Autotask Expenses

Autotask Expense Report Management

Overview

Expense reports track out-of-pocket costs incurred by technicians and staff during service delivery. Unlike time entries (which track labor hours), expense reports capture material costs like mileage, meals, equipment purchases, and travel expenses. Each report contains one or more expense items, and follows an approval workflow before reimbursement or client billing.

Anti-triggers

• A cost charged to the customer on a ticket — that is a ticket charge, a different entity on a different approval path; use autotask-ticket-notes-attachments.
• Labour hours rather than out-of-pocket cost — use autotask-time-entries.
• Whether an approved expense reached an invoice — use autotask-billing.

Key Concepts

Expense Report vs Expense Item

Approval Status Codes

Approval Workflow

NEW (1) ──────────> SUBMITTED (2) ──────────> IN REVIEW (6)
                                                   │
                                       ┌───────────┴───────────┐
                                       ▼                       ▼
                                 APPROVED (3)            REJECTED (5)
                                       │                       │
                                       ▼                       ▼
                                   PAID (4)              Back to NEW

Field Reference

Expense Report Fields

Expense Item Fields

Expense Categories (Common)

Use autotask_get_field_info with entity ExpenseItem to get the full picklist for your instance. Common categories include:

Payment Types (Common)

MCP Tool Reference

Create an Expense Report

Tool: autotask_create_expense_report
Args: {
  "submitterId": 29744150,
  "name": "Feb 2026 Client Travel",
  "description": "Travel expenses for on-site visits",
  "weekEndingDate": "2026-02-28"
}

Notes:

• submitterId is the only required field
• name defaults to auto-generated if omitted
• weekEndingDate helps organize reports by period

Add an Expense Item

Tool: autotask_create_expense_item
Args: {
  "expenseReportId": 12345,
  "description": "Mileage to Contoso Ltd - server migration",
  "expenseDate": "2026-02-15",
  "expenseCategory": 1,
  "amount": 45.50,
  "companyId": 67890,
  "isBillableToCompany": true,
  "isReimbursable": true,
  "haveReceipt": false
}

Required fields: expenseReportId, description, expenseDate, expenseCategory, amount

Search Expense Reports

Tool: autotask_search_expense_reports
Args: {
  "submitterId": 29744150,
  "status": 1,
  "pageSize": 25
}

Filters:

• submitterId - Filter by who submitted
• status - Filter by approval status (1=New, 2=Submitted, 3=Approved, 4=Paid, 5=Rejected, 6=InReview)
• pageSize - Results per page (default 25, max 100)

Get an Expense Report

Tool: autotask_get_expense_report
Args: { "reportId": 12345 }

Common Workflows

Submit Expenses for a Client Visit

1. Create the report:

autotask_create_expense_report: {
  "submitterId": <your_resource_id>,
  "name": "Client Visit - Contoso Ltd",
  "weekEndingDate": "2026-02-28"
}

2. Add mileage:

autotask_create_expense_item: {
  "expenseReportId": <report_id>,
  "description": "Round trip to Contoso - 45 miles @ $0.67/mi",
  "expenseDate": "2026-02-15",
  "expenseCategory": <mileage_category_id>,
  "amount": 30.15,
  "companyId": <contoso_company_id>,
  "isBillableToCompany": true,
  "isReimbursable": true
}

3. Add parking:

autotask_create_expense_item: {
  "expenseReportId": <report_id>,
  "description": "Parking at Contoso office",
  "expenseDate": "2026-02-15",
  "expenseCategory": <parking_category_id>,
  "amount": 12.00,
  "companyId": <contoso_company_id>,
  "isBillableToCompany": true,
  "isReimbursable": true,
  "haveReceipt": true
}

Review Pending Expense Reports

autotask_search_expense_reports: { "status": 2 }

Returns all submitted reports awaiting approval.

Track Employee Expenses

autotask_search_expense_reports: {
  "submitterId": 29744150,
  "status": 1
}

Returns draft reports for a specific employee.

Billable vs Reimbursable

Key distinction:

• Billable (isBillableToCompany) = Charge to the client's account
• Reimbursable (isReimbursable) = Pay back the employee

Discovering Picklist Values

To find valid expense category and payment type IDs for your instance:

Tool: autotask_get_field_info
Args: { "entity": "ExpenseItem", "field": "expenseCategory" }

Tool: autotask_get_field_info
Args: { "entity": "ExpenseItem", "field": "paymentType" }

Error Handling

Best Practices

1. Name reports descriptively - Include period and purpose (e.g., "Mar 2026 - Contoso Migration")
2. One report per period - Group by week or month for easier approval
3. Always set companyId - Even for internal expenses, set to 0 so billing is clear
4. Mark receipts accurately - haveReceipt helps auditing; attach receipts in Autotask UI
5. Use billable flags - Set isBillableToCompany for client-recoverable costs
6. Discover picklists first - Use autotask_get_field_info before creating items to get valid category/payment IDs
7. Submit promptly - Don't let expense reports age; submit weekly

Related Skills

• Autotask Time Entries - Time tracking and billing
• Autotask Contracts - Service agreements and billing rules
• Autotask API Patterns - Query builder and authentication
• Autotask CRM - Company and contact management