How to get paid back ASAP after your next business trip

Traveling for work is a great way to connect with potential buyers, showcase your product, and educate a community on your product’s value-add. On a personal level, business travel can be a great way to get exposed to new ideas and connect with others in your industry. But as with any work-related endeavor, traveling for business also means you will incur expenses, often out of your own pocket until you can get them reimbursed. But getting reimbursed takes time: you need to keep track of your paper and digital receipts, categorize them, double check they’re all accurate, and prepare detailed reports, which can be time consuming and stressful. 

Thankfully, Expensify can help you do all of that automatically. Learn how to get paid back after incurring business travel expenses by following these simple tips before, during, and after your trip so that you can focus on your business goals, and still get reimbursed as soon as your trip is over. 

Before your trip 

Download the Expensify mobile app

Spend a few minutes before your trip setting up Expensify to set yourself up for success. Download the Expensify mobile app, then sign in or sign up for your account so that you have it ready to go on your phone.

Double-check your categories are set up

Before your trip, check in with your administrator or accountant to make sure you’ve got the right categories in place. Whenever you upload a receipt to Expensify, we’ll automatically categorize the expense based on your category list. This will save you valuable time that would otherwise be spent manually categorizing each expense.

Pro tip: If you’re extra-organized, set some Expense Rules; this feature is helpful if you know there are some merchants that you’ll be using frequently. For example, you can set an Expense Rule that automatically categorizes all of your Uber receipts as transportation.

Set up receipt integrations

For the seasoned traveler, check out the Receipts Integrations section of our integrations page, where you’ll find a number of travel companies we work with. Set up your business profile in your preferred travel app (such as Delta, Lyft, Uber, Revel, HotelTonight, or the Parking Spot) so that your receipts will get automatically imported into Expensify.

Add a secondary login

For the rest of the miscellaneous receipts you might be getting digitally, save yourself a few manual steps by adding your personal email as a secondary login to your Expensify account. Once your secondary login is set up, you can simply forward those email receipts to receipts@expensify.com and they’ll get automatically added to your Expensify account. Not only does it make it easier to import email receipts into your account, but adding a secondary login has a number of additional benefits, primarily it lets you keep your account data even if you leave your company. 

Import your credit cards

You can bring your business credit card transactions directly into Expensify by connecting the credit card feed directly to your Expensify account. These transactions will automatically match with any receipt that gets SmartScanned or emailed into your Expensify account. Expensify works with all major banks and credit card providers; learn more about credit card import here. 

Pro-tip: While Expensify works with cards from all major banks and credit card providers, using the Expensify Card skips all of that manual setup. The card is automatically connected to your Expensify account, and you can even add digital cards to your Apple Pay or Android wallet directly. Best of all, you get 2% cash back on all purchases, with no minimums on spend or limits on cash back.

Connect your bank account

To prevent any delays in getting reimbursed for your business travel expenses, make sure your bank account is set up before you go. Typically once your expenses get approved and a reimbursement is initiated, it can take 3-5 business days to see the reimbursement land in your bank account. If your company has enabled Next Day Reimbursement, you can get that money back as soon as the next day!

Create your to-do list on New Expensify

Adding a list of to-dos on New Expensify can help you stay on top of your goals. Creating a task list is a great way to remind yourself what you need to do with each client you visit. You can also collaborate with colleagues by chatting and assigning out tasks to specific individuals to ensure everyone is on the same page when it comes to what needs to get done. 

While this list of to-dos before your trip might look daunting, most of these are one-time setups that you do before your first business trip to ensure you’ve set yourself up for success. That means any business trip you take after that first one will be a breeze!

During your trip

Use the mobile app to take a photo of your receipt as soon as you get it

One of the most time-consuming tasks during business travel is collecting and organizing receipts. Expensify simplifies this process by allowing you to snap photos of your receipts using the mobile app. These images are automatically converted into digital expense entries, eliminating the need for manual data entry and ensuring that you don't lose any important receipts.

Driving? Track your miles with Expensify 

In addition to adding your gas receipts, some companies offer mileage reimbursement if you track your drive. Expensify’s distance tracking simplifies the process of recording and calculating your travel-related business expenses, especially if you frequently use your personal vehicle for work purposes. With this feature, you can easily log your trips, track distances traveled, and even calculate mileage reimbursements accurately, all of which are automatically added to your expense report for you.

After your trip: how to get reimbursed for business expenses

This is the best part! Once you’re back from your trip and have forwarded that last Uber or Lyft receipt to Expensify, all you have to do is look over your business travel expenses to ensure there are no violations, then hit Submit. The rest is up to your administrator, who can reach out to you through New Expensify with any comments or questions. If the expense report looks good, you can get paid back directly in your bank account as soon as the next day.

Make things easier, not harder, for yourself

Business travel doesn't have to be time-consuming and arduous when it comes to managing expenses. Expensify offers a comprehensive solution to streamline expense tracking, from capturing receipts to submitting reports and getting reimbursed. By leveraging features such as automated categorization, real-time tracking, and seamless integrations, you can save valuable time and focus on the core objectives of your work trip. Plus, your accountants will love you for submitting your expenses on time, and you’ll get paid back faster! 

Equip yourself with the right tools so that you can understand how to get reimbursed for business expenses as soon as your trip is over. Make Expensify your travel companion today, and you'll find that managing your business travel expenses while on the road has never been easier.