Expense cards : what you need to know

Running a business involves a whole range of expenses which have to be tracked, recorded and reported. When a business has multiple employees, these expenses can quickly add up and become difficult to keep track of. In the past, staff travelling on business would often pay the costs of their travel, meals and accommodation out of their own pocket and claim back expenses from their employers by filing an expenses sheet. HR would then go through each receipt (when the employee remembered to keep it), approve the expense or not, and then reimburse the employee. A lot of time and energy to manage a simple transaction.

Nowadays, many businesses issue their staff with expense cards that allow them to pay for expenses without ending up out of pocket. Convenient and easy to use, these cards make tracking and reporting on business expenses easier than ever. Mooncard offers innovative, cutting-edge solutions for employers and employees alike.

What is a Mooncard expense card?

With a Mooncard expense card, you can cut out all the hassle of keeping receipts and filing expense claims. When a transaction is made, an expense report is automatically created and filled in. The Mooncard expense card auto-completes all the data needed for your company’s accounting records. All relevant information – the date, amount, VAT number, place – is entered automatically.

Let’s take an example. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tania has been working from home as a website designer for a major IT firm. Today, she has to travel away from her home office to meet with a potential new client. She walks to the station and takes a train, swiping the transaction with her Mooncard expense card. At lunchtime, she offers to take the client out to a local restaurant while they finish up their discussions. She uses her contactless card to pay for her and the client’s meals and heads back to the station. On the train, she grabs a coffee but pays in cash.

In terms of her expenses that day, Mooncard enters all the information about Tania’s train journey, including the route, time, price and date. Because there is no VAT on UK train tickets, there is no VAT information to record.

When it comes to lunchtime, Mooncard again enters all the relevant information about the restaurant, the price and this time the VAT information. The only thing that Tania has left to do is to take a photo of the receipt for the coffee she purchased using her own money, which she uploads to the Mooncard app – again all the relevant information is tracked and a copy of the photo is archived for future reference.

One of the great advantages of a Mooncard expense card is that Tania’s employer can track her spending in real time. No more waiting for the end of the month for bank or credit card statements or chasing up Tania who has gained a reputation for being consistently late in filing her expense claims!

By using a Mooncard expense card, you can get a snapshot of exactly where your business expenditure is going, freeing you up to ensure that your expense policy is being implemented appropriately.

Expenses cards and self-employed workers

A Mooncard expense card is also a great opportunity for self-employed workers to keep track of their professional expenses and avoid confusing personal and professional expenditures. Imagine a self-employed painter and decorator who needs to buy a new set of overalls. Unlike an employee who may have a clothing allowance to cover the costs of such expenses, a self-employed worker can use their expenses card to make the transaction.

Rather than paying out of their own pocket and later trying to sort through their bank statements trying to remember whether it was a set of overalls or a new T-shirt that they bought, their professional expenses are kept separated.

It couldn’t be easier for them to maintain control over their expenses!

Added benefits of a Mooncard expenses card

Your Mooncard expenses card is automatically linked to your 100% online account management application, which enables you to access, read and track the transactions your team makes in real-time. In the event of a problem, you can also deactivate or block a Mooncard expenses card in real time free of charge.

An expense card also comes in handy when it comes to expenses that are more significant than a cup of coffee or a train ticket. When an employee relocates, for example, you can grant them up to £8,000 in relocation expenses, which you can then deduct from your taxable profit. Keeping track of the costs of removal firms, transport and estate agent’s fees can become a significant task. With a prepaid Mooncard expenses card, you can set a spending limit and ensure that your employee stays within their budget.

Conclusions

A Mooncard expense card is one way of streamlining your business expenses, freeing you up to spend more of your valuable time on steering your company towards success. No more chasing employees for paper receipts or going over extravagant expense claims at the end of the month. With a real-time overview of your employees’ spending and the ability to drill down into exactly where your company’s resources are going, you can take more informed decisions about the future of your business.

Find out more about how a Mooncard corporate card can lighten your load and turn expense tracking into an opportunity rather than a chore. Book a no-obligation demonstration today!