Expenses & Receipts
Every receipt, proven
and deducted.
Photograph the receipt at the pump, the hardware store, or the jobsite. It lands in your expense log — categorized, with the GST/HST split out for your Input Tax Credit. The image lives there forever, so when CRA asks for it three years from now, you actually have it. This is the difference between a shoebox and a clean year-end.
- Built in Ontario
- ITC recoverable tracked automatically
- Receipts stored forever — audit-ready
- No credit card to start
How it works
1
Snap the receipt
Photograph it on your phone, drag a file from your desktop, or scan the QR to hand it from desktop to phone camera. Images and PDFs both accepted — up to 15 MB.
2
Categorize & claim the tax
Pick a CRA-aligned category (Fuel, Meals & Entertainment, Professional Fees…), enter the tax rate, and the recoverable GST/HST is calculated and tracked as your ITC balance — automatically.
3
It's deductible & audit-proof
The receipt image lives on the expense forever. At year-end, one-click CSV export hands your accountant date, description, category, supplier, amount, and every dollar of ITC paid. That's all they need.
What it does
Every expense scenario handled, end to end
From a receipt snapped at the pump to a billable reimbursable that rolls straight onto the invoice — these are the flows that keep your books clean all year.
Snap a receipt — it's in your books
On mobile the camera opens directly. On desktop, drag a file onto the form — or scan a QR to finish the capture on your phone. The attached image lives on the expense permanently, so a CRA audit three years out is one tap, not a hunt through shoeboxes.
GST/HST split out — ITC tracked automatically
Enter the tax rate and the recoverable Input Tax Credit is calculated and stored on every expense. Your dashboard shows ITC Recoverable as its own stat — the number you subtract from HST/GST collected before you remit to CRA. No separate spreadsheet. No adding it up at tax time.
CRA-aligned categories, hierarchical
Categories map to actual T2125 lines: Advertising, Meals & Entertainment, Professional Fees, Motor Vehicle, Fuel, Materials, Subcontractors, Business-Use-of-Home — the ones you and your accountant actually care about. Nest them as deep as you need: Travel › Flights › International. The sidebar shows spending per category so "how much did I spend on tools this quarter?" is one click.
Mark billable — with markup — to roll onto an invoice
Toggle "Billable to Client" and set a markup (percentage or flat dollar), or leave it blank to use your business default. A live preview shows the client price before you save. When you invoice that customer, billable expenses from their jobs roll onto the invoice automatically — no manual transfer, no missed reimbursables.
Link the expense to a job
Search your active jobs and attach the expense to one. The cost appears in that job's running total so you always know the job's real margin — not just what you billed, but what the materials, fuel, and subcontractors actually cost. Linking a job auto-sets the expense to billable so nothing falls off the invoice.
Supplier name & payment account
Record who you paid — suppliers auto-complete from your own history — and which account covered it (RBC Mastercard, Chequing, petty cash). The account field is reconciliation-only; it's separate from category so your bookkeeping stays clean. Vendor rules remember previous choices: the next time you log an expense from the same supplier, it auto-files to the same category.
Scan the receipt photo to fill in the fields
After attaching a receipt photo, tap "Scan" to pull the total, supplier name, and date out of the image. It fills only empty fields — it will never overwrite something you typed. OCR is fuzzy, so treat it as a time-saver, not a guarantee: review and adjust before saving. Runs client-side; your receipt photo never leaves the browser.
FAQ
Expense tracking questions answered
Can I photograph a receipt on my phone?
Yes — on mobile, the camera opens directly when you tap "Add a receipt." Take the photo, it attaches. On desktop, you can drag and drop an image or PDF file anywhere onto the expense form. There's also a QR handoff: if you've started entering an expense on your desktop (description, amount, tax rate) and want to snap the physical receipt with your phone, tap "Add via phone" to show a QR code. Your phone scans it, ToolFluency opens to the same expense pre-filled, and the camera button is right there waiting. Images (JPEG, PNG, HEIC, WebP) and PDFs are accepted up to 15 MB.
How does the GST/HST and ITC tracking work?
When you enter an expense, you set the tax rate (5% GST, 13% HST for Ontario, 15% for Atlantic provinces, and so on — whatever you actually paid). The app calculates the dollar amount of tax paid and stores it as the "ITC Recoverable" for that expense. Your expense dashboard shows total ITC as its own stat — the amount you can deduct from the HST/GST you collected on sales before remitting to CRA. At year-end, the CSV export includes a "Tax Paid (ITC)" column so your accountant sees the breakdown without any extra work from you. Note: PST in BC, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba is not recoverable as ITC — only the GST portion is. You can enter just the GST rate to track only the recoverable portion.
Can I charge a billable expense back to a customer — with markup?
Yes. Toggle "Billable to Client" on any expense, then set a markup — either a percentage (e.g. 15%) or a flat dollar amount. If you leave the markup blank, it uses your business default from Settings. A live preview in the form shows exactly what the client will be charged before you save. When you create an invoice for that customer, billable expenses linked to their jobs roll onto the invoice automatically. You get reimbursed and your margin is protected, without hunting back through expenses to find what to add.
Can I link an expense to a specific job?
Yes. The expense form has a "Link to Job" field with autocomplete — start typing the job name and pick it. Once linked, the expense appears in that job's cost total, so you can see the real margin on each job: what you billed versus what the materials, fuel, and labour actually cost. Linking a job automatically sets the expense to billable, so nothing falls off the invoice at close-out. Job tracking is part of Business Pro.
What expense categories are available?
The default suggestions map to the CRA T2125 (Statement of Business Activities) expense lines: Advertising, Meals & Entertainment, Professional Fees, Office Expenses, Rent, Repairs & Maintenance, Motor Vehicle, Fuel, Travel, Telephone & Utilities, Salaries and Wages, Materials, Tools & Equipment, Subcontractors, Capital Cost Allowance, Business-Use-of-Home, and more. You can nest categories as deep as you need (e.g. Travel › Accommodation). The category sidebar shows spending per category so "how much on materials this year?" is one click. Vendor rules remember your past choices — next time you log an expense from the same supplier, it files to the same category automatically.
How do I export expenses for my accountant?
Click Export in the expense view. A CSV downloads with every column your accountant needs: date, description, category, supplier, amount, tax rate, tax paid (ITC), whether the expense is billable, and any notes. The export respects the active filter — if you've clicked "Materials" in the sidebar, you get only Materials expenses. Your accountant can open it in Excel, Numbers, or any bookkeeping tool and reconcile it against your GST/HST filings. No special software required on their end.
Will CRA accept these records if I get audited?
CRA requires you to keep business records for six years, including the source documents (receipts). The expense log stores the original image attached to the expense record — description, date, supplier, amount, and category all alongside it. The CSV export gives you a complete, sortable transaction log. We always recommend confirming your specific record-keeping setup with your accountant, but the format — receipt image + itemized log — is exactly what CRA asks for.
Also in Business
Expenses are just one piece
Expenses link to jobs, which link to invoices. Receipts mirror to Documents. Every piece of the Business suite talks to every other — it's one system, not four apps bolted together.
Related: Invoicing & Estimates
Billable expenses roll onto the invoice automatically.
Mark an expense billable to a customer and it appears on their next invoice without re-entry. Estimates convert to invoices in one click. Branded PDFs with your bank details go out the moment you tap Send.
Coming: Canadian Payroll
CPP, EI, and provincial tax — done right.
Current CRA rates for every province. QPP and QPIP for Quebec. Pay stubs land in your employees' Work Suite the moment you click Finalize. No per-employee charge, no annual rate update to chase down.
Related: Reports & Taxes
Hand your accountant a clean year-end.
A real P&L built from what you already logged. GST/HST collected sits next to ITC paid so you know exactly what to remit. One-click CSV or PDF for your accountant. Know what you owe before they tell you.