Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with receipts

Paperless office drowning in paper receipts!

rollo tomassi — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:17:45 -0800

Other than Neat Receipts can you suggest a solution for archiving receipts in an electronic format? Our office is 99% paperless, and we archive all of our documents as PDFs on an OS X server, with a folder structure that works for us.

The breakdown has been with receipts. When we started, we purchased two seats of Neat Receipts for OS X and the scanners to go with them. The software has been buggy, requires a re-download of the entire application every time they update and we've spoken to Neat Receipts so many times that I'm on a first name basis with some of their techs.

That said, can you suggest another system for archiving receipts? It doesn't need to be specifically for receipts, and I'm not worried about accessing them except in a worst-case scenario of an audit or similar, because we're already tracking all of these expenses in QuickBooks.

The ideal solution would be OS X or network-based (we can run a web app internally if that helps) and allow us to name the receipt with vendor name and date without too much of a hassle, OCR is nice but not necessary.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

How can I recreate my financial history of the last three years?

flowerofhighrank — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:56:47 -0800

how can I recreate my financial records for tax purposes? I have found an amazing tax attorney who has taken me on as his latest project (he likes teachers who write movies). I have kept very few financial records, preferring to shred them as they are paid off, etc. Now, he needs the last three years of records. Things like spending for classroom supplies, conferences, writing conventions, etc.
What is the easiest way to get these back? Most of them would be on credit card bills. How far back can I order these? What is the easiest way to do so?

Scan my receipts, baby!

Alterscape — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 12:43:56 -0800

What software should I use to archive/organize scans of personal finance information? A lot of people I know keep exhaustive paper records -- receipts, balance statements, pay stubs, bills, etc. I'm young and relatively mobile, and would rather have digital records than a filing cabinet full of paper to move around.

Beyond the simple (plain b&w scans with descriptive filenames), the ridiculous-overkill (Kofax and its ilk) and the expensive/limited (NeatReceipts), what software is out there for small-scale document management, particularly in a personal finance context? I'd like to be able to scan all my documents into one place and have them OCRed (or at least tagged by type, date, etc) and searchable. Bonus points for OS X/linux software, or Windows software that isn't tied to specific, non-OS-X-supported hardware that I can run in Parallels. Integration with GNUCash also a plus, although I've already googled for projects related to GNUCash.

Receipts: to keep or not to keep?

ivarley — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 16:27:24 -0800

I have been keeping all of my receipts for some time now. Every day, I enter them into my money tracking system (presently just a text file where I capture date, payee and amount). Then I file the receipts away in folders by month. My question: does it do me any good to save the receipts, or is having the data good enough? FYI: these are just personal receipts, not business (I know to save those). I've never had to bring out individual receipts for tax purposes before, but my understanding is that if I got audited, having all my receipts would be very helpful. Is that true?

Do you have any tricks to ensure that you track your money?

bigmusic — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 10:28:11 -0800

Do you have any tricks to ensure that you track your money? I would like to track what I spend and what I spend it on. I have MS Money 2006, but I hardly ever use it. I could use Money, but I find it hardly ever categorizes everything correctly. This is really more of motivation thing then a "how to" or "what's the best system" question.

I've thought about just using checks, but that would be giving up the convenience of my debit/cards (plus the tiny percentage money back I get for using them.) I use my cards for everything. I save all my receipts in my wallet and empty them into a manila envelope when my wallet starts to feel too big - which could take a few weeks - . I would like to go thru my receipts and itemize everything; the problem is getting around to doing that.

I've also thought about keeping my debit/credit cards in my receipt envelope and until I put those receipts in the system (spreadsheet or MS Money or a logbook) I would have to use checks (that I would keep in my wallet) until the receipts are put in the system. Does anyone have any better suggestions then this?

receipts at restaurants and stores

punkfloyd — Sat, 02 Apr 2005 15:04:49 -0800

Why do certain U.S. fast food restaurants and chain stores have a "if the cashier fails to give you a receipt, we'll give you $5" policy? Why do they feel it's so critical that I get a receipt for a cheeseburger?