Expense Reports

Expense Reports helps technicians submit reimbursable field expenses while managers review, approve, reject, and mark reimbursements paid from one place.

The Expense Reports screen reflects the current ToolbagCRM layout.

When to use this

Use Expense Reports when your team needs a simple approval workflow for fuel, mileage, supplies, tools, meals, parking, travel, permits, or other job-related spending. It keeps reimbursement requests out of text messages and gives office staff a clear queue for pending review.

Before you start

• Confirm Expense Reports is included in your ToolbagCRM plan.
• Enable Expense Reports from Settings → Features or the Marketplace.
• Make sure the Team feature is available for your account, because reports are tied to employees or technicians.
• Decide whether managers should approve every report, auto-approve small reports, or limit which expense categories the team can use.

Create an expense report

1. Open Expense Reports from the ToolbagCRM navigation.
2. Select New Report.
3. Enter the employee name and a report title, such as the month, week, or job the receipts belong to.
4. Add notes when the manager needs extra context before reviewing.
5. Save the report. It starts as a draft so expenses can be added before submission.

Add receipts and mileage

Open a draft report and select Add expenses. Each line can be a regular dollar amount or a mileage entry. For regular expenses, choose a category, enter the receipt description, amount, optional job reference, and notes. For mileage, choose Mileage, enter the miles and rate, and ToolbagCRM calculates the reimbursable amount.

Keep one report focused on a clear period or job. That makes manager review faster and keeps reimbursement records easier to audit later.

Review and reimburse

Managers use the status tabs to find reports that need attention:

1. Review the report total and each expense line.
2. Submit draft reports when they are ready for approval.
3. Approve valid reports or reject them with a reason when something needs correction.
4. Mark approved reports as paid after reimbursement is handled in payroll or accounting.

The summary cards show pending review count, pending dollar amount, approved month-to-date amount, and open report count so the office can spot reimbursement work that is waiting.

Settings

In the Expense Reports settings area, administrators can set:

• Default mileage rate for mileage reimbursement.
• Whether submitted reports require approval.
• An optional threshold for auto-approving small reports.
• Allowed expense categories, when your company wants to restrict what technicians can select.

Tips

• Have technicians attach or reference receipts before submitting a report for approval.
• Use consistent report titles such as June 2026 field expenses or Smith HVAC install receipts.
• Keep rejection reasons specific so the employee knows exactly what to correct.
• Review pending reports on a weekly schedule so reimbursements do not pile up.
• Align the mileage rate and category list with your accounting or payroll process.

Troubleshooting

I cannot delete a report

Only Draft reports can be deleted. Once a report is submitted, approved, rejected, or paid, the delete action is blocked. If you need to remove a submitted report, ask a manager to reject it so the employee can create a corrected copy.

I cannot delete or edit an expense line on a submitted report

Expense lines are locked after a report is submitted. Edits and deletions are only available while the report is in Draft status. If a line needs correction after submission, reject the report and the employee can re-create it.

A report was auto-approved without going through review

If Auto-approve under threshold is enabled in plugin settings, reports whose total is below the threshold skip the Submitted step and move directly to Approved on submission. Check the setting under Expense Reports → Settings and set the threshold to 0 to require manual approval for every report.

An expense category is not available when adding a line

The Allowed expense categories setting in plugin settings can restrict which categories appear. When the list is empty, all categories are available. When specific categories are selected, only those appear for new expense lines. Ask an administrator to adjust the allowed list if a category is missing.

The report list is empty

Create the first report from New Report. If users cannot submit or review reports, confirm they have the right role permissions and that the Team feature is available for the account.

Related articles

• Scheduling
• Plugin guides
• Team
• Jobs
• Customers