Receipt Tracking Built for Freelancers

Designed for freelance designers, developers, consultants, and solopreneurs. Track every deductible expense without the complexity of enterprise software.

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The Freelancer's Expense Tracking Problem

Shoebox Chaos
Paper receipts in drawers, faded ink, missing receipts at tax time. You know you spent money, but can't prove it to the IRS.
Scan & Forget
Snap a photo of every receipt. Receipt.help extracts the data, categorizes it, and stores it forever. Find any receipt in seconds.
Forgotten Mileage
Client meetings, coffee shop work sessions, post office runs. You drive hundreds of miles monthly but never track it. That's $4,000+ in lost deductions annually.
Automatic Tracking
Turn on background mileage tracking. Receipt.help detects trips, you label them as business or personal. At year-end, you have a complete IRS-ready mileage log.
Enterprise Overkill
QuickBooks, Expensify, FreshBooks - built for teams of 50+. You just need to track your own expenses, not manage approvals and multi-entity accounting.
Solopreneur Simple
Built for one person businesses. No teams, no approval workflows, no corporate features. Just scan receipts, track mileage, export for taxes. Done.

How Sarah (Freelance Designer) Uses Receipt.help

1

Morning: Client Coffee Meeting

Sarah meets a client at Starbucks. After paying, she snaps a photo of the receipt with Receipt.help. The app extracts "Starbucks - $12.45" and suggests the category "Client Meals" (50% deductible). She adds a note: "Initial meeting with TechCorp redesign project."

2

Afternoon: Adobe Subscription Renewal

Sarah's Adobe Creative Cloud renews ($54.99/month). She forwards the email receipt to her Receipt.help inbox. The app creates a recurring expense under "Software Subscriptions." At tax time, that's $660 in deductions automatically tracked.

3

Evening: Drive to Client Office

Sarah drives 18 miles to a client's office for a presentation. Receipt.help automatically detects the trip. She swipes to mark it "Business" and tags it "TechCorp project." That's $12.60 in mileage deductions (18 miles × $0.70/mile for 2025).

4

End of Month: Export for Accountant

Sarah generates an expense report for January. Receipt.help shows $2,847 in business expenses across software ($660), client meals ($94), office supplies ($213), and mileage ($1,880 - 268 miles tracked automatically). She exports a PDF and sends it to her accountant in 30 seconds.

Sarah's Annual Results:

  • • Tracked expenses: $34,164 (vs $18,000 previous year with shoebox method)
  • • Additional deductions found: $16,164
  • • Tax savings (at 30% rate): $4,849
  • • Cost of Receipt.help: $108/year
  • • Net benefit: $4,741 (45x ROI)

Freelancer Tax Deductions We Track

Home Office
Rent, utilities, internet, phone, furniture, office supplies. If you work from home, a portion is deductible.
Software & Tools
Adobe, Figma, Slack, hosting, domains, project management tools, cloud storage, email services.
Client Meetings
Coffee, lunch, dinner with clients. 50% deductible. Just note who you met and what you discussed.
Professional Development
Online courses, books, conferences, workshops, certifications. Anything that improves your skills.
Travel
Business mileage, flights, hotels, rental cars for client meetings, conferences, or co-working trips.
Marketing
Website hosting, advertising, business cards, portfolio printing, social media tools, email marketing.
Equipment
Laptop, monitor, camera, microphone, tablet, desk, chair. Depreciate over time or deduct in year of purchase (Section 179).
Legal & Professional
Accountant fees, lawyer fees, business licenses, insurance, bank fees, LLC filing costs.
Contract Labor
Subcontractors, freelance help, virtual assistants. Anyone you pay to help with client work.

The Math: Is Receipt.help Worth It?

Conservative Estimate

Additional expenses found:

$3,000/year (vs shoebox method)

Tax savings (25% rate):

$750/year

Cost of Receipt.help:

$108/year

Net benefit: $642

6x return on investment

Typical Case

Additional expenses found:

$8,000/year (recurring subscriptions, mileage)

Tax savings (30% rate):

$2,400/year

Cost of Receipt.help:

$108/year

Net benefit: $2,292

21x return on investment

Time Savings

Manual expense tracking:

3 hours/month × $50/hour = $150/month

With Receipt.help:

20 minutes/month × $50/hour = $17/month

Time value saved:

$133/month ($1,596/year)

Billable hours recovered: 32 hours/year

That's almost a full work week

Why Not Use QuickBooks or Expensify?

Receipt.help ($9/mo)

  • Built for solopreneurs
  • Simple receipt scanning
  • Automatic mileage tracking
  • Export for accountant/TurboTax
  • No learning curve

QuickBooks ($30-$200/mo)

  • Full accounting system (overkill)
  • Complex invoicing features you don't need
  • Steep learning curve
  • Requires bookkeeping knowledge
  • Good if you need full books

Expensify ($5-$9/user/mo)

  • Built for corporate teams
  • Approval workflows (unnecessary)
  • Company card integration (don't need)
  • Good receipt scanning
  • Good if you hire employees

Bottom line:

If you're a solo freelancer who just needs to track expenses for taxes, Receipt.help gives you 80% of the features at 10% of the cost. If you need full accounting or have a team, use QuickBooks or Expensify.

Frequently Asked Questions

What expenses can I deduct as a freelancer?
Common deductions include home office expenses (rent, utilities, internet), software subscriptions, client meals (50% deductible), professional development, travel expenses, office supplies, and business mileage. Receipt.help automatically categorizes these for tax time.
How much can I save on taxes with proper expense tracking?
The average freelancer saves $3,000-$8,000 per year by properly tracking and categorizing business expenses. With Receipt.help at $9/month ($108/year), you typically save 28-74x the cost of the app.
Do I need to keep physical receipts?
No. The IRS accepts digital copies of receipts as long as they're legible and contain all required information (date, amount, merchant, items). Receipt.help stores high-quality scans that meet IRS requirements.
How does mileage tracking work for freelancers?
Receipt.help automatically tracks your business mileage using your phone's GPS. For 2025, you can deduct $0.70 per business mile. If you drive 500 miles/month for client meetings, that's $350/month ($4,200/year) in deductions.
Can I separate personal and business expenses?
Yes. Receipt.help lets you categorize each expense as business or personal. At tax time, you'll have a clean report of only business expenses for your accountant or tax software.
What if I have multiple freelance clients?
You can tag expenses by client or project in Receipt.help. This is useful for tracking project profitability and for reimbursable expenses.
Is Receipt.help good for quarterly estimated tax payments?
Absolutely. You can generate expense reports by quarter to know exactly how much you spent on business expenses, making estimated tax calculations much easier.
Do I need accounting knowledge to use Receipt.help?
No. Receipt.help automatically categorizes expenses into common tax categories (office supplies, meals, travel, etc.). You just scan receipts and track mileage - we handle the organization.

Start Tracking Expenses in 2 Minutes

30-day free trial. No credit card required. Cancel anytime. Most freelancers save $2,000-$5,000 per year in found tax deductions.

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Questions? Email hello@receipt.help