Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense automates expense reporting, approvals, and reimbursements. Create individual expenses, group them into reports, and track employee spending with policy compliance.

Multi-Organization

Many Zoho accounts have multiple organizations. Call the list-organizations tool first to get the organization_id, then pass it to every subsequent call. Single-org accounts work without it, but multi-org accounts fail without it.

Data Model

• Expenses — individual expense line items with amount, date, category, merchant, and optional project/customer association. Can exist standalone or be attached to an expense report.
• Expense Reports — employee submissions grouping individual expenses for review and approval.
• Expense Categories — classification buckets (Travel, Meals, Office Supplies) for categorizing line items.
• Currencies — supported ISO codes and exchange rates for multi-currency reporting.
• Taxes — tax rate configurations applied to expense amounts.
• Customers — clients whose expenses can be tracked for billing purposes.
• Projects — project-level expense tracking for budget allocation.
• Trips — business travel records with destinations, dates, and associated expenses.
• Users — team members with roles and approval hierarchies (read-only).

Workflow Patterns

1. Quick expense entry: create an individual expense with amount, date, and merchant → optionally attach to a report later.
2. Full expense submission: create expense report → create individual expenses with the report_id → submit report for approval.
3. Review and update: list expenses → get expense details → update amount, category, or merchant as needed.
4. Track by project: list projects → create expenses with project_id for budget tracking.
5. Business travel: list trips → view trip-associated expenses and per-diem details.
6. Review categories: list expense categories to understand the classification scheme before creating expenses.

Important Constraints

• Expenses can exist standalone: Individual expenses do not require a report — they can be created independently and attached to a report later via the report_id field.
• Only unreported/unsubmitted expenses can be modified: Once attached to a submitted report, expenses are locked.
• Only unsubmitted reports can be modified: Once submitted for approval, reports are locked.
• Trips may require paid plans: Some trip features are only available on paid Zoho Expense plans.