SettingsExpense Categories
Creating an Expense Category
How to create a new expense category, what each field does, and where that category shows up later.
From Settings > Expense Categories, click New Expense Category to open the create popup. This is the flow to use when the default list does not already contain the label your accounts team needs. In multi-business setups, the popup opens on a Business tab first and then moves into Expense Category Information.
Expense Category Information
- Name: This is the label your team will see later on expense and scheduled-transaction forms. Use a name that makes sense in bookkeeping, such as Fuel, Supplies, or Bank Charges.
- Color: The colour is used for quick recognition in the category list and related selectors. The popup uses a colour picker, and Work Planner expects a full hex colour such as #3B82F6.
- Tax box: The box on your Self Assessment return the category's expenses add up in, such as Car, van and travel expenses for fuel. It starts on Not chosen yet. As the (i) beside it says: The box on your Self Assessment return its expenses add up in. Without one, they go under Other business expenses.
- Business context: In multi-business setups, create the category from the correct business context. The category belongs to that business, not every business on the account.
When to Leave a Field Alone
- Name: Keep it short and stable. If the category will be used often, choose wording that still makes sense months later in reports and filters.
- Color: It is fine to leave the default blue-style colour if you do not need special visual grouping. Change it only when colour-coding genuinely helps your team scan the list faster.
- Tax box: Leave it on Not chosen yet if you're not sure which box fits, and ask your accountant. You can choose it later, on the category or in Settings > Accounts & tax. A limited company can leave it, as its accounts don't use these boxes.
What Happens After Save
- Back on the list: The new category appears in Settings > Expense Categories and can be opened from there for review or editing.
- Accounts screens: Expense entry and scheduled-transaction entry can now pick this category.
- Filters and reporting: Anywhere Work Planner groups or filters by expense category can start using the new label once records are linked to it.
- Income Tax figures: Its expenses add up in its tax box on the Income Tax page and in your quarterly updates, or under Other business expenses until it has one.
Related articles
- Expense Categories List: Useful if you want the bigger picture of how the full list behaves.
- Editing an Expense Category: The next step if the category already exists and only needs changing.
- Adding an Expense: Where the new category is offered, as What for.