Managing expenses is an already daunting task, it is both time and energy-consuming. What can make this process even slower would be the loss of a proof document to accompany the expense report. This is also frustrating for the employee who loses the accompanying proof document.
They may not be able to get a refund and therefore have to pay for that expense from their own personal money. Luckily, there are alternatives and other ways to proceed in the unlucky chance this happens, we go through them in this article.
You have trouble managing expense reports? Don’t to hesitate to try Expensya for free for 30 days to discover a new way to manage expense reports!
When losing a receipt or an invoice, the first thing to do is definitely not panicking over it. There are many solutions to this unpleasant event. Here’s what you can do :
Return to the merchant to look for the receipt
This task may not be very efficient time-wise, but it can help find the missing receipt by asking for a duplicate. This may be worth it in the case of large and valuable purchases.
Recourse to the lump sum refund
In case no justifying document is found, the reimbursement can be done by following regulations depending on the country. These regulations are estimations of how much a meal would cost in a certain region, or how much is a hotel stay in a certain city. They are fixed amounts. If the employee paid more than what this refund has offered them, they will have to pay the remaining amount from their personal money, unless they provide, you guessed it! A proof document!
Show a bank statement
A simple solution that can be tolerated by employers can be submitting a credit card statement with the purchase history including the date, amount, type of expense, where and who the merchant is. In the case of small, clear purchases, this can be a replacement to the justifying document.
Provide a sworn statement
One of the last resorts, in case all else fails, would be signing a sworn statement. This statement must include the employee’s name, address, and signature along with all the details concerning the purchase. This is not a perfect solution and should not be used too often because of fiscal concerns. It can, nevertheless, be useful when there is no bank statement to support the expense claim.
Although there are solutions to losing your receipts or other proof documents, some companies have decided to follow radical strategies when it comes to this, and directly refuse any expense that is not accompanied with proof. This cuts time spent on the long process of finding replacements and verifying the reliability of the documents provided.
However, the best way to avoid this trouble for both the employer and the employee would be by digitizing your expense reports.
An expense reports management software will spare you the concern of losing your receipts and falling into a disagreement with your employer. A simple picture of your expense will store it in a cloud, keeping it safe, and keeping you worry-free.
Leave a Reply