Small Business Templates

Expense Report Template Canada

A free expense report format built for Canadian small businesses — with the GST/HST column that keeps your input tax credits claimable and the receipt trail Canadian tax requirements expect you to keep.

Track Expenses Free See Expense Tracking

6 Years

Record Retention

$100+

Receipts Need a Supplier Tax Number

Free

No Credit Card Required

What Goes in a Canadian Expense Report

Nine columns cover everything you, your accountant, and a tax review will ever ask of a business purchase

Date

When the purchase happened

Vendor

Who you paid

Subtotal

The pre-tax amount

GST/HST

The recoverable federal tax

Provincial Tax

PST, RST, or QST where it applies

Total

What actually left your account

Payment Method

Card, cash, cheque, or e-Transfer

Receipt #

Links the row to its receipt

The two columns most templates get wrong are the tax columns. Lumping GST/HST in with the total works fine for seeing where your money went — and fails completely the day you register for GST/HST and want to recover the tax you paid. Set the columns up correctly from the first row and you never have to reconstruct anything.

Why the Tax Column Matters

Input tax credits are the money hiding inside your receipts — but only if your records support them

Recoverable vs. Not

If you're registered for GST/HST, the GST or HST you pay on business purchases can generally come back to you as input tax credits when you file. Provincial sales tax in BC, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba is not recoverable the same way — it's simply part of your cost.

            That's the whole reason for separate columns: one column is money you can get back, the other isn't.
          

The $100 and $500 Tiers

Not every receipt is equal. Under the documentary requirements, a purchase of $100 or more must have a receipt showing the supplier's GST/HST registration number. At $500 or more, the receipt must also show your name, the terms of payment, and a description of what was supplied.

            Practical habit: for anything over $100, glance at the receipt before you leave — if there's no tax number on it, ask for a proper one.
          

Six Years, Not Six Months

Business records — receipts, expense reports, invoices, mileage logs — have to be kept for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to. A shoebox of thermal-paper receipts will be blank long before then; digital copies are accepted and don't fade.

            Tip: photograph the receipt the day you get it. The photo is the record; the paper is the backup.
          

Sample Expense Report

Maple Ridge Consulting

210 8 Ave SW
Calgary, AB T2P 1B5
GST #: 123456789 RT0001

EXPENSE REPORT

Period: July 1–31, 2026
Prepared: Aug 2, 2026

Date	Vendor	Category	Subtotal	GST (5%)	Total	Paid By
Jul 3	Office supply store	Office supplies	$84.00	$4.20	$88.20	Business card
Jul 8	Restaurant — client meeting	Meals & entertainment	$62.40	$3.12	$65.52	Business card
Jul 15	Software subscription	Software	$120.00	$6.00	$126.00	Business card
Jul 22	Fuel station	Vehicle	$78.60	$3.93	$82.53	Personal card
Jul 29	Trade show organizer	Advertising	$450.00	$22.50	$472.50	e-Transfer

Subtotals: $795.00

GST paid (5%): $39.75

Total Spent: $834.75 CAD

Receipts 2026-07-001 through 2026-07-005 attached. Alberta purchases — 5% GST only, no provincial sales tax. The July 22 fuel purchase was paid personally and is owed back to the owner.

Every row reconciles: subtotals sum to $795.00, GST sums to $39.75, and the grand total matches what left the accounts. When the columns are set up this way, filing time is a copy-paste, not an archaeology project.

How to Use This Template

Four habits turn a blank spreadsheet into records your accountant will thank you for

Set Up the Columns

One sheet per month, the nine columns above, and a category list that matches how Canadian returns group expenses. Works in any spreadsheet program.

Log Weekly, Not Yearly

Ten minutes every Friday beats a lost weekend every April. Enter each purchase with its tax split while the receipt is still in your wallet.

Attach the Receipt

Number each receipt, photograph it, and record the number in the report. A row without its receipt is a claim you may not be able to support.

Total and Close the Month

Sum the subtotal and tax columns, check they reconcile to the grand total, and start a fresh sheet. Twelve closed months are a finished tax year.

Skip the Spreadsheet — Track Free

Receipts and Record Keeping

The report is only as strong as the paper (or pixels) behind it

Every Receipt Should Show

Vendor name and the date of purchase

Amount paid, with the tax shown or determinable

Supplier's GST/HST number once the purchase is $100 or more

Your name, payment terms, and a description once it reaches $500

Vehicle & Mileage

Fuel, maintenance, and insurance go in the expense report like any other purchase

Business driving needs its own log: date, destination, purpose, kilometres

The per-kilometre method is explained in our mileage deduction calculator

Keep both for six years — the log supports the vehicle expenses, and vice versa

Common Business Expense Categories

Use categories that match how Canadian returns group expenses — see the full category guide for what belongs where

Home Office

Rent, utilities, insurance

Vehicle

Fuel, maintenance, insurance

Advertising

Ads, sponsorship, promotion

Office Supplies

Paper, postage, small items

Professional Fees

Legal, accounting, consulting

Insurance

Liability, property, E&O

Phone & Internet

Business-use portion

Travel

Flights, lodging, transit

When a Spreadsheet Stops Working

The template above is genuinely enough at low volume — here's the honest line where it isn't

The Spreadsheet Works When…

You have a handful of purchases a month, one payment card, and the discipline to sit down every week. Plenty of sole proprietors run a tidy year exactly this way — and this template is built for them.

It Breaks When…

Receipts arrive faster than you type them, the tax split gets guessed instead of read off the receipt, and "I'll enter it later" becomes a glovebox full of faded paper. Missing rows means missed deductions and unclaimed input tax credits — your money, left on the table.

What Replaces It

In iBill you enter the expense and attach a photo of the receipt, and it is stored with its GST/HST split, category, and image together — stored together for the six-year retention window. It's free, and it feeds the same reports your accountant asks for in April.

            Same habit, less typing: record the expense the day you get the receipt, attach the photo, and the report builds itself from your entries.
          

Expense Report FAQs

Common questions about tracking business expenses in Canada

What should a Canadian expense report include?

A Canadian expense report should include the date of each purchase, the vendor name, an expense category, the pre-tax subtotal, GST/HST paid, any provincial sales tax paid, the total amount, the payment method, and a reference to the receipt. Recording GST/HST in its own column is what makes input tax credits easy to claim at filing time.

Why do I need a separate column for GST/HST?

If your business is registered for GST/HST, the tax you pay on business purchases can usually be recovered as input tax credits. Provincial sales tax in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba is not recoverable the same way, so mixing the two in one column makes your filing harder and your recoverable tax easy to miss.

What does a receipt need to show to support an input tax credit?

For purchases under $100, a receipt showing the vendor, date, and amount is generally enough. Once a purchase reaches $100, the receipt must also show the supplier's GST/HST registration number. At $500 or more, it must additionally show your name or your business name, the terms of payment, and a description of what was purchased.

How long do I have to keep expense records in Canada?

Canadian tax requirements are to keep business records, including receipts and expense reports, for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to. Digital copies are accepted, which is why photographing receipts as you go is the safest habit.

Can I claim an expense without a receipt?

A bank or credit card statement proves you paid someone, but it does not show what you bought or how much tax was charged, so it is weak support on its own. Keep the receipt whenever possible, and if one is missing, record the details immediately while you still remember them.

Should I track mileage on my expense report?

Vehicle costs belong in your expense report, but business driving is best tracked in a separate mileage log that records the date, destination, purpose, and kilometres for each trip. Use our mileage deduction calculator to see how the per-kilometre method works.

Is a spreadsheet good enough for expense tracking?

A spreadsheet works at low volume, which is exactly what this template is for. It stops working when receipts pile up faster than you type them. At that point, moving to a tracker that splits the tax automatically and stores the receipt photo with each entry saves hours every month and keeps your records complete.

Is the iBill expense tracker free?

Yes. iBill is currently free for Canadian small businesses and includes expense tracking with receipt photo capture, automatic GST/HST handling, and unlimited invoices. No credit card is required to sign up.

Track Expenses the Easy Way

Enter it once with the receipt photo attached — GST/HST split included, report built from your entries.

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• Free • Unlimited Expenses • Receipt Photo Capture