An accountable plan is a written, dated policy under which your S corporation (or C corporation) reimburses you, as an owner-employee, for business expenses you paid personally — home office share, the business share of your phone and internet, business mileage in a personal car, travel and meals. Reimbursements under an accountable plan are not wages; under a nonaccountable plan they are included in W-2 box 1 and treated as wages for withholding and employment taxes (IRS Publication 463, chapter 6; Treasury Regulation §1.62-2).
The three IRS rules
- Business connection — the expense was paid or incurred while performing services for the corporation.
- Adequate accounting within a reasonable period — a record made at or near the time of each expense, with receipts or other documentary evidence.
- Return of excess within a reasonable period — any advance beyond the substantiated expenses goes back to the corporation.
Publication 463 treats these timings as reasonable: an advance within 30 days of the expense, accounting within 60 days after it was paid or incurred, and returning excess within 120 days (the fixed date method); or a periodic statement at least quarterly with 120 days to comply (the periodic statement method).
The free template
S corp accountable plan template has two free downloads with no signup: a one-page written plan (.docx, opens in Google Docs or Word) for the corporation to adopt and sign, and a reimbursement log (.xlsx or .csv) with Date incurred, Vendor, Category, Business purpose, Amount, Receipt attached, Date submitted, Date reimbursed, Reimbursement reference and an automatic Status column.
The monthly routine
Pay personally and keep the receipt → log it with a specific business purpose → submit one report with receipts at month end → the corporation reimburses you from its business account, separately from wages → record the payment date and reference.
Where ExpenseBot fits
- Captures receipts from Gmail, phone photos and forwarded emails into a Google Sheet you own.
- The compliance check prompts you for a missing business purpose.
- Can pull business mileage from Google Calendar at the IRS rate, as estimates.
- Builds an expense report for the month (Report by Date Range) or a tag (Report by Tag), with receipt images attached — the package you hand your corporation. You can also ask in chat, e.g. "Create a report for August".
ExpenseBot does not adopt, administer or certify an accountable plan, run an approval workflow, or pay reimbursements. Your corporation still adopts the plan, approves the report and pays you back. Accountable plans are a US concept; the CRA has separate rules for Canadian employee allowances and reimbursements.
The written plan is a sample, not legal or tax advice. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.