bank or cash account (cash picks your cash box first). An account in another currency asks for the amount that left it; any difference at the day's rate is booked as exchange gain or loss.
• Date and reference — the transfer or cheque number, or the petty-cash voucher.

It posts Dr Employee payables, Cr the account, marks the claim Reimbursed and tells the employee. Matching a bank line in Reconciliation pays a claim only when the line covers it: a line a little short leaves the claim Approved with the rest still owed (it used to close the claim and book the gap as exchange). Several at once: tick approved claims in the list and choose Reimburse, or Reimburse all for one person on the Reimbursements page — each claim gets its own entry, so any one can be taken back alone. Several claims are paid from an account in your base currency (or all sent to payroll); anything that can't be paid is listed with the reason.

A claim is paid back on or after the day it was approved: a pay-back, a bank line matched to it or a settlement from an advance dated earlier is refused, with both dates. Money given to the employee before the claim was approved is an advance — give it under Advances, then settle the claim from it.

From the bank statement — when the transfer to the employee shows up in Books → Reconciliation, the line's Reconcile offers the employee's approved claims as counterparts; matching records the reimbursement and reconciles the line in one step.

The Reimbursements page has two tabs: To pay back (approved claims by employee, with the claims waiting for payroll in their own group) and Advances. Above the claims: what is to pay back, for how many people, how long the oldest has waited since approval (amber after a week) and what waits for payroll; each claim says how long ago it was approved.

#Cash advances

An advance is money an employee takes before spending it — a float for a trip, petty cash for a site. Their claims are then settled from it, and what's left comes back.

Once: an admin chooses where advances are kept — Expenses → Categories → Rules → Cash advances are kept in: an asset account such as Employee advances. Each advance remembers its account. Only an asset account of its own can hold advances — not receivables, VAT, stock, a bank or another account the books keep for something else — so the rule and Give an advance offer only those, and an account set earlier that can't hold them says so.

• Give an advance — Expenses → Reimbursements → Advances → Give an advance: the employee, the amount, the date, the bank or cash account it's paid from (in base currency), a reference and the purpose. It posts Dr the advances account (with the employee as partner), Cr the bank, and the employee is told.
• Settle claims from it — Reimburse → From an advance on the employee's approved claim, and choose the advance: what it covers comes out of the advance (Cr the advance), anything above what's left is paid from the bank account you choose (Cr the bank), and the claim is Reimbursed. The dialog shows the split before you confirm.
• Money came back — on the advance: the amount (what's left, unless you say less), the date and the account it went back to. It posts Dr the bank, Cr the advance. A return recorded by mistake is taken back with the undo button beside it.
• Cancel advance — only for one given by mistake, before anything was settled from it or returned: its entry is taken out (the audit trail keeps it) and a bank line matched to it is released.

An advance is open while money is out, settled when every dirham is accounted for, or cancelled. Its row opens to show what was settled from it and what came back; the dashboard's Out on advances shows the total. Taking back the payment of a claim that was settled from an advance gives the advance its money back.

Who can give, settle and close advances: whoever can pay back claims.

#Paid with the salary

Reimburse → With the salary sends an approved claim to payroll instead of the bank: it shows Waiting for payroll and sits under With the salary on the Reimbursements page and the dashboard. The employee needs an employee record linked to their login (HR → Employees) that payroll pays — Active, Probation, On leave or Notice period, with Currently employed ticked — and a current salary (Payroll → Salaries). Tamra says so if either is missing.

• Compute a payroll run that includes the employee and the claim is added to their payslip. Net pay = earnings − deductions + claims, so the salary transfer and the WPS file pay it. It isn't salary: it isn't in gross and no deduction is worked on it.
• Approve the run: its entry clears what the claim owed (Dr Employee payables) alongside the salaries, and the claim becomes Reimbursed, paid with that run. Unapprove the run and the claim goes back to waiting.
• The run lists the claims it pays, each payslip shows incl. 315.00 claims, and the payslip — on screen and printed — lists them under Expense claims paid back.
• Take out of payroll (the claim's panel, or the Reimbursements page) to pay it back another way: the claim leaves its payslip and the run's totals at once. If a computed run held it, the run goes back to Draft and admins are told to compute it again — as happens when such a claim is sent back or corrected.

A claim paid with the salary can't have its payment taken back from Expenses — unapprove the run.

#Correcting a claim

An approved or paid claim is never edited in place — it is re-posted, so the books keep the full story.

• Correct (approvers) opens the claim for changes: category, account, VAT, supplier, lines, amounts, km, project and customer, date. Say what changed and why, then Re-post: the approval entry is reversed on its own date, the corrected entry is posted, and the claim keeps its number. The employee is told. A paid claim can be corrected too, but its total must stay what was paid — the payment is not touched — and its approval can't move to a date after the payment. A correction that moves the total by one fils (a receipt in another currency split again into amount and VAT, each rounded) keeps what was paid back, and the fils goes to Rounding Differences; more than that is refused.
• Send back (approved, not yet paid) returns the claim to the employee with your note: its entry is reversed and the claim is Rejected until they fix it and submit it again.
• Take back the payment (paid claims; ⋯ in the panel) removes the reimbursement entry and puts the claim back to Approved, ready to pay again. If the payment was matched to a bank line, that line goes back to unmatched in Reconciliation — other claims matched to the same line stay matched. A claim settled from an advance gives the advance its money back. To change the amount of a paid claim: take back the payment, correct, and reimburse again.
• Unmatch in Reconciliation on a line that paid a claim does the same: the payment is taken back and the claim returns to Approved.

A claim approved with a posting date after the lock is corrected on that date, so it can be corrected while its own date is locked. Changing a line's category changes its account to the category's. Corrections, send-backs and take-backs are otherwise refused inside locked books (post an adjusting journal entry dated after the lock instead), and a payment matched in a closed reconciliation period can't be taken back until that period is reopened. A claim billed to a customer is corrected or sent back once its line is off the invoice; a claim in a payroll run sends the run back to draft.

#A claim's history

Each claim's Activity tab lists every step — created, submitted, withdrawn, approved, rejected, sent back, corrected (with what changed: “Fuel → Travel, VAT 5.00 → 4.95”), paid back (by bank, from an advance, or with the salary), sent to payroll or taken out of it, matched to a bank line, payment taken back — with who did it, when, the reason given, and the journal entries it posted, which open in the journal. Claims change only through these steps, so the history and the books always agree.

#Finding a claim

The search box finds claims by number, notes, employee and amount — and by what their lines say: description, supplier, TRN or receipt number. ENOC finds every fuel claim from ENOC; 105 finds claims of 105.00.

The chips above the list show one state at a time (the chosen one is dark), with Waiting for me when claims were sent to you as their manager. A stage clicked on the dashboard opens the list on that state.

#Company cards

A purchase on a company card is still a claim — it documents the spend and attaches the receipt — but it isn't owed to the employee. Approve it as usual; when the card statement is reconciled, match the line to the claim rather than reimbursing.

#The dashboard

Expenses → Dashboard, top to bottom — every figure opens what it counts:

• The money — To pay back (approved, by bank or advance), With the salary (waiting for payroll), Out on advances, To bill customers (cost before markup — click it to bill) and this month's spend net of VAT against last month's.
• Claims by stage — Draft, Waiting for approval (with how long the oldest has waited — amber after three days), Approved · to pay back and Paid back (with what was paid back this month), each with its count and amount; rejected and cancelled claims are counted beside them. Click a stage and the list opens on it.
• What they cost — Spend by month over the last 12 months (this month in the accent; point at a month for its figure), and By category and By employee, net of VAT — the Reports page's figures.
• Needs attention — what waits on someone: claims you can approve (oldest first; Waiting for you when one was sent to you as their manager), claims to pay back (how long since approval), your claims that came back (with the reason) and your drafts. Beside it, Recent claims with their state. Click any to open it.

The heading counts the claims made and their total — drafts, rejected and cancelled claims are left out of the totals. New Expense starts a claim; Reports opens the detail.

#Reports

Expenses → Reports shows what claims actually cost — approved and paid claims only, net of the VAT you recover (that VAT isn't a cost; VAT you can't recover is, and counts as spend, as in the books and on the dashboard), in base currency, by each line's own figures. Its CSV columns say net of VAT recovered.

• Period — this or last month, quarter or year, or the last 12 months.
• Group by — category, employee, project, customer or supplier: spend, VAT and lines for each, largest first, with its share.
• The headline — spend net of VAT recovered, VAT recovered, claims and lines, what was billable and what is still to bill, and the km driven.
• This month against last, and the last 12 months as a trend — the months of the period you chose in the accent.
• To bill to customers — by customer, with Bill beside each.
• Export CSV gives the grouped figures; Export lines every line in the period, with its claim, employee, category, project, customer, supplier, km, net, VAT and whether it's billed.

#Printing a claim

Print / Sign (in the panel's ⋯, or on the open claim) gives the claim form: the claimant from their employee record, each line as paid, the VAT inside the total, and — once it happened — who approved it and when it was paid back.

#Common questions

Can I file a claim for someone else? With the right permission, yes — pick the employee on the claim. They see it in their list.

Is reading a receipt done by AI? No. A PDF's own text is read, or the photo is read on screen in your browser; nothing is sent to an AI service. Check what it filled before submitting.

The receipt is in a foreign currency. Enter the amount in the claim's currency with the rate, or convert to base and note the original on the line; attach the receipt either way.

An approved claim is wrong. Correct it (approvers) — the entry is re-posted under the same claim number. Or Send back so the employee fixes it. If it's already paid, correct it keeping the total, or take back the payment first.

Where does a rejected claim go? It stays in the employee's list marked Rejected with the reason; they Edit & resubmit it (on the phone: Edit, then Submit), or delete it.

Do we charge VAT when we bill an expense to a customer? Usually: a cost you charge on is part of what you supply, so it takes your own sales VAT, whatever the receipt carried. Tamra starts each billed line on your default sales rate (else your standard rate for sales). A disbursement, such as a government fee paid in the customer's name and passed on at cost, carries none: set that line to Out of Scope on the draft before posting.

An employee keeps a float all year. Give one advance and settle every claim from it; top it up with another advance. Out on advances shows what's out.

Can claims be paid with the salary when we pay salaries outside Tamra? The claim is paid when the payroll run is approved in Tamra. If salaries are paid elsewhere, pay claims back by bank transfer instead.

#If something goes wrong

• Submit is refused → a line has no amount, or the claim isn't yours to submit.
• Submit is refused: "needs its receipt attached" → the line's category asks for a receipt above an amount; attach it, or save the claim as a draft.
• Save is refused: "enter the distance in km" → the line is in a mileage category; enter the km (the amount follows).
• Save is refused: "a billable line needs the customer" → choose the customer, or a project that has one.
• A receipt was read wrong → type over what's wrong (what you type is kept), or read it again with the scan button; a flatter, brighter photo reads better.
• A receipt in another currency left the amount empty → the company doesn't use that currency; enter what it cost in AED, or add the currency in Settings.
• Someone can't see a colleague's claim → that's by design; give their role Expenses → See all if they should.
• A claim didn't go to the manager → the rule is off, the employee has no manager in Employees, or the manager can't approve claims (or is the claimant) — it went to every approver.
• Approve isn't offered → your role lacks approve on expenses, or it's your own claim (another approver decides; an admin can allow self-approval under Categories → Rules).
• Approve asks for a posting date → the claim is dated inside locked books; approve it on the first open day or later.
• With the salary is refused: "no active employee record" or "no current salary" → link the employee record to the person's login (HR → Employees) and give them a salary (Payroll → Salaries), or pay back another way.
• A payroll run went back to Draft → a claim it held was taken out of payroll, sent back or corrected; compute the run again.
• Approving a payroll run is refused: "changed after it was computed" → compute the run again, then approve.
• Give an advance asks for the advances account → an admin sets it under Expenses → Categories → Rules → Cash advances are kept in.
• "… can't hold advances" → the account set is kept for something else (receivables, VAT, stock, a bank) or isn't an asset; an admin chooses an asset of its own, such as Employee advances.
• Reimburse is refused: "a claim can't be paid back before it is approved" → date the pay-back on or after the day the claim was approved; money given earlier is an advance, to settle the claim from.
• Cancel advance is refused → something was settled from it or returned; take those back first, or record the rest coming back.
• Reimburse wants an amount → the account is in another currency; enter what left it.
• Re-post is refused: “the total has to stay” → the claim was paid back; take back the payment to change the amount.
• Correct or Send back is refused: “billed on invoice” → take the line off that invoice (or cancel the invoice) first.
• Changing an invoice's customer is refused: “bills … expense claim lines” → remove those lines and save, then change the customer.
• Billable expenses isn't on the invoice → it's not a draft invoice, its customer has no approved billable lines waiting, or those lines are already on it.
• Correct, Send back or Take back is refused: “locked” → the entry is inside locked books; post an adjusting journal entry dated after the lock.
• Take back is refused: “closed reconciliation” → reopen that period in Reconciliation first.
• Take back is refused: “paid with payroll run” → unapprove that run (HR → Payroll runs).
• The claim doesn't appear in Reconciliation's suggestions → it isn't approved yet, or the employee on the claim doesn't match the bank line's description; search the claim number in the counterpart box.
• VAT wasn't recovered on a line → the line has No VAT chosen. Only lines with a VAT rate post input VAT.
• Approve is refused: “carries VAT but no VAT input account is set” → Settings → Account Mapping → choose the Tax Input (Recoverable) account.
• Save is refused: “VAT … is more than the … rate allows” → the VAT typed on a line is more than its rate gives on that amount; check the amount paid and the rate on the receipt.
• A claim approved before October 2026 was booked with any VAT inside the expense. If one carried material VAT on a valid tax invoice, Correct it now — set the VAT on the line and re-post.