Virtual assistant business expenses
A VA business has almost no physical footprint and a long software bill. The awkward part is not what you spent — it is which client it was for.
Quick answer: how should a virtual assistant track business expenses?
Capture first, then attribute. A VA’s costs are almost entirely emailed receipts — software, equipment, connectivity — so ExpenseBot connects to Gmail, reads the vendor, date and amount from each one, and files it into a categorized Google Sheet you own. Costs you carry for a particular client go into a group named for that client, which keeps pass-through costs separate from your own overhead without a spreadsheet of your own.
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What virtual assistants actually deduct
The cost base is short, repetitive and almost entirely digital, which makes it easy to capture completely — and easy to under-claim, because none of it produces paper.
| Category | Typical items |
|---|---|
| Home office | A share of home costs if you work from a dedicated space |
| Connectivity | Business-use portion of internet and phone |
| Equipment | Laptop, monitor, headset, webcam, desk peripherals |
| Software stack | Project management, scheduling, password manager, storage, comms, time tracking |
| Payment costs | Processor fees, currency conversion and transfer charges |
| Subcontractors | Other VAs or specialists you bring in for client work |
| Professional development | Courses, certifications, industry memberships |
| Insurance | Professional indemnity or business insurance where carried |
VAs work all over the world, so this page states no country’s rules as if they were universal. The two items that always need a local answer are the home office and the business-use share of connectivity: is a home office tax deductible and the home office deduction calculator own that calculation; home internet and phone bills are covered separately. For country specifics see the UK, Canada and Australia pages. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.
The multi-client problem
Most VAs run three to eight clients at once, and the costs do not divide neatly. Your password manager and project tool are yours regardless of who you work for. A scheduling seat bought because one client insisted on it is theirs in substance. A transcription credit burnt on a single project is unambiguously theirs. On a card statement all three look identical.
The consequence is small but persistent: pass-through costs quietly become your own, because at the point of invoicing nobody can remember which tool was bought for whom. Over a year that is real money, and it is invisible precisely because each item is minor.
The fix is to attribute at capture rather than at invoice time, which means putting each cost into a group as it arrives.
How ExpenseBot tracks it
ExpenseBot is expense tracking software for self-employed virtual assistants that reads receipts out of Gmail and files them, categorized, into a Google Sheet you own. Connect Gmail once and it scans nightly, reading the vendor, date and amount from each receipt and invoice. Anything on paper you photograph; PDF invoices you upload. It labels what it has already read so nothing is counted twice, never sends email on your behalf, and never deletes anything. The Gmail receipt scanner page covers the mechanics.
The sheet lives in your Google Drive — openable without ExpenseBot, editable directly, shareable with an accountant, and yours in full if you cancel. If you bill clients abroad or buy tools priced in another currency, the multi-currency expense tracker converts foreign-currency receipts to your home currency at the transaction-date rate and records the rate used, so the figure does not move afterwards.
Pass-through costs versus your own overhead
Whether a cost is passed on is decided by your agreement with the client, not by tax rules — and a cost you absorb is still a deductible business expense, just not one the client owes you. What matters practically is being able to tell them apart at the end of the month.
Groups are created under Expense Tags with a prefix the system recognises — Client – Acme, Project – Inbox Cleanup, en-dash with a space either side — and assigned three ways:
- From the Tag column in your sheet, via the dropdown
- By selecting one when you photograph a receipt
- By writing
tag:Acmeon the receipt before you send it
What comes out is the evidenced list of what to pass on, which is the part that usually gets forgotten — see billing costs back to a client for how that hand-off works. If you want income and costs side by side per client, Profit by Client reports what has already been recorded.
A VA’s capture checklist
- Every recurring tool, including the ones on annual billing that land once a year
- Seats bought for a specific client — tag these at purchase, not later
- Payment-processor fees and currency conversion charges, which are easy to overlook
- Equipment and peripherals, including replacements mid-year
- Internet and phone, at your business-use share
- Courses, certifications and industry memberships
- Subcontractor invoices and their payment records
- Home office share, if you work from a dedicated space
Setup is short: sign in with the Google account your business email runs on, approve the Gmail connection, review the first batch, then add a group per client. It costs $10 a month with a 60-day free trial, and accountants use ExpenseBot free. If you also do advisory work, the consultant expense tracker covers per-engagement margin, and the freelancer page covers the general self-employed setup.
Know which client each cost belongs to
Capture your whole stack as it arrives and group it per client — into a Google Sheet you own, for $10/month with a 60-day free trial.
Start free — no credit card, 60-day trialFrequently asked questions
What business expenses can a virtual assistant deduct?
The working set for a home-based VA: the business-use share of home office, internet and phone; a laptop, monitor, headset and other peripherals; the software stack — project management, scheduling, password manager, cloud storage, comms, invoicing, time tracking; payment-processor and transfer fees; professional development and courses; payments to subcontractors you bring in; and business insurance where you carry it. How each is treated depends on where you file. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.
Can a VA deduct home internet and phone?
Generally the business-use portion, not the whole bill — and the method for arriving at that portion differs by country. We cover each separately: whether you can deduct your home internet bill, and whether your phone bill is tax deductible. Both are worth reading before you pick a percentage, because a defensible split matters more than a generous one.
How do I track expenses for multiple clients?
Put each cost into a group. In ExpenseBot you create groups under Expense Tags with a prefix the system recognises — Client – Acme, Project – Inbox Cleanup — and assign one from the Tag column in your sheet, when you photograph a receipt, or by writing tag:Acme on the receipt before you send it. A tool bought for one client's workflow then carries that client, and your own subscriptions do not.
Are subcontractor payments deductible?
Payments to another VA or specialist you bring in for client work are ordinarily a business cost. The caveat is documentation rather than deductibility: keep the invoice and the payment record, and be aware that paying contractors can create a reporting obligation depending on the amount and the country you file in. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.
My clients pay me in different currencies. Does that work?
Yes. ExpenseBot converts foreign-currency receipts to your home currency at the transaction-date rate rather than today's rate, and records the rate that was used alongside the row, so the number does not drift after the fact. The multi-currency expense tracker page covers how the conversion works.
I'm a VA working with five clients and I've never separated my own costs from theirs. Where do I start?
Connect Gmail first and let the nightly scan build the sheet — for a VA that captures most of the year already, because the entire software stack bills by email. Then add a group per client and tag only the costs you genuinely pass through. Do not try to retro-tag everything; the value is in the split going forward, and your own overhead is deductible either way, just not billable.
Last updated: 2026-08-17