Expenses
Costs that are not stock, such as rent, electricity, software or travel, for your profit and loss, your income tax and the GST credit on them.
Goods you buy to sell, with a supplier's tax invoice, go in Purchases (they add to stock). Everything else you spend to run the business goes here. Enter each bill in one place only, or it is counted, and its GST claimed, twice.
#The expense list
Open Expenses from the menu. Add Expense at the top right opens a new expense.
The three totals
Total Expenses is everything you paid, with GST. GST Paid (ITC) is the GST inside those amounts, your input tax credit. Entries is how many expenses are shown. All three follow the search and filters.
Search and filters
- Search expenses...: part of the description, the vendor's name or the bill number.
- All Categories: show one category only, such as Office Rent.
- Year: the current financial year (April to March) to start; one of the last five, or All years.
- Cost centre: only when cost centres are on.
- The red ✕ clears the search, category and cost centre, and puts the year back to the current one.
Expense Records
The table lists Date, Description, Category, Vendor, Amount, GST and Mode (how you paid), with a Total row. The pencil opens an expense to change it; the bin deletes it, after asking. The Print / PDF, Excel and CSV buttons save the expense statement.
With nothing yet, it says No expenses recorded yet.; with filters hiding everything, No expenses match your filters.
An expense is missing. Check the year (an expense dated in March belongs to the year that ends that March), the category filter, and the business selected in the sidebar. If old expenses show under every business, see Not assigned to a business.
#Adding an expense
Click Add Expense. The Add Expense form opens (Edit Expense from the pencil).
| Field | What to put in |
|---|---|
| Date * | The date on the bill, or the day you paid. Today to start. It decides the month the GST credit goes into. |
| Category | What kind of cost it is. Other to start. See Categories. |
| Description * | Required. What it was for, such as "Shop rent - October" or "AWS Hosting - March". |
| Amount (incl. GST) * | Required, above zero. The full amount you paid, with GST. |
| GST % (for ITC) | The GST rate on the bill, such as 18. The GST inside the amount is worked out and shown underneath as GST: ₹.... Leave it blank (or 0) when the bill has no GST: rent from an unregistered owner, salary, bank charges without GST. |
| Vendor Name | Who you paid. Optional, but needed to claim the credit. |
| Vendor GSTIN | Their 15-character GSTIN, from their bill. Needed to claim the credit. |
| Invoice / Bill No | Their bill number. Optional. |
| Payment Mode | Bank Transfer (to start), UPI, Cash, Cheque, Card or Other. Expenses paid in Cash appear in the Cash book as money out. |
| Cost centre | Only when cost centres are on. The branch, site or project it belongs to. |
| Inter-state expense | Tick when the vendor charged IGST (a different state), as with cloud and software firms billing from another state. The first two digits of their GSTIN are their state code. |
| Note (optional) | Anything for yourself. |
- Pick the categoryAnd type a Description you will recognise later.
- Type the amountThe total on the bill, with GST.
- Type the GST rateIf the bill shows GST. Check the GST: ₹... underneath against the GST printed on the bill.
- Vendor detailsName, GSTIN and bill number, if you will claim the credit.
- SaveClick Save (Update when editing). The message Expense added appears.
Example: internet bill ₹1,180 with 18% GST. Amount 1180, GST % 18: the app shows GST ₹180 (1180 × 18 ÷ 118), and the cost without GST is ₹1,000.
"Description is required" or "Enter a valid amount": fill in a description and an amount above zero. "GST % must be between 0 and 100": type just the number, such as 18.
The GST shown differs a little from the bill: the bill may be rounded. It is worked out from the amount and rate; if the difference matters, check the amount you typed is the bill's total with GST, not before.
Deleting an expense removes it from your list, reports and future returns. Credit already claimed in a return you filed stays as filed.
#Categories
Office Rent, Utilities, Internet & Phone, Software & Tools, Travel, Meals & Entertainment, Office Supplies, Salary & Wages, Professional Fees, Insurance, Marketing & Ads, Raw Materials, Shipping & Courier, Repairs & Maintenance, Bank Charges, GST Paid, Asset Purchase, Personal / Drawings, and Other. The list is fixed; use Other with a clear description for anything else.
| Category | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Asset Purchase | Things that last years: a computer, furniture, a machine, a vehicle. The Income Tax screen leaves these out of business expenses (assets are written off over years as depreciation, not in one go). |
| Personal / Drawings | Money you take out for yourself or spend on the family from the business account. Left out of business expenses on the Income Tax screen. |
| Salary & Wages | Pay to staff. Usually no GST. |
| Raw Materials | Small material buys without a proper tax invoice. Material bought on a supplier's GST bill, which you want in stock, belongs in Purchases. |
| GST Paid | Only for cases your CA tells you to record this way. The GST you pay the government on your returns is not an expense. |
The Profit & Loss report includes every category, without GST. Use the category filter on the list to see, for example, all Office Rent for the year.
#How the GST credit is used
The GST on each expense is added to your input tax credit in Table 4 of GSTR-3B, in the month of its date: to IGST if Inter-state expense is ticked, otherwise half to CGST and half to SGST. It is added to the credit from your purchase bills.
Every expense with a GST % is counted. Only claim credit you are entitled to:
- The vendor must be GST-registered, and their bill must show your GSTIN. Without the vendor's GSTIN, put the GST % as 0.
- Food and drinks, personal spending, club fees and most car costs usually do not qualify (blocked credit). Put the GST % as 0 for these.
- Check the total against your GSTR-2B: see Checking your credit against GSTR-2B.
In the Profit & Loss report, the GST on expenses is taken off, so your costs are shown without the GST you get back.
#For your accountant
The Print / PDF, Excel and CSV buttons at the top of Expense Records save the Expense statement: the rows shown, oldest first, with a Total row. The heading names your business and what was chosen (the year, the category, the cost centre, the search), and so does the file name: for example Expenses-FY 2026-27, Office Rent.
Columns: Date, Description, Category, Amount, GST Amount, GST %, Vendor, Vendor GSTIN, Invoice No, Payment Mode, Inter-state (Y or N) and Note.
- Choose what to includePick the year, and a category or cost centre, or search. For example: all Rent for the year.
- Save itExcel downloads an
.xlsxfile, CSV a CSV file, and Print / PDF opens it on its own page to print or Save as PDF.
Print / PDF does nothing, or says "Allow pop-ups for this page to print the report": allow pop-ups for the app in your browser and click again. See Print does nothing.