Facts
Expense product facts
Expense is a free expense tracker for people who file taxes as individuals: freelancers, the self-employed, side hustlers. A receipt comes in from a photo, a screenshot, a PDF or the mailbox itself; every expense lands under an IRS Schedule C category and in a report you name; drives are priced at the IRS rate for the date and type; and the year leaves as a PDF per report or a ZIP with everything. This page is the short version, in the shape a write-up can copy.
At a glance
| Fact | Expense |
|---|---|
| Name | Expense |
| URL | https://expense.labnotes.org |
| What it is | An expense tracker for individuals filing taxes, and the small teams around them |
| Price | Free. No card, no trial clock, no ads, no paid tier to be upgraded into |
| Early access | The first 100 accounts |
| Built for | Freelancers, self-employed people and side hustlers who file Schedule C |
| Platform | A web app; nothing to install, and it works down to a phone-sized screen |
| Schedule C categories | All 23 Part II expense lines, lines 8 to 27a, seeded in every new account |
| Receipt capture | Photo or file, screenshot, drag and drop, clipboard paste, PDF, forwarded email |
| Inbox import | Gmail and Fastmail: connect the mailbox and receipts in it import on their own |
| Mileage | Map the route; priced at the IRS rate for the drive's date and type |
| Bank reconciliation | Statement upload (PDF, CSV, QFX/OFX, Excel) matched against the expenses you logged |
| Exports | A PDF per report with the receipts attached, or a ZIP with the CSV and every image |
| AI assistants | MCP at https://expense.labnotes.org/mcp over Streamable HTTP with OAuth, no API keys; read-only WebMCP tools in Chrome |
| Insights | Ask about your spending in plain words; the answer is computed from your own expenses |
| Accounts | Multi-user: one account, several people, an invite code |
| Data | In your account only. No ads, no resale, export and leave anytime |
| Not built for | Corporate expense policies, approvals and reimbursements, or double-entry bookkeeping |
5 of 100 free spots claimed.
IRS Schedule C line items
Every new account starts with these 23 categories, in the order the form lists them, so a year's totals line up with your return without re-bucketing. The reference page has a plain-language note for each line, and mileage on line 9 is priced at the IRS rate for the drive's date and type.
- Line 8 Advertising
- Line 9 Car and truck expenses
- Line 10 Commissions and fees
- Line 11 Contract labor
- Line 12 Depletion
- Line 13 Depreciation and section 179 expense deduction
- Line 14 Employee benefit programs
- Line 15 Insurance (other than health)
- Line 16a Mortgage interest paid to banks, etc.
- Line 16b Other interest
- Line 17 Legal and professional services
- Line 18 Office expenses
- Line 19 Pension and profit-sharing plans
- Line 20a Rent or lease: vehicles, machinery, and equipment
- Line 20b Rent or lease: other business property
- Line 21 Repairs and maintenance
- Line 22 Supplies
- Line 23 Taxes and licenses
- Line 24a Travel
- Line 24b Meals and entertainment
- Line 25 Utilities
- Line 26 Wages
- Line 27a Other expenses
How a receipt gets in
Photo or file
Upload an image or a PDF, from a phone or from the desk. HEIC straight off an iPhone is fine.
Screenshot
A screenshot of an order confirmation counts as a receipt; it goes in like any other image.
Drag and drop
Drop images or PDFs anywhere on the expense list.
Paste
Copy a screenshot, press Cmd-V on the page.
Forwarded email
Forward the receipt email to your account's address. Only senders you approved get through, and the same email cannot be imported twice.
Connected mailbox
Connect Gmail or Fastmail and the receipts already in the inbox import on their own: merchant, amount and category filled in, nothing to forward. Most expense trackers import from Gmail only; Expense supports Fastmail natively.
What it costs
- Free. No card, no trial clock, no ads.
- Early access is capped at 100 accounts, and the home page shows how many are claimed.
- OCR, categorizing, mileage, reconciliation, exports and the MCP server are all in the free account. There is no paid tier above it.
- Your data stays in your account: export it and leave whenever you want.
Try it with one receipt.
Free, no card, and a Schedule C category list already waiting.