Self employed expense tracker
- Monthly business expenses
- $2,725
- Meals, deductible half
- $70
- Deductible total, meals at half
- $2,655
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs you enter, by the method stated below it. The only rates PerDiemDesk supplies are the published IRS and GSA ones, named and linked where they are used: the defaults for meals, hotels and supplies are a worked example to replace with your own.
A self employed expense tracker has one job the shoebox cannot do: hold the receipt, the category and the deductible amount together, on the day the money was spent. The tracker on this site starts from the business expense spreadsheet, which lays out a month by category with meals kept in their own column because they deduct at half. Save it to an account and each month becomes a claim against you, so at tax time the year is ten minutes of export rather than a weekend of bank statements.
Try the free expense report Free to use. No account, no card, no trial clock.
Categorise on the day, not at year end
Rent, software, supplies, travel, meals, marketing, insurance and fees are the columns the sheet gives you, and they are the columns a Schedule C or a self assessment return will ask for. An expense filed into the right column when it happens never has to be reconstructed from a card statement eleven months later.
Keep meals apart from everything else
Business meals are deductible at 50 percent of the amount spent under 26 U.S.C. 274(n), so a tracker that lumps them in with supplies overstates the deduction. The sheet shows the meals line and the deductible half beside it, so the total you carry to your accountant is already the right one.
Attach the receipt to the line above the threshold
The $75 rule in 26 CFR 1.274-5 is per expense, not per month, and lodging needs a receipt whatever it cost. Pro stores the receipt against the individual line, so an audit question about one purchase is answered by opening one claim rather than searching a folder of photographs.
Export the year, not the months
At year end the whole point of the tracker is one file: every claim, every category, every receipt reference, in the order the return wants them. Pro exports it in one action, and pushes billable expenses into QuickBooks Online or Xero as you go if you have connected one.
Self employed expense tracker: common questions
Is this a free self employed expense tracker?
The business expense spreadsheet is free with no account, and you can print it. Tracking across months, the receipt against each line, and the year end export are PerDiemDesk Pro, at $4 a month for your whole team.
Does it track mileage?
Yes. The expense report template and the travel expense report both take miles and a cents per mile rate, defaulting to the IRS standard business rate of 76 cents per mile from July 1, 2026, and a saved report keeps the miles and the rate it was paid at.
What counts as a business expense when I am self employed?
Broadly, what is ordinary and necessary for the trade: the categories on the sheet cover the common ones. Whether a particular purchase qualifies, and how much of a mixed-use item like a phone or a home office you can claim, is your accountant's call, not ours. The tracker keeps the record; it does not decide the tax.
Can my accountant see it?
Pro exports every claim and category as a file your accountant can open, and can push billable expenses into your QuickBooks Online or Xero directly. There is no accountant login; the export and the books connection are the hand-off.
PerDiemDesk Pro
Keeping what you file
The reports are free forever. Pro turns them into your books: your logo, no watermark, saved claims by team member, approval and payment status, and clean exports for your accountant.
- Download as PDF
- No PerDiemDesk watermark
- Save and reopen later
- Your logo and tax reference on it
- Bulk export reports for your accountant
- Payment confirmations emailed to your team
- Connect your own Stripe account and get paid online
- Connect your QuickBooks Online or Xero
$4per month, whole team
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Cite or embed this figure
Any single business expense of $75 or more needs a receipt under the IRS rules in 26 CFR 1.274-5, and lodging needs one at any amount, so a tracker earns its keep by holding the receipt against the line rather than the total.
Business expense spreadsheet (Monthly business expenses): $2,725, PerDiemDesk, worked example.
Cite as: "Self employed expense tracker, PerDiemDesk", updated 2026-09-02, https://perdiemdesk.com/self-employed-expense-tracker/.