Cover your team's out-of-pocket costs with Tide Expense Claims

With Tide Expense Claims your team can snap and share receipts for anything they have paid for themselves. Admins can then review and pay them back in just a few taps.

The best part? It’s completely free for all Tide members.

This guide shows you how to:

🔗 Set up Expense Claims

🔗 Submit an expense claim

🔗 Approve expense claims

🔗 Track claim status

Here’s what Expense Claims covers

Business travel

Client lunches

Office supplies

Emergency purchases

Software subscriptions

Other business expenses

Claims made easy

Step-by-step guide to how claims work

Team members pay out-of-pocket, upload a receipt, and submit from the Tide app

Admins review the claim and receipt before approving

Admins simply click 'Approve' and go to the Pay screen to send an instant bank transfer

Team members and admins can see the latest status of every claim

Admins can categorise reimbursements, add VAT, and export data

Set up and approve claims

Admins, here's what you need to do:

Step 1: Invite your team to start submitting

Tap the profile icon in the top left corner of the app

Tap Profile and Settings > Manage Team > select your Team Member

Tap Send a new Tide invite > Send invite

Once they’ve accepted your invite, go to Manage Team > select Team Access > choose a role from the list

Find out more about managing your team access here.

Reimburse team members who don't have a Tide account

Send them an invitation link to download the Tide app

Your team members complete a basic profile setup – adding their bank account details

Once done, they'll be able to submit expense claims and receive reimbursements

Step 2: Review claims

Admins can review every claim alongside the uploaded receipt before approving a reimbursement.

Tap Admin > select Expense Claims

Review all In Progress and Completed claims

Click on specific claims to view full details and receipts

Tap Approve to change its status to Awaiting Payment or Decline to reject it

Step 3: Reimburse a team member

Tap Pay to complete the transfer directly from your business account to the payee's bank account, which will be pre-populated

Toggle Mark as Paid if you have settled the reimbursement through another method (like cash or added to their next payslip)

Your Expense Claims categorisation

You can download a CSV file containing your expense claims and import it into your accounting software.

The category you'll see on the claim record (in Expense Claims or in your CSV file) is set at submission. It cannot be changed afterwards.

Here is how you can manage it, if you used:

Pay Now – transaction is automatically categorised for VAT. To change this category, you will need to be an admin or accountant. Tap Tide Accounting > Bookkeeping Score

Mark as Paid – to update the category, you will need to make the change in whatever system recorded the original payment

Submit expense claims

Team members, here's what you'll need to do

Open your Tide app using the link provided in your team invitation email

Tap Pay > click on Expense Claims

Select Add Receipt to take a photo or Add Expense and upload your receipt (as a photo or PDF file)

Complete the submission form

Enter your personal bank details (Sort Code and Account Number)

Tap Submit Expense

Track your reimbursement

You can view the progress of your active claims at any time:

Tap Pay > select Expense Claims

Select your claim to see its status under In Progress or Complete

Not seeing your expense claims?

Ensure you’re using the latest version of the Tide app

Accept your team invitation and log into the app. If you haven't received an invitation yet, ask your admin to invite you via Team Management

Use a mobile device

If the tool is still missing, reply to this message

Struggling to upload a receipt or invoice

If you can access the tool but can't upload your documents, ensure you:

Upload a JPG, PNG, PDF, or HEIC image, that is 5MB or less

Attach a maximum of 3 images per claim

Use the latest version of the Tide app

If you've checked the above and are still running into issues, tap Support and send us a screenshot of the error you're seeing.

Missing a payment?

If you are a team member

This is for when the claim is approved but you haven't received your reimbursement. Go to Expense Claims and check its status. If it's:

Approved this means your admin hasn't finalised the payment

Paid, allow for some processing time

When the claim is declined

Declined claims are final and we can't override them. If your admin included a reason for the decision, you can view it in Expense Claims.

If you believe this was in error, we recommend that you:

Contact your admin

Submit a new claim with updated details

If you are an admin

Ensure you finalised the payment – open the approved claim and select Pay to start

Check for a failed payment – check to see you have sufficient balance and that the claimant's bank details are correct

Checked the above, yet the reimbursement is still missing? Tap Support and send the claim details (date, amount, and claimant name).