What is an Itemized Receipt

We’ve all been there. You have a pile of expense reports to process and there’s a sea of crumpled receipts and missing information. Each one tells a story, whether it’s a client dinner or a cross-country trip to seal a deal. However, as you try to decipher credit card slips and cryptic notes, every receipt becomes a potential audit problem. 

There’s a hero in this story, though. It’s the itemized receipt. 

In this article we’ll answer the question: What is an itemized receipt? We’ll also look at the differences between an itemized receipt vs. regular receipt and the benefits of an itemized receipt for reimbursement. 

What Is an Itemized Receipt? 

An itemized receipt details each line item of the goods or services from a transaction. Rather than a credit card slip that just gives you the totals, itemized receipts provide the details about: 

• Date and time of purchase 
• Specific items purchased 
• Quantities and amounts for each item 
• Unit price and total costs 
• Taxes paid (if applicable) 
• The total amounts paid 

Itemized Receipt vs. Regular Receipt 

Itemized receipts provide significantly more transaction information and detail than a standard receipt. Here are some of the key differences. 

Itemization 

Regular receipts only show the total amount paid. Itemized receipts list and describe each product or service purchased separately. This additional itemization is useful for accounting purposes. 

Expense Tracking 

With itemized line items on purchases, it's easier to categorize expenses and track spending for budgeting. You can't do detailed spend analysis without the breakdowns provided on itemized receipts. 

Expense Reporting 

Employees use itemized receipts when doing expense reports after business trips and events to keep it simple to fulfill reporting requirements and get quickly reimbursed. 

Auditing 

During any financial review or audit of a company's books, detailed itemized receipts provide the necessary support documentation. This added transparency improves compliance. 

Common Types of Itemized Expenses 

Here are some examples of the details that are usually included on itemized receipts in these common spending categories. 

Meals and Entertainment 

• Date, time, and location of meal 
• Itemized list of food and beverages consumed 
• Number of guests detailed 
• Gratuity amount itemized 
• Business purpose for entertainment outlined 

Without proper itemization on dining and entertainment receipts, these expenses may not comply with policy or meet tax deductibility rules. 

Hotel Stays 

• Room rate per night 
• Room taxes and fees broken out 
• On-property dining or other charges itemized 
• Valet, internet, phone, or other ancillary charges listed 

Itemization is key for reconciling hotel spending against corporate travel program rates and reimbursement limits. 

Car Rentals

• Date and locations for each rental period 
• Mileage driven/mileage charges itemized 
• Refueling and other ancillary services detailed 
• Damage waivers, GPS rentals, or additional insurance itemized 

Complete car rental itemization provides the backup needed to dispute any billing errors or unauthorized charges. 

Air Travel 

• Ticket fees and taxes 
• Changes, cancellations, and other ancillary charges delineated 
• Baggage fees, seat selections, onboard WiFi itemized 

Itemized airfare receipts allow for audit of expenses against corporate travel policies. 

Office Supplies 

• Each supply item numbered 
• Quantity, unit price, and item cost for each line 
• Item details like size, color, or other attributes 

Itemization on office supply receipts enables better budgeting and prevents duplicate or excessive ordering. 

When Are Itemized Receipts Required? 

You can determine when itemized receipts are required as part of your expense policy. Here are some of the key considerations in making this decision. 

Employee Expense Reimbursements 

Nearly all companies require the submission of itemized receipts along with expense reimbursement reports over a predetermined threshold, such as $75 or $100. Even if a company doesn't set a clear policy, many managers will request itemized receipts as back-up for any large or unusual employee spend. 

Business Tax Deductions 

To qualify for federal tax write-offs of valid business expenses, companies will want to retain itemized receipts as evidence. 

Government Contracting 

Organizations that do business with government agencies generally have to meet strict itemization rules. All expenses submitted for reimbursement under a government contract require detailed itemized receipts with full transparency regarding the exact goods or services purchased. 

External Audits 

Financial auditors will request to review itemized receipts for material transactions during assessments of company books. Audits of expenses, procurement spending, and special projects typically sample high-dollar invoices and receipts — relying on itemization to verify legitimacy. 

Reducing Expense Fraud 

Itemized receipts can also play a big role in reducing expense fraud. 

A 2022 Pulse survey commissioned by SAP Concur found that nearly two-thirds of business travelers admitted questionable expenses from employees intentionally submitting reimbursements for personal expenses. Five percent of a typical company’s annual revenues are lost due to fraud each year, according to the Institute of Financial Operations & Leadership (IOFM) — more than $8,000 per month. 

In the “old days,” employees used to gather up blank taxi slips or restaurant receipts and simply write the amounts in by hand. This provided AP teams with no information to judge the validity of an expense except for their intuition. Fake receipts, inflated claims, and multiple claims for the same purchase can be difficult to spot. 

Fortunately, there are solutions to help mitigate expense fraud. Finance automation can help spot non-compliant spend and increase audit accuracy. For example, ExpenseIt from SAP Concur offers receipt scanning on a mobile app that enables users to digitize receipts on the go — meaning they can submit their itemized receipts right at the point of purchase. 

Ensuring Compliance and Adopting Best Practices 

By making itemized receipt capture and reporting standard practice across an organization and, enforcing consistent compliance, you can improve transparency and employ best practices, including: 

• Establishing policies detailing when an itemized receipt for reimbursement is required, including any dollar thresholds over which itemization is mandatory. 
• Implementing expense reporting software and apps that allow the seamless capture of itemized receipt data and automated flow into reports. 
• Establishing a consistent approval flow with exception reporting to flag any missing itemization or details requiring follow-up. 
• Conducting regular audits of reports to identify any non-compliant spend lacking proper documentation or itemization. 
• Providing employee training on expense reporting procedures, highlighting the importance of detailed, accurate receipts. 

Adopting a seamless workflow and integrating your expense management with ERP and accounting systems can reduce human error, accelerate processing, and produce real-time visibility into spending. This ensures compliance and improves efficiency. 

SAP Concur Makes Expense Management Simpler 

SAP Concur solutions make it easy for users to capture receipts and eliminate some of the manual data entry associated with business expenses by creating a digital workflow. There’s no more dealing with paper receipts or cutting paper checks. ExpenseIt extracts the necessary information to simplify processing and reduce manual entry, making month-end reporting a snap. You get improved workflow, increased visibility into spend, and robust cost controls to manage your expense reimbursements more efficiently. 

You also get intelligent technology that’s cloud-based, providing a secure app that empowers employees to capture itemized receipts wherever they are and automatically move expense reimbursements through the approval chain. 

Concur Expense, Concur Travel, and Concur Invoice empower you to track and manage every employee expense, travel cost, and invoice payment in one connected system. You can get a free trial of Concur Expense today and see how you can automate and simplify your expense process, capture itemized receipts, and provide complete spend visibility.