We repeatedly came across three receipt scanning software options that work for individuals, families, businesses and organizations. When you scan receipts, software like this will allow you to create digital images of them and use optical character recognition (OCR) to make the text from them editable and searchable in their systems, which in turn helps you:

• Save space
• Reduce clutter
• Reduce paper and ink usage
• Securely store your data so that it is clear and legible, easily retrievable, private and protected from loss
• Watch your finances in order to stay on budget
• Always have the receipt you need on hand to make a return
• Share your data safely with others as necessary
• Make tax time easier and more effective
• Maintain a more efficient workforce
• Save money in a variety of ways, almost certainly paying for itself many times over

But the different receipt scanning software providers accomplish all of this in somewhat different ways, each with its pros and cons.

Let’s take a look at each of these options so that you can consider which, if any, might best meet your needs. The information here is as provided by the companies about their products and services.

Neat

Neat offers a bundled scanning hardware/receipt scanning software integration with several options. They offer both desktop and mobile versions of their stylish scanner along with their proprietary “digital filing cabinet” software and you can get either bundle for Windows or Mac.

(Note: Links in this section will show you the products discussed on Amazon)

Their desktop scanner uses Automatic Document Feeder technology, featuring a special input tray, to carry out batch scanning. It can also do two-sided scanning in one pass.

Their mobile scanner is designed for very convenient portability. It weighs under a pound and requires only a USB cable for both data and power so you don’t need to carry batteries for it.

Neat also sells accessories like protective cases to protect your mobile scanner on the go and items to maintain your scanner in good working order.

You can also get Neat’s receipt scanning software on its own for use with other compatible scanners.

Once you scan your receipts using either their desktop or mobile scanner or your own compatible scanner, their software does two things:

• Saves an image of your receipt
• Extracts the text from your receipt using “Intelligent Text Recognition” technology to parse the data into its digital filing system, automatically placing each piece of information, such as the vendor, date, price, location of purchase, payment method and so on into the proper field.

With the images and data now securely in your digital filing cabinet, you can then:

• Modify the data or add any notes
• Assign tax categories and link tax-related information to receipts
• Use both simple and advanced search capabilities to find whatever you need
• Export data to Excel, PDF, Quicken, Quickbooks, Turbo Tax and other programs
• Create expense reports

In addition, Neat’s Mac versions of its receipts scanning software are designed to integrate seamlessly with Mac and its OS, allowing you to drag and drop information from within Neat, use Spotlight and move documents into Neat from drop down menus throughout the OS.

As a bonus, you can also scan – including batch scan if using their desktop scanner – and make editable and searchable any combination of other types of documents. Neat’s software will recognize which type of document is being scanned and respond appropriately.

Its software even includes a special module for digitizing, storing and using business cards, including compatibility with Outlook or vCards.

Neat is always updating and improving their receipt scanning software based on feedback. And they also offer online community and customer support if you have questions.

NeatDesk Desktop Scanner and Digital Filing System

OfficeDrop

If you want to scan your receipts directly from your scanner or mobile device to storage in the cloud that you can access from anywhere on multiple devices, OfficeDrop is an option you will want to consider.

OfficeDrop does not sell scanners. They just provide receipt scanning software that works with your own scanner or mobile device and an account where your data is stored for you.

When you sign up with OfficeDrop, you will get software that works with many types of scanners on both Windows and Mac and an OfficeDrop account.

• On Windows – OfficeDrop’s desktop software enables you to scan right from your scanner into your account without opening a web browser.
• On Mac – You can use their ScanDrop scanning software to scan directly into the cloud and it also integrates with Evernote, Google Docs, Dropbox and Gmail, in addition to your OfficeDrop account.
• On Your Mobile Device – You can use one of OfficeDrop’s apps which allow you to use your device’s camera to image your documents.

So you will scan your receipts with your own scanner or mobile device and OfficeDrop will help you align the scanned images.

The images will then be transmitted securely in encrypted form into your OfficeDrop account, transformed into searchable PDF’s and stored safely on their servers. OfficeDrop also boasts of several security measures they take to protect and ensure the privacy of your stored data.

OfficeDrop will also provide you with a dedicated email address so that you can email scanned images into the system.

Once uploaded, OfficeDrop’s OCR technology will digitize the text of your receipts.

You can then add any notes you wish to each document.

You can organize them in folders and add tags and labels that are all searchable.

Since your data is stored in the cloud, you will be able to easily access and work with it from anywhere with an Internet connection. And, in addition to helping you scan receipts with your mobile device, OfficeDrop’s apps allow you to work optimally with the data in your account from various mobile devices, as well.

OfficeDrop offers several free and paid plans based on options including your number of users, storage and file size limits, amount of pages you can upload and have OCR performed on each month and your support level.

Shoeboxed

If you want to avoid the hassle of scanning and uploading your receipts by yourself, Shoeboxed looks like a very interesting option.

They offer a service where they will do all of this for you. Here is how it works:

• You simply send them your documents by mail in special envelopes that they pay for and track.
• They will then scan these documents and enter the data in organized form into your online account for you.
• You can then have them send your receipts back to you in the mail or shred them, whichever you prefer.

You are also welcome to scan or image your receipts yourself and send the digital files to Shoeboxed electronically for entry into your account.

However you choose to go about it, you get the peace of mind of knowing not only that your documents are placed in your account, but that Shoeboxed’s staff will have verified that all of the data is entered correctly

You can then access the data in your account from anywhere you can get online.

• It is categorized and searchable.
• You can download reports, PDF’s and spreadsheets.
• You an import data into various financial programs like Quickbooks, Salesforce and others.

Choose the Right Receipt Scanning Software for You!

All of this description is just based on our study of available information about each of these companies. No matter which one you decide offers the best scanning software to meet your needs, receipt scanning software provides tremendous benefits. And with several options to choose from, you should certainly be able to find one that works for you.

Let’s take a look at 16 of the benefits that receipts scanning software can bring you.

1. Save Space

One of the main reasons people are drawn to digitizing their receipts with receipt scanning software is to get rid of paper clutter. This not only makes your area cleaner, but may allow you to maintain less or much smaller filing cabinets or other storage units.

2. Ensure Financial Data is Recorded Promptly Due to Multiple Convenient Input Options

As you know, when you fall behind on tracking your finances, the work pile progressively builds and it becomes more daunting to catch up. So it is wise to make sure your important data is accounted for on a consistent basis.

In light of this, it is a good thing that there are receipt scanning software solutions that can make inputting your data incredibly simple no matter where you are.

(Note: Links to Neat products will show you the relevant products on Amazon)

• At home or at the office – A variety of desktop scanners with a range of features can be used to input your data.
  • Neat’s NeatDesk system offers a desktop scanner with Automatic Document Feeder technology including a special input tray to support batch scanning so you can instantly scan even a large pile of receipts at once.
  • OfficeDrop offers tools that let you scan directly to cloud storage from your own compatible desktop scanner without even opening a web browser.
  • Shoeboxed offers a web-based uploader that you can use to submit receipts imaged with any scanner or imaging device.
• On the road – Various providers offer mobile scanners and apps that work with your own mobile devices so you can input your data from anywhere.
  • Neat offers a portable mobile scanner that weighs less than a pound and needs only a USB cord for both data transfer and power so no cumbersome batteries are required.
  • OfficeDrop provides apps that let you use your mobile device’s camera to scan information to be transformed into multi-page PDF’s on the go.
  • Shoeboxed offers an app for uploading images taken by your mobile device’s camera, as well.

  Options like this make it easy to keep track of travel expenses while still in the midst of your travels. You can even get it done while waiting at the airport.

• You can even outsource your receipt digitizing if you don’t want to bother with receipt scanning software yourself. With Shoeboxed, you can simply send your receipts to them and they will take on the rest of the labor to accurately get them into the system, ready for you to work with. You can either electronically send them images of the receipts that you’ve created or mail them the physical receipts using envelopes they pay for and track, after which they can return the documents to you or shred and recycle them as you wish.

What all this means is that no matter where you are, no matter what the time, you can input your receipts into your digital system in just seconds. So you never again have to forget to do it or lose a receipt before you get around to entering it.

3. Security

Some refer to a “digital filing cabinet” when describing the storage of your digitized receipts. These receipt scanning software options, by keeping your data in such a cabinet, offer security on a couple of levels.

• Privacy – When receipts are physically lying around, anybody could access them and their sensitive information. When you enter them into a digitized system, they are stored in a way where that information can be kept private.
  • With Neat, you can store them on your system where you can keep it safe.
  • With OfficeDrop, the entire upload process is encrypted and the company boasts of many security measures that they take to safeguard your stored data.
  • Shoboxed also offers encryption, monitoring and other strong security measures.
• Protection from Loss of Data – Once digitized, using backups properly, it is easy to ensure your receipts will not be lost, even in the event of a natural disaster such as a fire or flood. OfficeDrop stores your data in the cloud. Shoeboxed promises to do backups of your data for you so you don’t even have to worry about it yourself.

4. Clarity/Legibility

If you scan your new receipts consistently, you will always have crystal clear images of them long after paper receipts would have become crumpled, faded and nearly unreadable. Some receipt scanning software, like OfficeDrop’s, will help you align your images properly when you scan them in, as well, making it even easier to read them whenever you need to.

5. Make Tweaks or Comments on Any Receipt Easily with Editability

Once your information is in one of these systems, you can easily manually fix or modify anything you need to or add notes of any kind. With Neat, you can even drag and drop text from your scanned digital images.

6. Organization

Once uploaded, all your receipts are in one identifable place. Also, each system allows you to categorize and/or label them so you can easily sort in a number of ways when you want to find any particular receipt.

• In OfficeDrop, you can organize using folders.
• Neat is especially…well…neat…because its patented software uses “Intelligent Text Recognition” technology to automatically recognize various types of data on the receipt, such as the vendor, location of purchase, date, price and payment method and place each piece of information in the right field within the software so you can sort by any of them.

7. Find Receipts Easily with Searchability

Once your data is in any of these systems, you can use a search function to find whatever receipt you need in a flash.

• Neat has both simple and advanced search capabilities designed specifically for use with these types of documents.
• OfficeDrop lets you attach tags and labels to each document that you can then search by later.
• Shoeboxed also has searchability.

8. Access Your Data 24/7 from Anywhere on Almost Any Device

You can view or work with your files anytime you want from any location.

• With Neat, you can keep your data on a tiny flash drive that you can easily bring with you anywhere. Or you can put it on your network that you can reach while away from your home or office or on the road.
• OfficeDrop stores your data in the cloud and offers a variety of ways to access it on your computers or using special apps for your mobile devices.
• Shoeboxed stores in the cloud where you can access it, as well.

9. Share Data Simply and Safely

With your receipts digitized and stored, it is very easy to share them with partners or anyone you need to and to do so safely.

Any of the programs allow you to easily email data or images anywhere you desire.

OfficeDrop lets you grant access to particular files to whoever you wish and then monitor and revoke that access when you choose.

10. Work with your Data in Many Common Programs

• Neat’s software can export to Excel, PDF, Quicken, Quickbooks, Turbo Tax and more.
• Shoeboxed exports into Quickbooks, Salesforce, Evernote, Bill.com and more.
• On Mac, OfficeDrop will also integrate with Evernote, Google Docs, Dropbox and Gmail.

These are just examples and not even comprehensive lists of the programs and formats with which each system is compatible.

11. Create Reports

You can use your digitized data to create expense and other related reports in the different receipt scanning software.

12. Stay on Budget More Easily

In order to really stick to a budget, you need to track all of your expenses and other financial information. If doing so is a hassle, you may not consistently do it, leading you to miss your goals. When inputting and storing each receipt is as easy as these receipt scanning software systems make it, and you can access and work with them anytime from any place, you are far more likely to follow through with your financial plans.

13. Make Returning Your Purchases Easier

Part of staying on budget is making sure you return unwanted or defective items. But this requires having a receipt for each item you want to return. With these systems, you will always have the receipt you need available when you go to do a return.

14. Maintain a more Efficient Workforce

Having financial data so conveniently accessible and easy to work with means workers that rely on that data can better and more effectively carry out their jobs.

It also means that you either may not have to hire someone to do your bookkeeping or that whoever does it can do it while expending far less time and energy, freeing them to work part-time or spend more time on other important work.

15. Make Tax Time Easier and Less Expensive

A good receipt scanning software system will benefit you come tax time in a few ways:

• You can add tax information or assign tax categories to receipts when you scan them in, so when tax time comes, everything is prepared in a form you or your tax preparer can use.
• The best receipt scanner software systems, like Neat, can easily facilitate the creation of the reports you or your accountant will need to prepare for taxes and will even allow you to export the reports into the financial programs you use, such as Excel, Quicken, Quickbooks and Turbo Tax.
  This will save you time, and therefore money, if you do your own taxes. And if you have a tax preparer do them, it will take them less time and you may then receive a less costly bill.
• Having every expense well documented may also benefit you financially by ensuring that you receive all of the tax deductions for which you qualify.
• The scanned digital images themselves are IRS acceptable. So if the IRS ever asks to review any of your receipts, you will easily be able to find and provide them within seconds.

16. Eco-Friendly

Going paperless with your receipts, as well as possibly saving printing ink, may mean that receipt scanning software is better for the environment.

The Bottom Line: Simplify Your Life and Save Money at the Same Time

How often does an action both make your life much easier and save you money by doing it? Not often. But using receipt scanning software can do just that.

With batch scanning, mobile scanning, direct scanning to the cloud, integration with and exporting to many commonly used programs, easy report creation and so much more, the entire process can be extremely convenient.

And at the same time it offers:

• More space with less clutter
• Reduced paper and ink usage
• Protection of your sensitive data from prying eyes or loss
• Clear, legible, editable, organized and searchable records that you can access and share whenever, wherever and however you need
• Easier budgeting compliance
• Simpler purchase returns
• An easier, more straightforward tax process
• A more streamlined workforce in terms of activity and size

Efficiency is enhanced all around. And it is probably better for the environment, to boot.

Moreover, if you think about it, just about every benefit of receipt scanning software mentioned also custs costs and saves you money. And these are costs you save on not just once, but again and again for years to come. In the end, receipt scanning software pays for itself many times over.

Bonus: The Benefits Go Beyond Just Receipts

As if all of these benefits aren’t enough, consider that certain receipt scanning solutions will also bring you similar benefits in regards to other types of documents.

For instance, Neat has a special module in its digital filing software that stores business card images and data. So you scan the business cards and, just as when you scan receipts, software will intelligently extract the data and automatically organize it in the proper digital fields. You can then edit or add notes to the cards, search them to find what you need or even work with them in contact management programs like Outlook or in a vCard. You can also then sync them with your mobile device.

Neat will also allow you to scan in just about any other kind of document of any shape or size, including:

• Bills
• Statements
• Medical records
• Legal documents
• Insurance documents
• Product warranty documents
• Newspaper or magazine articles
• Personal or family records or documents

With Neat’s desktop scanner, you can even take advantage of its batch scanning technology to scan any combination of these in just one pass and the software will automatically recognize each document’s type and respond accordingly. Furthermore, with that scanner, you can scan up to fifty standard sized documents at once, even using two-sided scanning.

NeatDesk Desktop Scanner and Digital Filing System

And once uploaded, all of the data from these documents will also be editable and searchable. You can even link various related documents to make it easier still to find them when you need them.

Shoeboxed will also digitize other documents besides receipts, such as business cards, bills or just about any other document you want stored with them.

Receipt Scanning Software: A No Brainer

So whether for your own personal or family accounting or that of your business or organization, you can see that receipt scanning software can make life so much easier in so many ways, and that the best scanning software can actually pay for itself. That is why we highly recommend that you take advantage of this wonderful technology today!

What this means is that you render the paper receipts into quality digital images and/or turn the physical text printed on them into highly organized, categorized and searchable digital text that you can easily access, work with and share from just about anywhere, anytime.

If you want to scan receipts, software like this will be of great assistance. So we want to help you understand how receipt scanner software works so that you can decide what you think is the best scanning software for your purposes.

There are several aspects involved in the process of taking advantage of receipt scanning software. Let’s take a look at each of them.

Physically Scanning Your Receipts

The first step in using receipt scanning sofware is to transform your paper receipts into digital images. There are several options for how you can do this:

(Note: Links to Neat and other products on this page will let you see information about them on Amazon)

Desktop Scanners

Some receipt scanning software will allow you to use whichever desktop scanner you happen to have to input your receipts. Other systems, like the Neat system, can include their very own scanner which is designed specifically to work seamlessly with their own software in an integrated solution.

Neat’s desktop scanner is especially nice because it uses Automatic Document Feeder technology with a special input tray to allow you to do batch scanning of many documents at once. It even allows you to do two-sided scanning in one pass.

NeatDesk Desktop Scanner and Digital Filing System

Mobile Scanners

Neat offers an extremely lightweight, portable scanner. It requires only a USB cable both to send and transmit data and to receieve power so you don’t even have to carry batteries for it, making it even more convenient to bring on the road. You can use it to scan receipts just about anywhere. So, for example, it is very helpful for inputting receipts of your travel expenses as you obtain them, rather than having to wait until you return to your home or office, by which time you may have forgotten to do so or lost some of the receipts.

NeatReceipts Mobile Scanner and Digital Filing System

Neat also sells accessories like protective cases to keep your mobile scanner safe on the go.

There are also plenty of other small portable scanners on the market. So you can decide which you think is the best receipt scanner for your purposes.

Mobile Devices

Some receipt scanning software providers offer applications that enable you to initially digitize your receipts using a mobile device’s camera.

Outsourced Option

Shoeboxed is a service that offers the ability to simply mail them your receipts and have their staff scan them into their system for you. To facilitate the mailing, they will provide you with special envelopes that are prepaid and which they track. When they are done inputting your data, you can have them either return your physical receipts to you or shred them.

Using any combination of these options, you can quickly digitize even a large pile of old receipts and keep up with inputting any new receipts as you get them. From the point when you begin employing them, you will always have crystal clear images of your receipts that will last until long after the paper versions would have become unreadable.

Uploading Your Scanned Receipts into a Receipt Tracking System

Different receipts scanning software allows you to securely upload scans of your receipts in various ways:

• Neat comes with digital filing software that you put on your computer and, when you use it, the images that you scan are directly entered into the system.
• OfficeDrop receipt scanning software will take the images from your scanner and upload them directly to a cloud-based OfficeDrop account that you set up.
• Shoeboxed takes the scans that they have done for you and puts them in your online account. Shoeboxed also offers a web-based uploader so that, if you prefer, you can scan images of your receipts yourself and then transmit them so their staff can carry out the next steps for you.

Both OfficeDrop and Shoeboxed also provide you with a dedicated email address where you can send your scanned images for uploading into their systems.

Furthermore, both OfficeDrop and Shoeboxed offer encryption and other security features to protect your sensitive data during the uploading process.

Organization and Storage of Your Scanned Receipt Images and Their Data

Once your images are uploaded, different receipt scanning software will handle and/or transform your scanned images in different ways in order to store them in what is sometimes called a “digital filing cabinet” in which it will be very easy for you to find whatever information you need in the future.

• OfficeDrop, for instance, will immediately turn your image into a PDF file and store it on its cloud servers.
• Shoeboxed will store an image of the receipt along with the text form of its data, which has been extracted from the printed version, in your online tracking account.

Both of these services boast of the security of their data storage systems.

• Neat’s digital filing software will take your uploaded digitized receipt and do two things:
• Store an image of the receipt in the digital filing system
• Use its patented parsing technology to determine which text on the receipt represents the vendor, the date, the price and so on and automatically place each piece of information in the proper field in the system. This makes it simple to sort by any of these fields when you work with your information in the future.

All of these receipt scanning software options use what is called Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to turn the text in the scanned images of the receipts into actual digital text that you can work with as you wish.

All of them let you categorize receipts and use various types of tags and labels to make it easier to find particular documents later.

And all of them give you the peace of mind of knowing that your receipts are not lying around haphazardly where others might find them and view sensitive information and that your important financial data and documents need not be lost, even in the event of a disaster.

Working with Your Digital Financial Data

Once your data is organized and stored in a digital filing system, you can do just about anything you wish with it. You can:

• Access it from anywhere, anytime on multiple types of devices – Some of these companies offer apps specifically to allow you to optimally work with your data on particular devices
• Modify or add notes to any document
• Assign tax-related information to receipts – This will make tax time far easier and help ensure you get your maximum deductions and that you will instantly be able to produce any receipt necessary if the IRS comes calling for it
• Use a search function to find any image, document or information you want very easily – Neat, for instance, offers both simple and advanced search capabilities designed precisely for use with with these types of files. You’ll always be able to find the recipt you need quickly whenever you have to look up some information or make a return
• Safely and conveniently share specific images, documents or information with others as you wish
• Export your data for use in many programs and formats, such as Excel, PDF, Evernote, Google Docs, Dropbox, Gmail, Quicken, Quickbooks, Salesforce and Turbo Tax (depending upon which of these is compatible with the particular receipt scanning software you are using.)
• Create expense or other related reports – Some of the software, like Neat’s, will directly facilitate these operations

Beyond Receipts

Many of these receipt scanning software systems will carry out similar functions with business cards and even with all kinds of other documents.

Receipt Scanning Software: A Range of Uses, Diverse Options and Enormous Benefits

Whether you wish to use it to digitize and work with financial information for yourself or your family or for your organization or business, there is a receipt scanning software solution that will work well for you.

There are also solutions available for use with different operating systems, including ones that work very nicely with Windows and Mac, as well as with myriad mobile devices.

And each company offers a variety of products and plans, so there is sure to be one that can meet your needs, whatever they are.

As you can probably see and imagine, using receipt scanning software brings many benefits. It will save you time, energy and so much money that it will likely pay for itself many times over.

While there are dozens of different receipt scanning options available, many of them are complicated, expensive, or just plain confusing.

Here’s what to look for when choosing receipt scanning software to get organized:

• User-friendly – Great receipt software is easy to use and has an interface that allows you to hit the ground running. This means that from the first receipt you scan, you can easily see how your info is stored, organize and categorize each receipt, and pull up individual receipts by amount, date, or company.

• Powerful – The best receipt software will give you a powerful interface for scanning and storing receipts. You’ll have lots of storage space, enhanced security, and be able to scan/upload stacks of paper receipts quickly.

• Integrated – The receipt scanning software you choose should offer lots of different integrations. Once you scan and upload receipts, you’re going to need to extract the information from those receipts and use it to complete your taxes, create budgets, or track spending. Make sure the software you choose offers integrations with QuickBooks, Evernote, and all of your most-used apps.

• Flexible– There are many different ways to digitize receipts, so your receipt software should offer flexible scanning options. Whether you want to scan stacks of paper receipts using your scanner at home or quickly upload a receipt using your smartphone on the go, the software you choose should be able to do both.
  The Neat system is useful if you want to do the scanning yourself. But if you want more flexible receipt scanning, Shoeboxed is a great option because you can digitize your receipts from anywhere – at home, from your phone, or by outsourcing the job entirely using the Shoeboxed Magic Envelope. This option lets you dump all of your receipts into a big envelope, which gets mailed to Shoeboxed and scanned into your account by their team.

• Secure – In the age of identity theft, security is more important than ever in online applications. But it’s especially important to consider when you’re looking for the best receipt software. Since receipts contain personal information like your name, credit card number, and where you shop, it’s crucial to choose software with enhanced security to protect your sensitive information.

Once you have found receipt scanning software that is user-friendly, powerful, integrated, flexible, and secure, make sure the price is right. Choosing a subscription-based software solution is usually the most cost-effective way to go, because it lets you pay based on how many receipts you scan or how much storage you need. A receipt scanning service like Shoeboxed starts at just $9.95/month – not bad when you consider how much time, energy, and money gets wasted searching for lost receipts!

Armed with the right receipt software, you’ll be able to get organized and go paperless faster than you ever thought possible.

Creating a completely paperless workspace is a lot easier than you think.

What’s more, going paperless will save you money, help you stay organized, and increase your focus and productivity.

Here’s how to go paperless in just 3 easy steps:

Step One: Take Inventory

The first step to going paperless at home or at work is taking inventory of the paper clutter you’ve already accumulated.

Whether you have file cabinets that are bursting to the brim, or just a messy desk, your first job is to decide what needs to be kept and what can be recycled.

Sort all of your papers, files, receipts, and business cards into two piles: one for recycling and one for paperless processing.

Once you’re clear on what you need to keep, it’s time to move on to Step Two.

Step Two: Clear the Clutter

In Step One, you created a pile (or garbage bag-full) of documents that were important enough to keep.

But when you go paperless, the truth is that you won’t really “keep” any of your paper documents – at least not in hard copy form.

It’s possible to securely store important documents by converting them to digital documents instead. This will save you space while ensuring that your documents are never lost or damaged. When thinking about how to go paperless, digital documents are the answer!

You have many options for clearing paper clutter by digitizing your documents.

You can….

• scan everything and save it on your computer
• use a receipt scanning service
• snap photos of your documents with your smartphone

Whether you decide to use a service or do it yourself, make sure the documents you scan are organized, stored, and backed up in a secure cloud-based system like iCloud or Google Drive.

Once your paper documents have been scanned, organized, and stored, feel free to recycle everything and further reduce the burden of paper clutter.

Finally, keep in mind that the IRS accepts digital versions of receipts and other documents for tax purposes. Unless it’s an original birth certificate, a deed to a home, or a car title, almost all paper documents can and should be digitized.

Step Three: Create Paperless Systems

In Steps One and Two, you cleared paper clutter from your workspace or home.

But how to go paperless permanently and make sure the clutter doesn’t start to creep back into your life?

The answer lies in creating paperless systems.

Take a look at the systems you currently have in place (i.e. the systems that created the clutter in the first place).

What happens when you get a receipt, print a document, or receive mail?

Chances are you’ve been filing hard copies in a filing cabinet, stuffing receipts in envelopes, or simply tossing paper on your desk.

In order to prevent paper clutter permanently, create rules that you follow every time you find yourself holding a piece of paper.

For example…

• Snap a photo of a receipt as soon as you get it, then toss it before leaving the purchase location
• Set aside one hour on Fridays to scan all the business cards and bills you received that week
• Spend 15 minutes at the end of every workday digitizing the day’s documents

Also, don’t forget to reach out to all of your vendors and contractors and request digital statements instead of paper statements.

When considering going paperless, it’s crucial to dump the clutter you already have. But it’s even more important to keep clutter at bay by eliminating paper each and every day!

Well, the good news is that, if you’re in that situation now – even if you haven’t started tax preparation yet – it’s possible to finish the process quickly, easily and accurately.

And if you’re not currently in that situation, then the good news is that you never have to end up in it again.

So what’s the secret to swift, painless taxes?

Using a digital receipt scanning service like Shoeboxed to help you.

Forget hiring a Virtual Assistant or spending hours upon hours poring over deductions and write off’s.

With Shoeboxed, you can save hours of time on your taxes by letting their human verifiers scan, digitize, and organize your receipts for you.

Here’s how it works.

Step One: Scan Your Documents

Whether you have piles upon piles of paper receipts, or a single folder just for saving receipts for taxes, Shoeboxed will scan and digitize everything for you.

Magic Envelope

Use one (or five!) of Shoeboxed’s convenient Magic Envelopes to rid yourself of paper clutter in seconds. Simply toss everything into the envelope, drop the envelope in the nearest mailbox, and check your account a few days later.

Every single receipt, business card, bank statement, and tax-related document will be scanned and uploaded to your secure Shoeboxed account – all without you having to lift a finger!

Smartphone App

You can also use the Shoeboxed smartphone app to scan receipts right from your phone.

Open the app on your phone, snap a photo of your receipt, and Shoeboxed automatically populates your account with all pertinent information including the purchase amount, date, location, and tax category.

The smartphone app is a great option for staying organized throughout the year. Instead of letting paper clutter build up, simply scan your receipt the second you get it, then recycle it and go about your (paper-free) day!

Step Two: Organize Your Receipts

Once your receipts are digitized within your Shoeboxed account, double check to make sure they’re assigned to the proper tax deduction categories.

Shoeboxed technology does this automatically, i.e. assigning airport receipts to the “business travel” category, but it’s a good idea to double check for accuracy.

You should also assign tax categories to any receipts labeled “uncategorized” in your Shoeboxed account.

Step Three: Report Your Results

Here’s where the magic really happens. Once your receipts for taxes have been scanned and organized, use Shoeboxed’s one-click reporting tool to calculate your deductions instantaneously.

You can export itemized receipts with assigned categories to a variety of different accounting applications, including Quickbooks, Evernote, Outright, and more, or simply export everything to an Excel or Google spreadsheet.

The reporting option makes it easy to share your itemized receipt totals with your accounting professional, calculate the results, and instantly obtain write-off amounts for each business deduction category.

The next time you prepare to do your taxes, there’s no need to spend hours analyzing bank statements and shuffling through paper receipts.

Use Shoeboxed to scan, digitize, and organize your receipts to finish your taxes faster than you ever thought possible!

Why?

Because a clutter-filled workspace forces you to spend hours per week searching for lost items instead of actually running your business. While you’re digging through a pile of receipts wondering where the heck you put that expense report, the competition is busy wooing your customers and closing deals.

Not to mention the fact that clutter can sap your energy, making you feel tired and unmotivated, which in turn translates to missed business opportunities and sluggish sales.

Here are our top 7 ways to make getting rid of clutter quick, easy, and painless:

1. Skip the “marathon session”

You may be tempted to spend an entire Saturday cleaning out the office – don’t do it! Instead, spend 10 or 15 minutes at the end of each day de-cluttering. Accumulated clutter is a habit that needs to be broken, not a one-time problem that can be fixed in a single swipe. Small changes made consistently are much more likely to last long-term.

2. Go paperless

The bulk of your clutter is most likely caused by scraps of paper and hard copies left lying around your workspace. Use a receipt scanning software program like Shoeboxed to digitize all of your receipts, reports, bank statements and business cards.

3. Give everyone a “home”

If you have a scissors, a stapler, and a bottle of White-out, you should have a “home” for your scissors, stapler, and bottle of White-out. Each item, no matter how small, should have a place to live. At the end of each day, make sure that each item is returned to its proper home, ensuring you’ll return to a de-cluttered office the following day.

4. Ditch the filing cabinet

You probably don’t need to hang on to half of the old documents you’re currently storing in your office, even if they’re important financial statements. The IRS accepts digitized copies of almost everything nowadays, so unless it’s your will or the deed to your property, scan it and recycle it.

5. Work as a team

Getting rid of clutter has to be a team effort. If there is more than one person working in your office, make sure everyone is on board with the plan to get and stay clutter-free.

6. Prevent “trackback clutter”

As a small business owner, you and your team members most likely spend a fair amount of time outside the office. Whether you’re meeting with clients, visiting another job site, or traveling for business, coming and going from the office makes it difficult to prevent “trackback clutter” – the kind of clutter that is dragged in off the street like a stray cat.

Train yourself and your staff to scan their receipts and digitize their reports before they return to the office, preventing new clutter from entering your space every time someone enters the office.

Shoeboxed has a great receipt scanning app that lets you take a photo of a receipt right from your smartphone, and then beam that receipt to your Shoeboxed account. With apps like these, there is no reason for receipts, expense reports, or paper of any kind to collect in your workspace.

7. Hold a fire drill

Whenever needed, hold an emergency clutter fire drill in your office – have everyone stop what they’re doing and spend the next 5 to 10 minutes scanning, digitizing, recycling, and filing.

If you didn’t have the means to buy your own scanner and scan documents at home, you had to try and locate the nearest FedEx Office or print shop, drive there, and use your credit card to pay for each and every document you scanned.

Talk about the Stone Age!

So how do you scan a document in the 21st century? Like so many things in the digital age, the answer is whenever and wherever you want.

Scanners are now more lightweight and compact than ever. You can purchase a travel scanner to scan your documents on the go, scan documents in the comfort of your home or office, or even scan documents using your smartphone.

When using a scanner like the Fujitsu Scansnap, all you have to do is place your document (or stack of documents) into the scanner’s feed tray. The scanner will do the rest, scanning a page every 7.5 seconds.

What’s more, modern scanners create digitized documents at 600 DPI, ensuring the scanned copy will be crystal clear and easy to read.

Another great feature of modern-day document scanning is the ability to digitize your data. When you scan a document, the scanning software will capture the data from whatever hard copy document you’ve scanned. It will then present that data in a variety of searchable forms, making it easy to create reports using Microsoft Excel or export data to a PDF. You can then incorporate this data into expense reports or other tax documents, and easily share it with colleagues, co-workers, and your tax professional.

When you’re on the go, the easiest way to scan a document is to simply snap a photo of it with your smartphone. Shoeboxed is a company that offers receipt scanning software for your iPhone or Android via their smartphone app. Whenever you need to scan a receipt or document, simply open their app on your phone and snap a picture of it. The information from the document will be automatically scanned and synced within your secure online account. You can then recycle the hard copy and prevent paper clutter from collecting in your home, office or car.

Shoeboxed is also great if you have massive stacks of paper that need to be scanned. Instead of snapping a photo of each individual piece of paper, simply place the stack within one (or several) of their Magic Envelopes. Drop the envelope in the mail, and sit back and relax as the Shoeboxed team does the scanning for you. In this way, the answer to the question “How do you scan a document?” becomes “You don’t – you let someone else do it!”

Whether you’re scanning from home or snapping photos on the go, it’s never been easier to scan a document, go paperless, get organized and stay that way.

Just a few years ago, you would have to physically go into a FedEx Office store to scan documents, or invest in an expensive scanner and receipt scanning software just to turn piles of paper clutter into digital data.

While you can still use public workspaces like FedEx Office to scan documents, doing so requires you to journey to and from their store location each and every time you need something scanned. That’s a lot of work and a lot of wasted time!

Luckily, things have changed a lot in the past few years.

Now, it’s easier than ever to scan documents from the comfort of your own home or office. Scanners are more compact, more lightweight, and more powerful than ever. As more and more small business owners go paperless, scanners are becoming one of the most – if not the most – important office supplies to have on hand.

A mobile scanner like the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 weighs only about 12 ounces and scans everything from business cards to bank statements.

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 Mobile Scanner

When wondering “Where can I scan documents?”, the answer with ScanSnap is “anywhere you want!” Convert paper documents to PDF, Word, Excel, or JPG, connect directly to your laptop or mobile device, and organize full color scans by category or keyword.

Another great answer to the question “Where can I scan documents?” is “Nowhere!” That’s because there are receipt scanning services that will scan all of your documents for you, eliminating the need to buy a scanner at all.

With a service like the one available from Shoeboxed, you can dump all of your paper documents into a big envelope, drop the envelope in the mail, and watch as your account is magically populated with digital data. All of your documents will be scanned, digitized, categorized, and stored in a single secure account. This is a great option if you’re a busy small business owner and don’t have the time to spend hours scanning.

Shoeboxed also has an app for iOS and Android that functions in a similar way to the ScanSnap scanner. Instead of bringing a portable scanner along with you on business trips, you can use your smartphone as a scanner.

Open the Shoeboxed app on your phone and simply snap a picture of the receipt or document that needs to be scanned. The app will then automatically beam the document to your Shoeboxed account and sync the new data within your account.

There is no longer any need to leave your home, go back to the office, or try and find an open FedEx Office simply because you need to scan a few business cards. With the ScanSnap starting at just $199, and Shoeboxed accounts starting at under $10/month, it’s easy to start scanning documents (or not!) when it’s most convenient for you.

In the past few years, a variety of new software has been developed to help individuals and business owners track and manage their expenses using digital receipts and receipt scanning software. Here are our top 5 ways to use tech tools to track your spending:

1. Consider going paperless

The #1 reason people make mistakes tracking their expenses, or forget to include lucrative write-offs on their taxes, is because they’re still using hard copy methods. Paper receipts and reports get lost, misplaced, smudged, and torn. Not to mention the damage they do to the environment. Going paperless will make all of your expenses instantly searchable within your chosen software application.

2. Get receipt scanning software

Speaking of software, there are some amazing programs out there to help you track your business expenses quickly and easily. One of our favorites is a cloud-based software application called Shoeboxed.

Shoeboxed turns all of your paper clutter into digitized receipts, no matter how buried your office is! When you sign up, you’ll get a bunch of “Magic Envelopes” in the mail. Just toss your paper clutter, including receipts, bank statements, and whatever else you’ve got, into the envelopes. When Shoeboxed receives them, they will scan and digitize all of your receipts for you and upload the data to your secure account. You’ll then be able to get an instant snapshot of all your business expenses, assign them categories, and create one-click expenses reports.

3. Create one-click expense reports

Gone are the days of passing around a hard copy spreadsheet from employee to employee, or stapling receipt after receipt to a smudged piece of paper. Using your chosen receipt scanning software, you’ll be able to create an instant report of expenses based on category, date range, or whatever criteria you want.

4. Put your smartphone to work

Track expenses while you’re traveling for business, on your way to a meeting, or working abroad. The Shoeboxed app for iOS and Android lets you snap pictures of receipts and instantly upload them to your cloud-based account. This way, you won’t accumulate paper clutter in your wallet, purse, or car, and you’ll keep your account updated in real time.

5. Be consistent

The easiest way to keep track of your business expenses is by being consistent. Mobile receipt scanning software makes it easy to scan receipts and track expenses any time of day or night, wherever you happen to be. Since it only takes a second or two to scan a receipt, there’s no excuse to let the paper clutter build up!

Keeping track of your expenses and sharing them with your tax professional will ensure the highest refund come tax time. It will also save you hours of time throughout the year and prevent reports and receipts from getting lost in the shuffle.