Expense Report Template (Excel)

What is in the Expense Report template

This workbook is an employee expense report you can fill in, print and hand to a manager. It has four sheets: Expenses, Mileage, Summary and How to use. Totals, category subtotals, the amount due and the receipt check are all formulas.

The Expenses sheet

Each row is one receipt: date, description, category, vendor, how it was paid, whether a receipt is attached and the amount. Category, Paid with and Receipt attached? are drop-downs. The categories are airfare and train, lodging, meals, ground transport and fuel, supplies and equipment, software and subscriptions, client entertainment, phone and internet, and other. Two formula columns finish the row. Reimbursable? says No for anything paid with a company card, and Check says “Receipt needed” in red when an amount is over your receipt threshold and no receipt is attached. There is room for 40 lines.

The Mileage sheet

Log each business trip with the date, start, destination, purpose and miles. The rate comes from one cell on the Summary sheet, so the amount for each trip is miles x rate, rounded to cents. The sheet has 30 rows and a total at the bottom. The rate is an input. The sample uses 76 cents per mile, which is the IRS standard business rate for July 1 to December 31, 2026 as published on irs.gov. Rates change, so check the current figure before you use it.

The Summary sheet

The Summary sheet holds the report header (employee, department, period, purpose and manager) and three settings in yellow: the mileage rate, the receipt threshold and any cash advance received. It then totals each category, adds mileage and shows total expenses. Next it subtracts what was paid on the company card, giving reimbursable expenses, and subtracts the cash advance to give the net amount due to the employee. A negative result means the employee owes money back. A check cell compares the category totals with the entries, and it turns red if they differ, for example when a category name was typed instead of picked. A bar chart shows spending by category with no data labels.

At the bottom is an approval block with lines for the employee, manager and finance, each with name, signature and date, plus a Status drop-down (Draft, Submitted, Approved, Paid).

The sample report

The file opens with a made-up two-day client trip: flights, a hotel on the company card, meals, a client lunch, four mileage trips and a $200 advance. Delete the sample rows and enter your own. The receipt threshold of $25 is an example, so set it to your company policy.

How to use it

1. Fill in the header and settings on the Summary sheet.
2. List every receipt on the Expenses sheet.
3. Log business miles on the Mileage sheet.
4. Resolve every “Receipt needed” flag.
5. Print the Summary sheet, sign it and send it to your manager.

For personal or small-business bookkeeping, see the expense tracker template, and work out mileage on its own with the mileage calculator. For the full walkthrough, read how to fill out an expense report.

Frequently asked questions

More free tools: All free calculators · Expense tracker template · Mileage calculator · Income and expense template