Expense report
Document listing the business expenses an employee has advanced, submitted with receipts to obtain reimbursement, tax deduction and VAT recovery.
Definition
An expense report (note de frais in France) is the accounting document through which an employee claims reimbursement of expenses incurred on the company’s behalf (travel, client meals, accommodation, supplies, tolls, fuel). It documents each expense, supports it with an invoice or receipt, and allows the company to book it, deduct it for tax purposes and recover the VAT.
In detail
An expense report is not a mere form: it is the piece of evidence that ties the expense to the company’s business activity. To be valid, it must state the employee’s identity, the date and purpose of the expense, the third party involved (client, supplier, venue), the amount including tax and the corresponding VAT, plus a supporting document.
Three issues structure its management:
- Recoverable VAT depends on the nature of the expense: it follows the regime of the good or service purchased. Fuel obeys its own rules (see VAT on fuel); mileage allowances, being flat-rate, open no right to VAT recovery.
- Probative-value archiving: electronic invoices and supporting documents must be kept for ten years (the French tax authority’s reassessment window), under conditions guaranteeing their integrity.
- Social-security exemption: expenses reimbursed against receipts, or at a flat rate within an official scale (mileage allowances, sustainable mobility allowance), are exempt from social contributions as long as they match real expenses.
Digitalisation has turned the expense report from a paper slip in a folder into an integrated flow: a corporate card that automatically feeds an expense account, a mobile app that captures receipts by optical scanning, an accounting export to the ERP. That is what our guides on expense management software and accounting export of expenses cover.
Frequently asked questions
Is an expense report always required to get reimbursed?
Yes, except where the law provides for flat-rate reimbursement (mileage allowances, sustainable mobility allowance, meal allowances), which requires no receipt within the official scale. For any other actual expense, the expense report with its supporting document is essential both for reimbursement and for tax deduction.
Do expense-report receipts have to be kept?
Yes. Supporting documents and invoices must be kept for ten years from the close of the financial year, under integrity and legibility conditions that guarantee their probative value in the event of a tax audit.
Related terms
- VAT on fuel, the VAT recovery rules specific to fuel
- Mileage allowance, the flat-rate scale that removes the need for fuel receipts
- Fuel card, the tool that traces the expense at source
- E-invoicing, the supporting-document format becoming the norm
