Included on every plan, free one too
A business expense tracker that reads your receipts
Photograph a receipt with your phone and it files itself: supplier, date, total, GST and an ATO category, filled in for you. No spreadsheet, no shoebox, no reconstructing the year in July.
Photograph the receipt
At the counter, in the ute, wherever you are. A phone photo is enough, and the image is stored as your evidence.
It files itself
Supplier, date, total, GST and a suggested category come back filled in. You glance at it and save.
It adds up at tax time
Expenses roll into your profit and loss and your BAS totals, so nothing has to be reconstructed in July.
What can you actually claim?
The ATO applies three tests, and an expense has to pass all of them. It must be directly related to earning your income. It must not be private or domestic. And you must have records to prove it.
The third one is where most sole traders lose money. The claim was legitimate, the receipt just is not findable any more, so it does not get made. Every expense you cannot evidence is tax you paid that you did not owe.
Where something is part business and part private - a phone bill, a car, a laptop - you claim the business portion only, and you need a reasonable basis for how you worked that portion out.
The categories expenses get filed under
Every expense lands in one of these, whether you scan it or type it. They line up with how a profit and loss statement is normally broken down, which is what makes the reports useful rather than just tidy.
- Office Supplies
- Software & Tools
- Marketing & Advertising
- Travel & Transport
- Professional Services
- Equipment & Hardware
- Utilities
- Rent & Facilities
- Insurance
- Training & Education
- Meals & Entertainment
- Bank Fees
- Other
What counts as evidence
A receipt needs to show the supplier, the date, what was bought and the amount. If you are claiming the GST back, it also has to be a valid tax invoice from a GST-registered supplier.
Paper is not required. The ATO accepts a digital copy as long as it is a true and clear reproduction, which a phone photo is. That matters more than it sounds: thermal receipts fade to blank within a year or two, so the photo is often the only copy that will still be readable when it is needed.
Records have to be kept for five years from the date you lodge the return they relate to.
What you get on each plan
Expense tracking itself is unlimited on every plan, including the free one. Typing an expense in by hand is never capped. The only thing that has a monthly limit is automatic receipt scanning, because each scan costs us money to run.
| Plan | Receipt scans/month | Manual expenses |
|---|---|---|
| Starter, A$0 | 3 | Unlimited |
| Pro, A$5/month | 30 | Unlimited |
| Pro+, A$20/month | 100 | Unlimited |
Three scans a month on the free plan is deliberately modest, but it is three more than most free tiers offer, and it is enough to see whether the workflow suits you before paying anything.
Questions
Is the expense tracker free?
Yes. Expense tracking is on every plan including the free Starter plan, and so is receipt scanning. Starter includes 3 receipt scans a month, Pro includes 30 and Pro+ includes 100. Typing an expense in by hand is unlimited on every plan.
How does the receipt scanning work?
You photograph the receipt with your phone. The image is read automatically and the supplier, date, total, GST and a suggested ATO category come back filled in. You check it and save. The receipt image is stored with the expense, so the evidence and the record stay together.
What business expenses can I claim as a sole trader?
The ATO test is that the expense must be directly related to earning your assessable income, must not be private or domestic, and you must have records to prove it. Common claims include tools and equipment, vehicle running costs for business travel, phone and internet apportioned to business use, software subscriptions, insurance, accounting fees and training that relates to your current work. Where an expense is part private you can only claim the business portion.
Do I need to keep the paper receipt?
No. The ATO accepts digital copies as long as they are a true and clear reproduction of the original and you can produce them if asked. A photograph stored against the expense record satisfies that, which means you can throw the paper away once it is captured.
How long do I have to keep expense records?
Five years from the date you lodge the relevant tax return. Because the records live in your account rather than a shoebox, that horizon takes care of itself.
Can I use this instead of a spreadsheet?
That is the point of it. A spreadsheet needs you to remember to open it, type the numbers accurately, and separately keep the receipts somewhere findable. Photographing a receipt at the counter takes a few seconds and produces both the record and the evidence at once.
General information only, not tax advice. Check your own circumstances with the ATO or a registered tax agent.
Go deeper
How to track business expenses in Australia
The 13 categories, what counts as evidence, and the habits that make tracking actually stick.
How to prepare for BAS
GST collected minus GST paid. Clean expense records are what make this an hour instead of a weekend.
Reading a profit and loss report
What the numbers mean once income and expenses are both in one place, without an accountant.
Invoice vs receipt: what the difference is
When you need each one, what each must show, and how GST applies to both.