Comprehensive Guide to Reimbursement Invoices

An expense reimbursement invoice allows a company to monitor its spending on a certain assignment or department. 

It facilitates employee reimbursements when an employee spends their own money and pays for a business-related expense. 

It also helps businesses calculate their real income, excluding expenses. Therefore, an expense reimbursement invoice can serve multiple purposes.

If you are a business owner or planning to start a business, knowing about expense reimbursements should be on your priority list. 

Read this article to learn about reimbursable expenses, taxes on expense reimbursements, the situation in which you can refuse a refund, and examples of reimbursement invoices.  
  

Meaning of Reimbursement Expenses

When an employee pays for business-related expenses from their pocket on the employer’s behalf, the employer gives that amount back to the employee. This money is known as reimbursed expenses.

Since the employee’s money was used toward business-related expenses, the business must pay the money back to the employee.

The business specifies the expenses for which employees will receive reimbursement to avoid any confusion at a later stage. Travel expenses are the most common type of reimbursable expenses.

However, some companies offer additional reimbursements, like health benefits and sponsored hotel stays.

Businesses can provide such employee reimbursements for employee satisfaction or as a reward for exceptional performance or completing a certain number of years with the business.

Non-reimbursement of expenses can happen if the employee fails to produce proof or genuine receipts of the expense paid.

Do You Need to Pay Tax on Reimbursements?

Taxes on reimbursements are variable. Your employee reimbursements will be considered an income if your company does not have an accountable plan.

In such a situation, the reimbursement will be subject to tax deductible. However, with an active, accountable plan, you can justify the transaction and won’t have to pay taxes on the same.

Therefore, a solid accounting plan is important to every business organization. It is also pertinent for businesses to store all their expense reimbursement invoices.

These invoices serve as valid proof of the reimbursement transaction being an expense rather than an income.

When Can You Refuse Reimbursement Expenses?

Not all payments made by employees on the employer’s behalf are reimbursable. There are certain instances when the employer can refuse to reimburse the costs incurred by the employees.

Except in California, you can refuse expense reimbursement benefits to your employees in all other states. However, the reason should be legitimate.

If the employee has spent a certain amount due to personal reasons or their reason does not fit the firm’s identified fields of expense reimbursement, the firm can refuse the requested expense reimbursement. 

Failure to show receipts of the transactions made or any other valid proof is a viable reason to decline expense reimbursement.

The employee must also submit valid proof on the agreed date. Failure to present payment receipts and other important documents on the pre-determined date can land the employee in trouble.

However, in case of some exceptions, the employer cannot decline the employee’s request for expense reimbursement. 

Exceptions involve cases of minimum wage. Without reimbursing the amount paid for business use, the business will have to approve the requested expense reimbursement mandatorily if the employee’s wage becomes lower than the minimum rate. 

If the company had agreed to pay for the compensation beforehand, it is legally binding to reimburse the said amount to the employee. 

Lastly, a company cannot discriminate between its employees based on race, colour, caste, creed, gender, and disability.

Therefore, the employer and the employee need to be cautious while sanctioning and applying for reimbursements.       

How to Create a Professional Expense Reimbursement Invoice?

Expense reimbursement invoice helps businesses keep a tab on the total cost spent on business-related activities. It also assists companies in calculating their real profit margins. 

Moreover, you can use a reimbursement invoice to save on taxes. Therefore, generating professional reimbursement invoices is of utmost importance for a business. 

A professional reimbursement invoice contains all the relevant details to substantiate tax claims. You can generate expert-level reimbursement invoices using invoicing software like InvoiceOwl.

The software allows you to download invoice templates as per your preferences. Download and edit the template in different formats, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Adobe PDF

InvoiceOwl has templates for most businesses, including construction, HVAC, plumbing, house cleaning, hotel, roofing, painting, photography, landscaping, shipping, attorney, handyman, and freelancing.

If you have started a business recently and have no clue about generating invoices or using invoicing software, InvoiceOwl has covered you with its Invoice Guide feature, which includes many useful articles.

Apart from gaining access to a suitable reimbursement invoice template, you can utilize multiple other features using InvoiceOwl. Here are the various benefits of using InvoiceOwl:

1. The e-sign feature

Signatures form a crucial aspect of your reimbursement procedure. With the e-sign feature, you can deal with some of your vendors, clients, and even employees remotely. 

By facilitating the e-sign feature, InvoiceOwl allows you to get timely signatures on all pertinent documents in due time. 

2. Reimbursement invoice template

A template simplifies the process of creating essential documents. With a ready-to-use reimbursement invoice template, you can generate reimbursement invoices within minutes. 

Templates also ensure that your invoice carries the necessary information and is consistent. A lack of consistency can make your business look unprofessional. 

3. Estimation resources

InvoiceOwl is not only an invoicing software but also an estimating software. Estimating the cost of business-related expenses is a must if you do not want your employees to scam you. 

It makes allotting funds to employees for spending a lot easier. You can limit the reimbursable amount using an estimation tool like InvoiceOwl. 

Moreover, you can also eliminate the hassle of reimbursing payments to your clients by estimating the costs of your services correctly. 

Wrong estimations can leave a poor impression on your clients. Therefore, using an estimating tool can save a lot of time, energy, and money in the long run. 

4. Other significant features

InvoiceOwl provides many other useful services, including preparing purchase orders, creating reports, seeking client reviews, facilitating payments, etc. 

Besides an invoice generator and guide, it also provides access to blogs, comparisons between tools, estimate generators, PO generators, receipt makers, estimate templates, and estimate guides.

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Examples of Reimbursement Invoices

• Add the employee’s details, such as name, address, phone number, email ID, etc. 
• Add your company’s details, such as company logo, name, address, contact details, etc. 
• Mention the invoice number. 
• Add the complete list of the payments made by the employee. 
• The total cost of all the items/services to be reimbursed needs to be mentioned too.  

Conclusion

Even though we usually associate reimbursements with businesses paying back their employees on account of their expenses for business-related activity, a business can sometimes owe its client a reimbursement amount. 

For instance, if the business mistakenly overcharged a customer for its service, it can issue a reimbursement invoice to the client. 

Expense reimbursements work two ways; they help keep your clients and employees contented. However, keeping a tab on expense reimbursements may sometimes seem daunting. 

It is here that a professional reimbursement invoice comes to your rescue. It helps you keep easy track of the payments. You can generate expert-level reimbursement invoices using an invoicing software.

Ensuring that your invoices have a definite invoice number and include all pertinent information, such as employee details, company details, number of items, individual cost of items, the total cost of items, and any other additional information is a good way to create trackable invoices.