Bill Clients Back in Two Clicks
For freelancers, agencies, and event photographers who pass costs through to clients

Bill Clients Back for Expenses in Two Clicks

Turn any expense report into a clean, AP-ready Google Doc invoice in two clicks — line items auto-populate from your receipts, PDF goes to the client through your own Gmail, and the editable Doc stays in your Drive. Country-aware tax suggestions. No per-invoice fee. Included free with every paid plan.

Start Free — Bill Your First Client in Under a Minute →

60-day free trial · No credit card · No per-invoice fee

You Already Tracked the Receipts. Why Are You Retyping Them?

Every freelancer, agency owner, and event photographer has the same Friday-evening ritual: scroll through a month's worth of receipts, copy each one into an invoicing tool, look up tax rates, double-check who paid for what on which project, hit send, and pray AP doesn't reject it for missing details. It's an hour, sometimes two, and it produces nothing of value that wasn't already in the expense tracker.

Four pains show up in every review of every competing tool:

  • "I already entered every receipt — why am I retyping for the invoice?" Expense tracking and invoicing are separate tools for no good reason.
  • "My markup wasn't transparent and the client disputed it." Opaque rates get pushed back on.
  • "Corporate AP rejected my invoice because receipts weren't attached or the format was off." Polish matters.
  • "I had to manually re-sort which expenses belong to which client." Without per-client tags, every month-end is a sorting exercise.

The fix isn't another invoicing tool. It's a billing flow that lives where your receipts already are.

How It Works — 4 Steps, About 60 Seconds

1
Tag receipts
As receipts flow into ExpenseBot (forwarded, photographed, or auto-scanned from Gmail), tag each one to a client, project, or trip — e.g., "Client – Acme", "Trip – Berlin", "Acme Rebrand". Tag once, used forever.
2
Run a report
On the Reports tab, filter by that tag and a date range. This is the same report you'd run anyway for your own records — no extra work for the billing path.
3
Click Bill Client
A modal opens with every receipt in the report pre-loaded as a line item. Untick anything you don't want to bill. Set a markup percentage. Pick a tax label and rate — one-click suggestion based on your country and province.
4
Generate
ExpenseBot writes a styled Google Doc invoice in your Drive with your business info, line items, totals, and clean typography. Send as a PDF via the Gmail-draft handoff, or download and email yourself.

The same four steps, walked through end to end — tag a client, re-tag the expenses that belong to it, build the report, bill the client back:

Grouping Expenses by Client and Billing Them Back in ExpenseBot

Interactive Demo

See It in Action

Tag a receipt, run a report, click Bill Client — Google Doc invoice and Gmail draft in under a minute.

Built for Anyone Who Bills Costs Back

Freelance designers, developers, consultants
Adobe subscription, stock photos, software seats, client meals, Ubers to meetings — all billed back on one clean invoice.
Marketing, PR, and creative agencies
Meta and Google ad spend, Canva subscriptions, client travel, per-client software — passthrough lines with your markup, ready for AP.
Wedding and event photographers
Destination travel, lodging, second-shooter fees, equipment rentals — itemized per couple or per event.
Travel consultants
Flights, hotels, on-site meals — billed to corporate clients with a clean per-trip breakdown.
Contractors working on-site
Materials, equipment rental, per-diem-style expenses — invoiced per project or per site.
Bookkeepers and VAs
Bill software subscriptions back to multiple clients without juggling spreadsheets — one source of truth per client tag.

See the full feature set for freelancers, agencies, or wedding photographers.

Advance In, Fee On, Balance Due Out

A bill-back invoice is usually treated as one job — list the expenses, send it. The real shape is wider: the client hands you money up front, you spend some of it on their behalf, you do the work you actually charge for, and at the end somebody has to reconcile all three. ExpenseBot is a billable-expenses tracker that carries the whole sequence onto one invoice — the advance the client already paid, the expenses you paid on their behalf, and your own fee.

1
Record the money they gave you up front
A client hands you $500 for props, parking, and craft services before the shoot. That is not income — it is their float. Record it right inside the Bill Client modal: when the report carries a client tag, a "Record client advance" button sits above the invoice totals and opens the same Add Expense flow with the client and the advance treatment already selected. There is no second cash form to learn.
2
Point the report's expenses at that client — one checkbox
When you record the advance from the Bill Client modal, a checkbox reads "Also tag this report's N expenses as Client – Name" and is on by default. Ticking it retags every expense in the report to the client tag, which is what you want when receipts are already filed under a trip name like Trip – Berlin. The retag is explicit, not automatic — untick it and the advance is recorded without touching your existing tags.
3
Put your own fee on the same invoice
Click "+ Add a line" beneath the expense items to add amounts that are not receipts — "Photography services — day rate", "Consulting retainer", a second-shooter fee. Multiple lines are supported and they join the subtotal. The markup percentage applies to the billed expenses only; your fee lines are never marked up, because you already set their exact price.
4
Generate — the client sees what they actually owe
The totals run Subtotal, then markup, then tax, then TOTAL, then "Less advance on file", then BALANCE DUE. The deduction lands after markup and tax, so the prepayment covers the full invoice rather than just the raw expenses. Balance due is the number the client pays.
What happens to the leftover

The advance is a running balance per client, not a one-shot credit. Billing part of it on one invoice leaves the rest available for the next one, amounts applied elsewhere are excluded automatically, and voiding or regenerating an invoice releases the advance it had applied. If you would rather not deduct on a particular invoice, untick Less advance on file and the balance stays where it is. When the job wraps with money still on the client's side of the ledger, the Client advances section on the Income tab offers a Refund leftover action that pre-fills the return.

One note that catches people out, because it runs opposite to the markup rule: your invoice tax rate applies to the whole invoice — billed expenses, markup, and your fee lines alike. Whether you should be charging it at all depends on your jurisdiction and your registration status — confirm your own situation with your tax professional. The principal-versus-agent distinction in full.

Six Things That Make Bill Client Different

Zero re-entry
Every scanned receipt is already a structured line item with vendor, date, amount, and tax. The invoice writes itself from data you already have.
Editable working copy
The invoice is a real Google Doc in your Drive. Tweak any wording, add a thank-you note, change the accent color — your client only ever sees the PDF.
PDF to client, Doc to you
An immutable PDF goes to your client (like Stripe, FreshBooks, QuickBooks). The editable Doc stays in your Drive — same separation accountants use for filed work.
Sent from your own Gmail
ExpenseBot stages a draft in your Gmail. The client receives it from your address — same threading, same trust, no "via ExpenseBot" header to land in spam.
Country-aware tax suggestions
HST 13% Ontario, GST 5% + PST in BC, UK VAT 20%, AU GST 10%, and 20+ other jurisdictions. All suggestions are gated with a "only if you're registered" caveat.
AP-grade formatting
Single accent color, Roboto typography, proper table structure, business tax number auto-labeled (EIN / GST / VAT / ABN) by your country. Built to clear corporate AP review the first time.

ExpenseBot vs Dext vs Expensify vs FreshBooks

DextExpensifyFreshBooksExpenseBot
Rebill expenses to a named client✗ (capture only)Corporate plan only✓ (separate tool)✓ Two clicks
Single-entry from receipt to invoiceN/A✗✗✓
Sent from your own GmailN/A✗ (Expensify-branded)✗✓
Editable Google Doc working copyN/A✗✗✓
Country-aware tax suggestionsN/ALimitedLimited✓ 20+ jurisdictions
Per-invoice feeN/ATier-lockedPlan-locked$0
Monthly price$24+$5–18/user$17–55$10 flat

ExpenseBot is built for the person who already captures receipts and just wants to bill them back — not the accountant managing 30 clients or the corporate finance team rolling up departments.

Country-Aware Tax Suggestions (HST, GST, VAT, and 20+ More)

Most invoicing tools either skip sales tax entirely (helpful for nobody) or force you to manually configure every jurisdiction (helpful for nobody who isn't a CPA). ExpenseBot reads your business country and province from your profile and suggests the rate that almost always applies:

  • Canada: HST 13% (Ontario), GST 5% + PST (BC), QST 9.975% + GST (Quebec), and provincial breakouts for every territory
  • United Kingdom: VAT 20% standard, 5% reduced, 0% exempt
  • Australia: GST 10%
  • European Union: 20+ country-specific VAT rates with reverse-charge guidance for cross-border B2B
  • United States: Sales tax handled at the line-item level when the underlying receipt already carries it

Every suggestion is gated with a "only if you're registered" note. If you're a sole prop under the registration threshold and don't charge tax, you tick "no tax line" and the invoice prints clean.

Tax treatment of reimbursable expenses depends on your jurisdiction. The suggestions are a starting point, not advice — consult your accountant for VAT/GST/sales-tax handling on rebilled costs.

Included Free With Every Paid Plan

Bill Client is not a separate product, not a premium tier, and not a per-invoice charge. It comes with every paid ExpenseBot plan — alongside Gmail auto-scanning, Google Drive receipt storage, mileage tracking, and all the tax reports.

Free trial
60 days, no credit card. Bill Client included from day one.
Standard
$10/month flat. Bill Client included, unlimited invoices, no per-seat charge.
Annual
$100/year. Bill Client included.

Compare plans on the pricing page.

Bill your first client in under a minute.

Forward a receipt, tag it to a client, run a report, click Bill Client. The Google Doc and Gmail draft are ready before your coffee finishes.

Try ExpenseBot Free →

60-day free trial · No credit card · $10/month after

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I bill expenses back to a client directly from ExpenseBot?

Yes. Tag receipts to a client or project, run a report, click "Bill Client." Every receipt becomes a line item on a styled Google Doc invoice. Set a markup, pick a tax rate, generate. The PDF goes to the client via your own Gmail; the editable Doc stays in your Drive.

How do I invoice a client for billable expenses?

Tag the receipts to that client, run a report, and click Bill Client. Every billable expense arrives as a line item. Add your own fee with "+ Add a line", set a markup if you use one, pick a tax rate, and generate. If the client already paid you an advance, the invoice shows a "Less advance on file" line and they pay the BALANCE DUE.

Do I charge HST/GST/VAT on expenses I rebill to a client?

Usually yes, which is why ExpenseBot applies your invoice tax rate to the whole invoice. Under GST/HST, VAT and similar systems the general distinction is principal versus agent. If you acted as principal — the cost was an input to your own service, like a photographer's travel or an agency's ad spend — the rebilled cost is normally treated as part of the consideration for your service, so it usually carries tax at your normal rate. The narrower agent case is a cost paid in the client's name as a pure pass-through, such as a lawyer paying a court filing fee, which is often not re-charged with tax. ExpenseBot does not model agent disbursements separately. How this applies to you depends on your jurisdiction and your registration status — confirm your own situation with your tax professional.

How does an advance the client already paid show up on the invoice?

As a deduction, not a line item. When the client has a recorded advance with a remaining balance, the totals run Subtotal, markup, tax, TOTAL, then "Less advance on file", then BALANCE DUE — so the deduction applies after markup and tax and the client pays the net. You can untick it if you do not want it applied on that invoice, the remainder is tracked per client across invoices, and voiding or regenerating an invoice releases the advance it had applied.

Does ExpenseBot charge per invoice?

No. Bill Client is included free with every paid plan — Standard ($10/month or $100/year). No per-invoice fee, no premium tier, no per-seat charge. Historical scan unlocks ($79 for one selected completed year or $199 one-time Any Past Year access) are optional and don't affect billing access.

Can I add a markup to rebilled expenses?

Yes. When generating the invoice you can set a markup percentage, and it applies to the rebilled expenses only — service lines you add yourself (a day rate, a consulting fee) are never marked up, because you already set their exact price. The markup is shown transparently so clients see the base cost and your fee — no surprise add-ons that get disputed.

Does it handle Canadian HST/GST on invoices?

Yes. ExpenseBot suggests the correct tax rate based on your province — HST 13% in Ontario, GST 5% + PST in BC, and so on. It also supports UK VAT 20%, AU GST 10%, and 20+ other jurisdictions. All suggestions are gated with a "only if you're registered" note so unregistered freelancers don't accidentally charge tax.

Can clients see the original receipts?

The invoice lists each expense as a line item with date, vendor, and amount. Original receipt images are not attached by default to keep the invoice clean and AP-friendly, but you can attach them manually to the Gmail draft before sending if your client's AP department requires backup documentation.

Will the invoice be emailed from ExpenseBot or from me?

From you. ExpenseBot stages the invoice as a Gmail draft in your own account so the client receives it from your address — same threading, same trust, no "sent via SomeApp" header that ends up in spam.

Can I edit the wording on the invoice before sending?

Yes. The Google Doc lives in your Drive as a working copy. You can rewrite descriptions, add a thank-you note, tweak the totals row, or change the accent color before exporting the PDF.

How does this compare to Dext, Expensify, or FreshBooks for billing clients?

Dext is a pure capture tool — it doesn't generate client invoices. Expensify supports rebilling but requires a corporate plan and sends from an Expensify-branded address. FreshBooks rebills but requires importing receipts first because it's not an expense tracker. ExpenseBot is built for the person who already captures receipts and just wants to bill them back — single entry, your Gmail, your accent color.

Does it work for agencies passing through ad spend?

Yes. Tag your Meta and Google ad spend receipts to the client account they belong to, run a monthly report, click Bill Client. Each ad-spend charge becomes a line item on the passthrough invoice with your agency markup applied transparently.

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