Small business expense tracking
- 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.
Small business expense tracking fails in one predictable way: the categories are decided at year end, by whoever is doing the return, from a bank feed that has forgotten why anything was bought. The business expense spreadsheet on this site fixes the categories at the start of the month and asks for one number in each, so the month is tracked as it is spent, with meals at their deductible half and the fixed costs separated from the variable ones. Save it to an account and the months add up into a year you can export, with each line's receipt attached.
Try the free expense report Free to use. No account, no card, no trial clock.
Fix the categories before the month starts
The sheet's ten columns are chosen to map onto the lines a small business return asks for, so nothing has to be reclassified later. Rent, utilities, software, supplies, travel, meals, marketing, insurance, professional fees and everything else: if a purchase does not obviously fit one, that is a question for your accountant now rather than a guess in April.
Track fixed and variable costs separately
Rent, utilities, software and insurance recur whether you sell anything or not; the sheet totals them as fixed costs so you can see the floor the business has to clear every month. Travel, supplies and marketing move with activity. Knowing which is which is the difference between a slow month and a problem.
Hold the receipt where the rule needs it
26 CFR 1.274-5 wants documentary evidence for any expense of $75 or more and for lodging at any amount. Pro attaches the receipt to the line it belongs to, so the evidence is found by opening the claim rather than by searching a shared folder for a photograph of a till roll.
Let the months become the year
Each saved sheet is a claim for that month, against the business or the person who spent it. Twelve of them are the year, exported in one file for the return, with the meals already halved and the fixed and variable totals carried through.
Small business expense tracking: common questions
What is the best way to track expenses for a small business?
Categorise every expense on the day it happens, keep the receipt against the line where the rules require one, and keep meals apart because they deduct at 50 percent. The free sheet on this site does the first; PerDiemDesk Pro does the second and third and keeps the months together.
Do I need receipts for everything?
The federal rule in 26 CFR 1.274-5 requires documentary evidence for any single expense of $75 or more and for all lodging. Below $75 an adequate record of the amount, time, place and purpose is enough for most expenses, though a receipt is never a bad idea and your state or your accountant may want more.
Can I track expenses for more than one person?
Yes. Pro holds a team member record for everyone who spends, and each saved sheet or report is a claim against one of them, so the owner sees both the business total and who spent what.
Does it connect to my accounting software?
Pro connects to QuickBooks Online and Xero and pushes billable expenses into your books with the client attached. Everything else is exported as a file your accountant can open.
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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Will it do what you need for Small business expense tracking?
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Cite or embed this figure
Business meals are deductible at only 50 percent of the amount spent under 26 U.S.C. 274(n), which is why a tracker has to keep meals in their own column rather than in the general total.
Business expense spreadsheet (Monthly business expenses): $2,725, PerDiemDesk, worked example.
Cite as: "Small business expense tracking, PerDiemDesk", updated 2026-09-02, https://perdiemdesk.com/small-business-expense-tracking/.