How CPA firms request a receipt from clients
By Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak · Published
In short
Ask for the receipts behind the business expenses the books cannot explain on their own: equipment and other large purchases, meals and travel, and bank or card charges with no clear vendor. Send the owner a list of the charges you need, and ask for the itemized receipt or invoice, not the card slip, with the business purpose noted for meals and travel.
Why CPA firms need a receipt
A deduction on the business return stands on records that show what was bought, when, for how much and why. Equipment receipts set the placed-in-service date and let you choose between expensing and depreciating the purchase. Meals need the attendees and purpose; travel needs dates and destination. At year-end close, receipts also let you reclassify charges sitting in an uncategorized account or booked to the owner.
What exactly to ask for
Receipts or vendor invoices for the year’s equipment and other capital purchases, for meals and travel, and for the specific transactions you flagged during the bank and card review. Give the owner a list with the date, amount and payee of each charge, so they send what you need instead of a box of everything.
What to check when it arrives
- The receipt is itemized and in the business’s name or paid from a business account.
- Equipment receipts show the delivery or installation date, which drives depreciation.
- Meal and travel receipts carry a note of who attended or the business reason for the trip.
Email to send your client
Replace the bracketed parts. The same text fits in the message of a DokuTrak request (up to 1,000 characters).
Subject: A few receipts I need for the books
Hi [Client name],
I am nearly done reviewing the business’s bank and card activity, and a few charges need a receipt before I can classify them. My list is attached, with the date, amount and vendor of each one.
For each, please send the itemized receipt or invoice, not the card slip. For meals and travel, add a line on who was there or what the trip was for. For equipment, the date it was delivered or set up helps too.
Photos from your phone are fine as long as the totals are readable. Could you send them by [date]? If a receipt is lost, tell me which one; a vendor can often resend a copy.
Thank you, [Your name]
Ask once. DokuTrak does the chasing.
- Your client uploads from one link, with no account and no password.
- Reminders go out on a schedule, by default 2, 5, 10 and 14 days after the request, until the file arrives.
- With AI review switched on in your workspace (it is off by default), each upload gets a first pass that flags a file that is not a receipt or an unreadable or blurry scan. It says so when it is not sure.
- You accept every file or mark it for re-upload, and your client gets the note by email. The AI never accepts a file.