# Gmail Receipt Tracker

> Use when the user needs to find, organize, categorize, or export receipts and business expenses from email — Gmail, Outlook, or any inbox. Triggers on "find my receipts", "build expense report", "categorize my purchases", "track business expenses", "I need receipts for tax", "search for Uber/AWS/Amazon receipts", "build a 1099 / Schedule C summary", "what did I spend on [category]". Also triggers when user mentions tax prep, audit prep, or quarterly expense review.

- Skill: `fengyiqicoder/gmail-receipt-tracker` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add fengyiqicoder/gmail-receipt-tracker`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/fengyiqicoder/gmail-receipt-tracker/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: fengyiqicoder (https://skillmd.com/u/fengyiqicoder)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/fengyiqicoder/gmail-receipt-tracker

---


# Gmail Receipt Tracker & Expense Categorizer

## Overview

Every SMB owner has thousands of receipts buried in email. Come tax time or expense report time, they spend hours searching, screenshotting, and entering data — and still miss deductions. This skill defines a **systematic 5-step process** to find, categorize, and export receipts so the user can hand a clean file to their bookkeeper / tax prep / accountant.

**Core principle**: Receipts that aren't categorized at the time of expense get lost. The win is a **searchable, categorized, exportable** dataset — not just a folder of PDFs.

## Workflow

### Step 1: Define the scope

Ask the user:
```
1. Time range? (Last month / quarter / year / specific dates)
2. Email accounts to search? (Personal Gmail, business Gmail, Outlook)
3. Purpose? (Tax prep / monthly expense report / audit / reimbursement)
4. Schedule C or 1120 / 1065? (different categorization)
5. Required output? (CSV for QuickBooks, PDF folder, Excel report)
```

### Step 2: Build the search query strategy

Don't search "receipt". That misses 80%. Use **vendor-specific** + **transaction-trigger words** searches.

See [references/search-queries.md](references/search-queries.md) for the full query library. Key patterns:

```
# By common trigger words
("your receipt" OR "order confirmation" OR "payment received" OR "invoice" OR "thank you for your purchase" OR "subscription renewed")

# By vendor (top SMB expense categories)
from:(uber OR lyft OR doordash) → Travel/Meals
from:(aws OR digitalocean OR vercel) → Software/Hosting
from:(amazon OR amazonbusiness) → Supplies (parse subject for category)
from:(stripe OR square) → Could be income OR expense — check direction
from:(linkedin OR facebook OR google) → Marketing/Ads
from:(quickbooks OR gusto OR rippling) → Software (subscription)
```

### Step 3: Extract structured data from each email

For each receipt, capture:

| Field | How to extract |
|-------|---------------|
| Date | Email date (or transaction date in body if different) |
| Vendor | From-field domain |
| Description | Subject line + first product line |
| Amount | Look for total; use largest dollar figure if multiple |
| Currency | Default USD; check for symbols/codes |
| Payment method | Last 4 of card if present |
| Category | Map vendor → category (see references) |
| Receipt link | Email permalink or attached PDF |

### Step 4: Categorize for tax purposes

Use the IRS Schedule C / 1120 categories. See [references/tax-categories.md](references/tax-categories.md) for the full vendor → category mapping.

**Top 8 SMB expense categories** (covers 80% of expenses):

1. **Office supplies & equipment** — Amazon, Staples, Best Buy (under $2,500)
2. **Software subscriptions** — SaaS tools
3. **Cloud hosting & infrastructure** — AWS, GCP, Vercel, etc.
4. **Travel** — Flights, hotels, rideshare
5. **Meals & entertainment** — Restaurants (50% deductible federally)
6. **Marketing & advertising** — Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads
7. **Professional services** — Lawyers, accountants, contractors
8. **Telecommunications** — Phone, internet (business portion)

### Step 5: Export the dataset

Default output: **CSV** that imports cleanly to QuickBooks or Xero.

```csv
date,vendor,description,amount,currency,category,payment_method,receipt_link,notes
2026-05-01,Uber,Trip to airport SFO→home,42.50,USD,Travel,Card-1234,gmail://thread/abc,Client meeting
2026-05-02,AWS,May usage,847.23,USD,Software/Hosting,Card-5678,gmail://thread/def,
```

Also offer:
- **PDF zip** — all receipt PDFs in one folder, named `YYYY-MM-DD_vendor_amount.pdf`
- **Tax summary**: subtotals by category, ready for tax filing

## What goes in "Personal" vs "Business"

Ask the user upfront. If they don't have a separate business card, surface every charge for them to flag.

**Rules of thumb (US — verify with their CPA):**
- Coffee with client = business meal
- Coffee alone = personal
- Home office utilities = % of square footage business use
- Vehicle = mileage log, NOT total payments
- Personal subscription used >50% for business = partial business

## Red flags to surface

1. **🚨 Vendor that looks unusual / not recognized** — could be fraud
2. **🚨 Duplicate charges** — same vendor, same amount, same day
3. **🚨 Subscription you forgot you had** — recurring charges with no recent login
4. **⚠️ Cash-equivalent transfers** (Venmo, Zelle to a person) — need separate accounting
5. **⚠️ Large round numbers** ($5,000 even) — verify they're not estimates
6. **⚠️ Foreign currency charges** — surface FX rate and amount in USD

## Common mistakes

| Mistake | Why it's bad | Right approach |
|---------|------------|----------------|
| Categorizing every Amazon order as "Office Supplies" | Some are personal, some are equipment >$2,500 (capitalized) | Parse subject for product type |
| Missing recurring subscriptions | They look like noise but add up | Group by `from:` and surface monthly recurring |
| Categorizing Uber as "Travel" always | Uber Eats is "Meals"; commuter rides not deductible | Read subject for "Eats" vs ride |
| Including refunds as expenses | Inflates spending | Search for "refund", "credit" — net them out |
| Not capturing the receipt itself | When IRS asks, summary isn't enough | Always include receipt link / PDF |

## Quarterly expense review ritual

Suggest the user run this skill **quarterly** (not just at tax time):

- **Q1**: Year-end + January catch-up. Most thorough.
- **Q2**: Mid-year tax estimate basis
- **Q3**: Mid-year cleanup
- **Q4**: Year-end prep — includes any straggler receipts

Annual all-at-once is **3-5x harder** than quarterly.

## What you don't do

- ❌ Don't make up amounts when you can't read the receipt — flag as "needs verification"
- ❌ Don't categorize personal expenses as business "to save tax" — fraud
- ❌ Don't promise tax deductibility — you're not their CPA
- ❌ Don't delete original emails — keep audit trail
- ❌ Don't ignore receipts <$1 — many small subscriptions add up