Expense Categories List
How the Expense Categories list works, what the system rows mean, and where categories are used later.
Open Settings > Expense Categories when you want to control the labels used for expenses, scheduled transactions, and automatic payment-fee entries. This is the master list Work Planner looks to when a later screen asks you to choose an expense category.
What You See First
- Search expense categories: Searches by category name.
- Filters: Only there when you have more than one business selected. The funnel button beside the search slides the Filters panel out from the right, where Business narrows the list to one or more of them. The ones you choose show as a chip beside the search, such as Business: Shine Ltd, with an × to take it off.
- New Expense Category: Opens the create popup from the list header.
- System categories first: When you first land on the page without searching or manually sorting, Work Planner puts protected system categories at the top.
Columns in the List
- Name: The label staff will choose later when recording or reviewing an expense.
- Color: The saved hex colour for that category, shown as a swatch beside its code.
- Type: Shows System for protected categories that Work Planner manages for you. Custom rows show a dash here.
- Created: The date the category record was added.
- Actions: Custom rows show a delete button. System rows do not.
Working From a Row
- Click a custom row: Opens the details popup in read-only mode.
- System rows: These are protected. They do not open the same edit flow from the list, and they cannot be deleted.
- Delete expense category: Custom rows can be deleted after you confirm the warning popup, from the bin on the row or from Delete expense category in the details popup.
- Clear all: At the foot of the Filters panel when a business filter is active. It resets the list back to all available businesses.
What Changes Elsewhere
Categories created here appear later in expense forms, scheduled-transaction forms, ledger filtering, and any automatic expense flows that rely on a category record. That is why the protected system rows matter: they support built-in accounting behaviour such as payment-fee handling. SMS Credits is one too: the SMS credits you buy from Work Planner go into your expenses under it, so it appears the first time you buy some. Its tax box starts as Phone, fax, stationery and other office costs.
For a sole trader or partnership, each category also goes in one of HMRC's boxes for the Self Assessment return, such as Car, van and travel expenses. Choose it as the category's Tax box when you add or edit it, or for all your categories at once under Expense categories in Settings > Accounts & tax. System categories can't be opened from this list, so choose theirs in Accounts & tax. Until a category has a box, its expenses are under Other business expenses on the Income Tax page.
Related articles
- Creating an Expense Category: The next step when the category you need does not exist yet.
- Expense Category Details: Shows what you can review after opening a custom row.
- Adding an Expense: Where these categories are offered day to day, as What for.