How do I bill a client back for expenses?

You can turn any expense report into a clean, AP-friendly invoice for your client in two clicks. ExpenseBot generates a Google Doc invoice from the receipts in the report — no re-entry, no template hunting, no separate billing tool.

📋 How it works:

1. Tag receipts to a project, trip, or client (e.g. Acme Rebrand, Trip – Berlin, Client – Acme).
2. Run a Report filtered by that tag and date range — your usual flow.
3. Click "Bill Client" on the report card in My Reports.
4. Review the From and Bill To details, pick a markup % (or 0), and click Generate.
5. ExpenseBot creates a styled Google Doc invoice in your Drive with every receipt as a line item, totals, and your business info. It also records the issued invoice and prepares private PDF and Word downloads.

✏️ Edit before sending: The Google Doc is your private working copy. Tweak anything — descriptions, totals, add a thank-you note. Your client never sees the live Doc.

📄 Send as PDF (the right way to invoice): Download the PDF and email it to your client, or use the "Save as Draft" button to stage a draft in your Gmail with the PDF already attached. Send from your own address — no middleman, threads cleanly with the client's reply.

💼 Set your business info once: In Settings → Billing Profile, fill in your business name, address, tax/EIN/GST/VAT number (auto-labeled by country), and default payment terms. Every future invoice prefills from there. The Bill Client screen shows those details before generation and lets you override them for that invoice without changing your saved defaults.

💱 Currency stays explicit: Converted report amounts and original receipt amounts are both labeled with their currency codes (for example, $137.79 USD and orig: $194.10 CAD) in the review screen and generated invoice.

🧾 Tax is never copied from receipts: Tax on the client invoice is optional and separate from tax paid on the underlying expenses. A positive invoice tax rate requires a per-invoice confirmation. GST/HST/VAT-style charges also require the corresponding registration number before generation.

💰 Client advances are automatically deducted: If a client gave you an advance (recorded via Add Income or the Bill Client modal's inline form), the invoice shows a "Less advance on file" line that subtracts the available remainder from the balance due. The client pays the net "BALANCE DUE." The advance deduction applies AFTER any markup and tax, so the client's prepayment covers the full invoice. The Invoice Doc includes both lines when an advance is applied.

✏️ Add fee / service lines: Click "+ Add a line" below your expense items to add descriptions and amounts that are not receipts — for example, "Photography services — day rate" or "Consulting fee." The Doc renders these above your expense line items. Multiple lines are supported. They join the subtotal and are taxed with the rest of the invoice, but the markup % applies only to the billed expenses — your own fee lines are never marked up (you already set their exact price). Tax applies to the whole invoice because tax authorities treat re-billed expenses as part of your taxable service.

💡 Works for any kind of "bill back":

• Freelance designers / developers / consultants billing clients for project expenses
• Agencies billing back ad spend, software subs, or travel as passthrough
• Wedding photographers billing couples for travel + assistant fees
• Anyone tracking expenses against a tag, trip, or project

🛡️ Privacy: The invoice Doc lives in your Drive — only you can see it. Your client receives the PDF only. The underlying expense spreadsheet stays private.

⚖️ Tax note: Your invoice tax rate applies to the whole invoice — billed expenses, markup, and your own fee lines — because rebilled expenses normally form part of your taxable service. See "Do I charge HST/GST/VAT on expenses I rebill to a client?" for the principal-versus-agent distinction behind that. Treatment still varies by jurisdiction (US sales tax, Canadian GST/HST, UK VAT, EU reverse-charge, etc.); consult your accountant for your own situation.

Getting here from a chat

If you are starting from receipts, ask “Group my July Acme travel expenses under Client Acme and create a report.” ExpenseBot searches for the exact rows, shows a preview, and waits for your approval before applying the client group or creating the report.

If the report already exists, ask “Create a client invoice from this report.” ExpenseBot reads the report again, shows the client, line items, markup, tax, advance deduction, invoice total, and balance due, then waits for your confirmation. After you confirm, it creates the invoice and returns private links to the Google Doc, PDF, and Word copies. It never emails the invoice automatically; Gmail drafting and sending remain separate actions.

You can also ask “Show my open client invoices” or “Show invoice 1042.” The answer includes the invoice's current status, dates, totals, balance, and available document links without exposing the client's private billing details.

When payment arrives, ask “Mark invoice 1042 paid on 2026-08-20.” ExpenseBot shows the invoice and paid date for confirmation before changing its receivables status. Marking an invoice paid does not create or move an Income row: record the actual bank deposit through Add Income, then use the existing payment-linking workflow when you want the received money reconciled to the invoice.

Prefer the app? Set up or manage clients, Assign existing expenses to clients, then Create a client report.

The advance deduction always reflects the client's current remainder: amounts applied on other invoices are excluded automatically, and voided or regenerated invoices release the advance they had applied.