To create an expense claim in the web app, open Expense claims from the left sidebar and click New claim. Click Add items, pick the expenses you paid yourself and your business trips, add a title and any notes, check your payout details, and click Submit. The claim goes to the people who can approve it, and you get a notification when it is approved, sent back or paid.
Creating and submitting claims needs a paid plan (Pro or Elite). For how claims work overall, see How do expense claims work in SparkReceipt?
Start a claim
There are three ways in:
- From the claims list. Open Expense claims and click New claim. If you already have an empty, untitled draft, SparkReceipt opens that one instead of starting another.
- From your expenses. Select expenses in the document list and choose Add to expense claim in the bar that appears, or open an expense and click Add to expense claim.
- From your trips. Select trips in Trips and choose Add to expense claim, or open a trip and click Add to expense claim.
When you add from expenses or trips, a dialog asks which draft claim to put them on. Pick one of your drafts, or choose New claim to start a new draft with them.
Add items
On the claim, click Add items. The dialog has two parts:
- Expenses lists expenses you paid yourself in the period. Expenses marked as paid by the company are left out.
- Trips lists completed business trips in the period.
Set the From and To dates to choose the period, tick the rows you want (or Select all), and click the add button, which shows how many items you picked (for example Add 3 items). If some items can't be added, SparkReceipt tells you how many and why, for example that an item is already on another claim or is still being scanned. See Which expenses and trips can go on an expense claim?
Each item shows its amount on the claim. An expense that is only partly for business shows its business use, for example Business use 50%, and the claim pays back the full receipt total. A claim can hold items in different currencies. Totals are shown per currency and aren't converted.
To take something off the claim, click Remove in its row. The expense or trip stays in SparkReceipt.
Add a title and notes
In Details, give the claim a Title, such as the trip or the month it covers, and use Notes for anything the approver should know. The Period is set by the dates of the items you add. Title, notes and payout details are saved when you click or tab out of the field.
Check your payout details
Payout details tell the approver where to pay you back: Account holder, Account number or IBAN, Bank identifier (BIC, sort code or routing number), Bank name and a Note.
SparkReceipt saves these details for your next claims too, and the claim keeps a copy when you submit it, so changing them later doesn't change a claim you have already sent. Only you and the people who review your claim can see them. Account number and bank identifier are stored encrypted.
Submit the claim
Click Submit. Before the claim is sent, SparkReceipt checks every item again. If something changed after you added it, for example an expense is now marked as paid by the company or a trip has no mileage rate, you see Fix these items, then submit with the reason for each item. Fix the expense or trip, or click Remove in its row, then submit again.
Once submitted, the claim is locked and shows "This claim is waiting for approval. Withdraw it if you need to change something." Everyone who can approve it gets a notification.
If you are an Admin or the Owner, you can approve your own claim. See How do I approve, reject or mark an expense claim as paid?
Withdraw, reopen or delete a claim
- Withdraw. While a claim is Submitted, click Withdraw to take it back to Draft and change it.
- Reopen. If a claim is Rejected, you see the approver's reason. Click Reopen to turn it back into a draft, fix it and submit it again. The claim keeps its history.
- Delete. A draft or rejected claim can be deleted with Delete. The expenses and trips on it stay in SparkReceipt, and you can add them to another claim. Approved and paid claims can't be deleted.