# Expenses policy template

> What is reimbursable, what needs approval, how to claim and when it is paid. A complete policy to adapt with your own rules.

Category: Policies

Canonical: https://shuffl.ai/templates/expenses-policy

**A starting point, not legal advice. Leave, pay and expense rules differ by country, state and city. Use the checks on this page to see what to look up where your people work, and have someone qualified review your policy before you publish it.**

## When to use it

An expenses policy tells people what they can claim, what needs approval first and when they get their money back.

Clear rules here mean fewer rejected claims and fewer questions to finance and HR.

## Expenses and reimbursement

Words in [square brackets] are for you to fill in. The policy has every section a real handbook policy has, but no allowances, dates or amounts of its own.

```markdown
# Expenses and reimbursement

## Purpose
This policy explains which work costs the company pays back, what needs approval first and how to claim, so nobody is out of pocket for doing their job.

## Who this covers
Everyone who spends money on the company's behalf, including [contractors, if they can claim].

## What you can claim
Costs that are necessary for your work and reasonable in amount, for example:
- [Travel, for example economy flights, trains and taxis]
- [Meals while travelling or with customers, and any daily limit]
- [Equipment, software or a home office set-up]
- [Phone and internet used for work]

## What you cannot claim
[For example personal travel, upgrades, fines, alcohol beyond a limit, or gifts.]

## What needs approval first
[Anything that must be approved before it is spent, for example costs above an amount or any travel, and who approves it.]

## How to submit a claim
1. [Where to submit, for example the expenses tool]
2. Attach [what evidence is required, for example an itemised receipt]
3. Submit within [number of days] of the expense

## When you are paid back
[How and when reimbursements are paid, for example with the next payroll run.]

## Company cards
[Who gets a company card, what it may be used for, and what happens to personal spending on it.]

## Responsibilities
- **You:** spend company money as if it were your own, and claim only real costs.
- **Your manager or approver:** check claims are for work and within this policy before approving them.
- **Finance:** pay approved claims on time and keep records.

## Where local law differs
If the law where you work gives you more rights to be paid back, the law applies. These places have their own rules: [list them, or "none"].

## Records
Finance keeps claims and receipts for [period] to meet tax and audit rules. A false claim is handled under the Code of conduct.

## Related policies
Code of conduct and Remote work and hours.

## About this policy
Owned by [team or person]. Applies in [countries or states]. We may update this policy and will tell you at least [number] days before a change takes effect. This policy is not part of your employment contract.

## Questions
Contact [team or person] at [email or channel].
```

## Check before you publish

Rules that often catch teams out, by place. They are not part of the policy, and not legal advice.

- United States: California, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and New Hampshire, among others, require employers to pay back necessary work costs, which can include a share of a personal phone or home internet.
- United States: Pay back is tax free only under an accountable plan: costs are documented and any advance not spent is returned in a reasonable time. Unpaid work costs cannot bring an hourly employee below minimum wage.
- United Kingdom: HMRC rules decide which expenses and benefits are tax free, including approved mileage rates. Check with your payroll provider before paying a flat allowance.
- Everywhere: Ask your accountant what a valid receipt must show, so VAT or sales tax can be reclaimed where the law allows.

## How to adapt it

- Give examples of what can be claimed, like travel or a meal with a client.
- Say what proof is needed, for example an itemised receipt.
- Give a deadline for claims in days, not “promptly”.

## Expenses in numbers

- **13%** of occupational fraud cases in the ACFE’s 2026 study were expense reimbursement schemes [acfe-rttn-2026]
- **18 months** median time an expense reimbursement fraud ran before it was caught (ACFE, 2026) [acfe-rttn-2026]
- **72.5¢** IRS standard mileage rate per business mile driven in 2026 [irs-mileage-2026]

## What the research says

Most expense claims are honest, but expenses are a common route for fraud. In the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2026 study of 2,402 occupational fraud cases, 13% involved expense reimbursement schemes, with a median loss of $36,000.[acfe-rttn-2026] These schemes ran for a median of 18 months before they were detected, longer than any other kind of asset theft the study tracked.[acfe-rttn-2026]

The same study found that management review was linked to the largest drop in losses of any anti-fraud control: organizations with it had a median loss of $84,000, against $186,000 for those without.[acfe-rttn-2026] For expenses, that means a manager who actually reads the claims they approve, and a finance team that spots claims that don’t fit a pattern.

## What the law requires

In the US, how you reimburse affects tax. Under an IRS accountable plan, expenses must have a business connection and be substantiated within a reasonable period, and any excess must be returned. Those payments aren’t wages. Nonaccountable plan payments are taxed as wages.[irs-pub-15] The IRS generally treats 60 days to substantiate and 120 days to return any excess as reasonable.[irs-pub-15]

For people using their own cars, the IRS standard mileage rate for business use is 72.5 cents a mile in 2026.[irs-mileage-2026] In the UK, HMRC’s approved mileage rate for cars and vans is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles from 6 April 2026, and 25p after that. Anything paid above the approved amount is added to pay and taxed.[hmrc-mileage]

## Common mistakes

- Paying flat allowances with no receipts or reconciliation, which can turn reimbursements into taxable pay.
- Letting managers approve their own claims, or claims from people they travel with.
- Setting limits nobody checks, so the policy and what actually gets paid drift apart.
- Paying late. People who wait weeks for money they spent on the company stop trusting the process.

## Common questions

**Are expense reimbursements taxable?**
In the US, reimbursements under an accountable plan, with receipts and any excess returned on time, aren’t treated as wages. Allowances paid without that are taxable pay. In the UK, payments above HMRC’s approved amounts, like mileage, are taxed as earnings.

**How long should employees have to submit expenses?**
Pick a fixed number of days and put it in the policy. The IRS treats 60 days to substantiate an expense as generally reasonable, and many companies ask for claims within 30 days so the books close cleanly each month.

**What mileage rate should we pay?**
Many US employers use the IRS standard rate, which is 72.5 cents a mile for business driving in 2026. UK employers often use HMRC’s approved rate, 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles from April 2026, because it’s tax-free up to that amount.

## Sources (read 2026-10-13)

- [acfe-rttn-2026] Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, “Occupational Fraud 2026: A Report to the Nations” (2026): https://www.acfe.com/-/media/files/acfe/pdfs/rttn/2026/2026-report-to-the-nations.pdf
- [irs-pub-15] Internal Revenue Service, “Publication 15, (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide” (Current page, read October 2026): https://www.irs.gov/publications/p15
- [irs-mileage-2026] Internal Revenue Service, “IRS sets 2026 business standard mileage rate at 72.5 cents per mile, up 2.5 cents” (December 29, 2025): https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-sets-2026-business-standard-mileage-rate-at-725-cents-per-mile-up-25-cents
- [hmrc-mileage] GOV.UK, “Expenses and benefits: business travel mileage for employees’ own vehicles” (Current page, read October 2026): https://www.gov.uk/expenses-and-benefits-business-travel-mileage/rules-for-tax

## In Shuffl

Use in Shuffl: [Knowledge draft](https://shuffl.ai/app/knowledge?template=expenses). Opens a Knowledge draft with this policy, its checks and what Shuffl already knows, like your HR contact and countries. Draft with Mello can write the rest and show where each value came from. Nothing is published until you choose Publish.

Guide: [Add a policy to Knowledge](https://shuffl.ai/docs/knowledge#add)

## Related terms

- [Employee handbook](https://shuffl.ai/glossary/employee-handbook)
- [HR knowledge base](https://shuffl.ai/glossary/hr-knowledge-base)

All templates: https://shuffl.ai/templates

Agent documentation index: https://shuffl.ai/llms.txt