# Expense Claim

Use this guide when an employee needs to submit personal or company expenses for approval and reimbursement in NexWave.

The **Expense Claims** page lets employees review their claim history, attach receipt files, scan receipts into draft expense lines, enter manual GST details, send a claim for approval, and track whether approved claims are still waiting for reimbursement. Approvers can review and approve or reject claims from the same page when they have approval access.

## Before you start

Check these points before creating a claim:

* Your user is linked to an active **Employee** record.
* The employee record has a **Company** and an expense approver path.
* The **Expense Claim Type** options your team uses have default expense accounts for the company.
* The company has a payable account for employee reimbursements.
* The company has a default **Cost Center**.
* If your business records GST or other tax on expense claims, finance has confirmed which **Tax Account** to use.
* Receipt files are ready as PDF, JPG, JPEG, or PNG files.
* Receipt scanning is available if your site has file attachments and receipt OCR enabled. If not, you can still add expense lines manually.

Use **Expense Claim** for employee reimbursements. Do not use this workflow for supplier bills, purchase orders, or stock receipts.

## Step 1: Open Expense Claims

From the Desk search bar, search for **Expense Claims** and open the page.

The page starts with your claim dashboard. Use it to check:

* **Total Claimed**: all claims in your history.
* **Pending Approval**: claims sent but not yet approved or rejected.
* **Approved**: approved claim value.
* **Awaiting Reimbursement**: approved claims that are not fully reimbursed.
* **Monthly Trend** and **Claims by Type**: recent spend patterns.
* **Employee Advance Balance**: open advances that may be used against claims.

 ![Expense Claims dashboard with claim totals, monthly trend, claim types, and reimbursement cards](https://docs.nexwaveapp.com/api/files.get?sig=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJrZXkiOiJ1cGxvYWRzL2YxMTg5ZTEzLTdlMTQtNDA1ZC04MDI1LWMxZmI0Y2Y2MTg0ZC8zOWJjNTRkZC04MmU5LTRkOTktOGNmNC0wNmJiZjhmMWE5OGEvMDEtZXhwZW5zZS1jbGFpbXMtZGFzaGJvYXJkLnBuZyIsInR5cGUiOiJhdHRhY2htZW50IiwiaWF0IjoxNzkyNjIwOTAwLCJleHAiOjE3OTI3MDczMDB9.AZOUdokWRJmXcAx6jm4CBGnEY-fkPtLLOrXK9KJOR7U)

Scroll further down the page to review **My Claims**. If you are an approver, use **Approvals** to see claims waiting for your review.

## Step 2: Understand claim status

The list and detail views use the claim status to show what should happen next.

| Status | What it means | What to do next |
|--------|---------------|-----------------|
| **Draft** | The claim exists but has not completed the approval step. | Review the lines and send it for approval if it is ready. |
| **Submitted** | The claim has been submitted but the approval decision is not complete yet. | Wait for the approver, or open the claim if you are the approver. |
| **Approved** | The claim has been approved. | Finance can reimburse it. |
| **Unpaid** | The claim is approved, but reimbursement is still outstanding. | Finance should record the reimbursement payment when it is paid. |
| **Paid** | The approved claim has been reimbursed. | No further reimbursement action is needed. |
| **Rejected** | The approver rejected the claim. | Read the rejection reason and create a corrected claim if needed. |
| **Cancelled** | The claim was cancelled. | Create a new claim if the expense still needs to be claimed. |

The **Total** shown in claim lists uses the original claimed gross value while a claim is still draft, submitted, or rejected. Once a claim is approved, the list shows the approved payable value.

## Step 3: Start a new claim

Click **New Claim**.

In **Claim Details**, check the employee and company shown on the form, then complete:

| Field | What to check |
|-------|---------------|
| **Posting Date** | The date the claim should be recorded. |
| **Approver** | The person who should approve the claim. |
| **Payable Account** | The account used for employee reimbursement. Use the company default unless your finance team tells you otherwise. |
| **Cost Center** | The business area that should carry the expense. |

If any of these defaults look wrong, stop and ask your administrator to check the employee, company, approver, and expense claim setup before submitting.

## Step 4: Attach receipts

In **Receipts**, drag receipt files into the upload area or click **Attach**.

After the files upload, click **Scan (OCR)** if scanning is enabled. NexWave reads the receipt files and prepares draft expense lines where it can identify dates, merchants, expense types, amounts, and tax values.

If **Scan (OCR)** is disabled, or if a receipt is too unclear to scan, click **Add manually** in **Expenses** and enter the line yourself.

 ![New Expense Claim receipt upload area, OCR scan action, manual expense line action, notes, and Send for Approval button](https://docs.nexwaveapp.com/api/files.get?sig=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJrZXkiOiJ1cGxvYWRzL2YxMTg5ZTEzLTdlMTQtNDA1ZC04MDI1LWMxZmI0Y2Y2MTg0ZC8zMTMxMmVmZi1mOTk5LTRjN2YtYjNhMi0zY2MxMWU0MDNiYjIvMDItbmV3LWV4cGVuc2UtY2xhaW0tcmVjZWlwdHMtYW5kLWxpbmVzLnBuZyIsInR5cGUiOiJhdHRhY2htZW50IiwiaWF0IjoxNzkyNjIwOTAwLCJleHAiOjE3OTI3MDczMDB9.8uLsMrfHnjbFpjKiKoBmKUt4_vme2r98Y1l7dAn22ws)

If a file is skipped, check that it is a PDF, JPG, JPEG, or PNG file and attach it again. Keep the original receipt available until the claim is approved and reimbursed.

## Step 5: Review expense lines

Review every line before sending the claim for approval.

For each line, check:

| Field | What to check |
|-------|---------------|
| **Date** | The receipt or expense date. |
| **Expense Type** | The correct policy category, such as travel, meals, parking, or office supplies. |
| **Amount** | For normal GST-inclusive receipts, enter the receipt total including GST. If finance tells you to enter tax separately from the net amount, follow their policy. |
| **Tax** | The GST or tax amount from the receipt, if your company records tax on expense claims. |
| **Tax Account** | The tax account your finance team uses for employee expense claims. Leave as **No Tax** if the expense has no tax line. |
| **Cost Center** | The business area that should carry the expense. |
| **Project** | The project, if your company tracks this expense by project. |
| **Description** | A clear description your approver and finance team can understand later. |

For scanned lines, treat the OCR output as a draft. Correct the date, category, amount, tax, tax account, cost centre, project, and description if the receipt was read incorrectly.

### GST and tax review

Use the tax fields only when the receipt has a real tax amount that your finance team wants recorded on the claim.

For a normal GST-inclusive receipt:


1. Enter the receipt total in **Amount**.
2. Enter the GST value in **Tax**.
3. Select the correct **Tax Account**.
4. Review **Claim Total** on the claim detail after sending.

When **Tax** and **Tax Account** are both present, NexWave records the tax line and keeps it visible on the claim detail for approvers and finance. If either field is missing, the line is treated as **No Tax**.

If the receipt has no GST or the tax is not claimable, leave **Tax** blank and keep **Tax Account** as **No Tax**.

## Step 6: Add notes for the approver

Use **Notes** for information the approver needs, such as:

* why the expense was incurred;
* which trip, job, or customer activity it relates to;
* whether the receipt includes both personal and business items;
* whether a tax amount was adjusted;
* whether an employee advance should be considered.

Keep the note short but specific enough that the approver does not need to ask for the same context again.

## Step 7: Send for approval

Click **Send for Approval**.

NexWave creates the **Expense Claim** and keeps the receipt attachments with the claim. The claim then appears in **My Claims** with its approval status.

After sending, check:

* the claim appears in your list;
* the total matches the receipts you intended to claim;
* the tax total matches the tax values you entered;
* the approval status is pending, submitted, or draft according to your workflow;
* the receipt attachments are visible on the claim.

## Step 8: Review the claim detail

Open the claim from **My Claims** or **Approvals**.

The claim detail shows:

* **Status**: the current approval or payment state.
* **Posting Date**: the accounting date for the claim.
* **Subtotal**: the expense value before the separate tax line.
* **Tax**: the tax total, if the claim has tax rows.
* **Claim Total**: the payable total for the claim.
* **Sanctioned**: the approved amount after approval.

If the claim includes tax, the **Tax Account**, **Description**, **Cost Center**, and **Tax** rows appear below the expense lines. Review these before approving or paying the claim.

## Step 9: Approve or reject a claim

If you approve expenses, open **Expense Claims** and select **Approvals**.

Open each claim and review:

* the employee and company;
* receipt attachments;
* each **Expense Type**, **Date**, **Amount**, **Tax**, **Tax Account**, and **Cost Center**;
* the total claim amount;
* notes from the employee;
* whether the claim follows your company policy.

Click the available approval action if the claim is correct.

Use the rejection action if the employee needs to correct or resubmit it. A rejection reason is required. Write a short reason that tells the employee what to change, such as missing receipt detail, wrong expense type, or unclear business purpose.

Approvers cannot approve their own claims from this page.

## Step 10: Track reimbursement

Approved claims are not always paid immediately. Use **Awaiting Reimbursement** on the dashboard to see approved claims that still have an unpaid balance.

Finance normally completes reimbursement through the payment workflow. Once the reimbursement is recorded, the claim status and the awaiting reimbursement amount update.

If you have an open employee advance, check **Employee Advance Balance** before creating a new claim. Your company may require you to use the advance balance before requesting another reimbursement.

## Troubleshooting

| Issue | What to check |
|-------|---------------|
| **Expense Claims** does not load | Confirm your user is linked to an active **Employee** record and has access to expense claims. |
| No approver is available | Ask your administrator to check the employee or department expense approver setup. |
| **Scan (OCR)** is unavailable | Add the line manually, or ask your administrator to check whether file attachments and receipt scanning are enabled. |
| A receipt file is skipped | Use PDF, JPG, JPEG, or PNG. If the file type is correct, check the file is not corrupt and attach it again. |
| The scanned details are wrong | Correct the line manually before sending for approval. OCR should reduce typing, not replace review. |
| An **Expense Type** cannot be selected or submitted | Ask finance to confirm the expense type has a default expense account for your company. |
| The tax amount looks wrong | Check whether the receipt total includes tax, whether the **Tax** value matches the receipt, and whether the correct **Tax Account** is selected. |
| A tax amount disappeared from the claim | Check that both **Tax** and **Tax Account** were entered before sending. A line without both fields is treated as **No Tax**. |
| **Claim Total** is not the same as **Amount** | If tax is recorded separately, **Subtotal**, **Tax**, and **Claim Total** are shown separately on the detail view. Review all three values. |
| You cannot approve a claim | You must be the selected approver, have submit access for expense claims, and the claim must still be waiting for approval. |
| You cannot reject a claim | Add a rejection reason before using the rejection action. |
| The claim is approved but unpaid | Check **Awaiting Reimbursement**. Finance still needs to record the reimbursement payment. |
| A rejected claim shows its original total | Rejected rows keep the claimed gross value so the employee and approver can still see what was requested. |
| A paid claim still appears in **Awaiting Reimbursement** | Ask finance to check that the reimbursement payment is allocated to the expense claim. |

## Related documentation

* [HR](/doc/426a0286-4766-4535-8b31-163fd2c20e0b): employee records, leave, attendance, and expense claim context.
* [NexWave AI Assistant](/doc/4f0bb474-002d-4863-a4ab-45f7094a3a8e): use attachments and confirmed actions for supplier bills and draft expense claims.
* [Create and Enforce a Budget](/doc/2d0d3f93-67c4-467a-afb1-499cd995463d): understand how approved expenses can affect budget controls.
* [NexWave Role Catalogue](/doc/0f187aaa-8901-4c08-8d99-8ab9cb86090c): review common roles for employees, approvers, HR, and finance users.