Behind on Bookkeeping? Recover Years of Receipts from Gmail
The receipts you never sorted are still sitting in your inbox. ExpenseBot scans old Gmail for receipts going back as far as your inbox goes — Amazon, Uber, hotels, SaaS, vendor invoices — and turns a lost year into a categorized, tax-ready sheet.
No credit card. Current-year scanning included. Recover a prior year for a one-time unlock.
The pile you've been dreading
A year (or three) of receipts, unsorted, scattered across thousands of emails. Every time an accountant, a lender, or the tax deadline asks for last year's expenses, that pile gets a little heavier. The good news: you probably never lost those receipts — they're still in Gmail. The order confirmations, the ride receipts, the hotel folios, the software invoices all landed in your inbox and stayed there.
ExpenseBot scans back as far as your Gmail goes — there's no fixed cutoff. If the email is still in your inbox or archive, the AI can find it, read it, and pull the expense out. So instead of scrolling through years of mail by hand, you point it at the years you're behind on and let it do the digging. This is the fastest way to find past receipts in Gmail for taxes.
How catch-up scanning works
It's the same engine behind our Gmail receipt scanner — pointed backward in time. Once you're caught up, current-year scanning keeps running nightly so you never fall behind again.
What it costs to recover old years
You only pay for the history you actually want back. Going forward, current-year scanning is included with any subscription. Recovering the past is a one-time unlock per older year — no ongoing charge:
Included with a subscription ($10/month or $100/year) — scanned nightly going forward.
$20 one-time unlock. Annual plans include last year's historical scan free.
$40 one-time unlock — reach as far back as your Gmail history goes.
See current pricing on the pricing page. Prices shown in your local currency at checkout.
Perfect for catching up before a deadline
Prior-year scanning exists for the moment you realize you're behind. It's built to recover old receipts for tax deductions you'd otherwise lose:
- Back taxes or an amended return — reconstruct a year of expenses you never logged.
- A year (or more) behind on the books — freelancers and small businesses catching up in one sitting.
- A new accountant asking for history — hand them a clean, categorized sheet instead of a shoebox.
- FSA/HSA reimbursement catch-up — find the medical and pharmacy receipts before the claim window closes.
- Year-end cleanup — pair a recovered prior year with the year-end tax workbook for a complete filing.
Turn a lost year into an afternoon
Start free, connect Gmail, and see what's recoverable before you unlock a prior year. The sheet lives in your Google Drive — you own the data.
Scanning old Gmail for receipts — FAQ
How far back can ExpenseBot scan my Gmail for receipts?
As far back as your Gmail goes — there is no fixed cutoff. If you have receipt emails from five or eight years ago still sitting in your inbox or archive, ExpenseBot can find them. It scans the full history of the account, not just recent mail.
How much does it cost to scan old or prior years?
Current-year scanning is included with a subscription ($10/month or $100/year). Recovering the last completed year is a $20 one-time unlock, and any older year is $40. Annual plans include last year's historical scan free. You only pay for the older years you actually want to recover.
I'm a year (or more) behind on bookkeeping — can it catch me up?
Yes — this is exactly what catch-up scanning is for. Connect Gmail, pick the year (or years) you're behind on, and ExpenseBot pulls the Amazon orders, Uber rides, hotel and flight confirmations, SaaS invoices, and vendor receipts out of your email and organizes them into a categorized, tax-ready Google Sheet. A year of unsorted receipts becomes an afternoon, not a lost weekend.
Can I recover old receipts for back taxes or an amended return?
Yes. Because ExpenseBot reads the original receipt emails, it can reconstruct prior-year expenses you never logged — useful for filing back taxes, amending a return, answering an accountant who asks for last year's history, or catching up FSA/HSA reimbursements before a deadline. The original email and extracted data are both kept, so you have documentation, not just a number.
What kinds of old receipts does it find?
AI recognizes hundreds of receipt formats: Amazon order confirmations, Uber and Lyft rides, airline tickets, hotel bookings, DoorDash and other meal receipts, SaaS subscriptions (Zoom, Adobe, Google Workspace), office-supply orders, shipping receipts, and general vendor invoices — including PDF attachments and receipts in the email body.
Does scanning old email read my personal messages?
No. The AI only reads receipt-type emails — order confirmations, invoices, and booking confirmations. Your personal correspondence, newsletters, and other mail are never accessed or stored. Everything extracted lands in your own Google Drive, not on our servers.
Where do the recovered receipts end up?
In a Google Sheet in your own Google Drive, one row per receipt with vendor, date, amount, tax, and category — ready to export to QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, or CSV, or hand straight to your accountant. You own the data.