How do you manage meal expenses and what proof should you accept?

On the menu today, everything you need to know about meal receipts, with a focus on meal receipts!

Why should we do this? Because in 2018, of the average €2,456 declared in expense claims by French employees (source: Expensya - 2019), catering was the second largest expense at €627, just behind transport (€671).

These are substantial expenses that require careful management and supervision.

Are you an employee, a volunteer or a manager who has to advance money because you're on a business trip or are inviting a client to lunch? You have rights and duties when it comes to your business expenses.

Are you a payroll or accounts manager? Stop those time-consuming expense reports piling up on your desk!

We'd like to remind you of the basic principles and regulations: what a meal voucher should look like, which documents are acceptable and how to manage them.

As with any financial issue, clear rules, good internal communication and rapid processing of reimbursements (or refusals) are the keys to a good working relationship and satisfied teams.

See all software Expense Management

Meal expenses: the rules

Does your company reimburse expenses on an actual basis, as opposed to the flat-rate system used for certain professions with recurring expenses?

In this case, where expenses are more occasional, reimbursement on an actual basis involves the use of an expense claim.

This is used to identify and be reimbursed, within reasonable limits, for catering expenses incurred in the interests of the employer.

Rules are laid down, whether you are a company director or an employee, on your own or with clients, at your place of work or on a business trip, to prevent abuse.

This is where the definition of an expenses policy comes in useful: it saves the manager having to repeat the conditions of reimbursement and ensures fluid and transparent communication.

What should a meal voucher look like?

The document summarises the nature of the expenses incurred, the amounts and the date, and is accompanied by the necessary supporting documents.

There are no surprises here: the meal voucher is accompanied by a meal voucher.

Expenses not reimbursed: in what circumstances?

The reimbursement of business expenses is an obligation for the employer, even if it is not written into the contract: this is known as a clause deemed not to have been written.

However, the issuer of the expense claim is obliged to provide proof of the expense within the stipulated timeframe, if this has been clearly defined and communicated internally.

After this deadline, and in the absence of justification, the expense claim may be rejected.

What meal receipts are accepted?

We always think of the restaurant bill, but can we provide a supermarket till receipt, for example? Is a credit card receipt acceptable?

But before we look at the accepted receipts, why are they so important?

Objectives of meal receipts

There are several issues here:

1. They make it possible to check that the expenditure has been properly incurred in the interests of the company;
2. They protect the company vis-à-vis the Urssaf in the event of an audit;
3. They enable deductible VAT on meal expenses to be reclaimed.

🤓 Good to know: always provide the original receipt, preferably a receipt showing the method of payment.

Unless it is dematerialised under conditions guaranteeing its compliance in the eyes of the law.

Restaurant expense receipts

If you are inviting customers, prospects or employees to a business meal, your receipt must show :

• the date
• the amount of the restaurant bill
• the number of covers
• the name, position and company of the guests (on the back of the bill, for amounts over €150),
• the reason for the invitation (also on the back),
• VAT.

If this information is not provided, the company is liable to penalties from Urssaf, including a fine for insufficient justification and a reclassification of the expenses as benefits in kind.

However, if you are travelling and need to eat on the spot, the standard receipt will suffice.

☝️ Restaurant expense claim and ceiling: to reduce the risk of fraud, control expenditure more effectively and comply with the rules of the tax authorities, the employer may impose a ceiling, set out in the company agreement or contract.

In any event, actual reimbursements are exempt from social security charges as long as the expenditure is deemed reasonable.

This is not the case for flat-rate reimbursements, such as meal allowances paid when travelling, which must comply with a ceiling imposed by the tax authorities.
How much does a packed lunch cost in this case ? Find out the Urssaf scale for meal expenses.

Proof of supermarket expenses

A till receipt is acceptable, as is a receipt from a bakery, provided it relates only to the employee.

Expense claim and credit card receipt

Sometimes an invoice is forgotten or lost.

Some companies exceptionally accept credit card receipts, despite the risk of a tax reassessment, because they are not detailed enough.

How should meal expenses be managed?

Processing meal receipts is an integral part of managing company expenses, and it goes without saying that this task, which falls to the CFO, is becoming increasingly difficult to manage in the current economic crisis.

Define the company's spending policy

Posted in common areas or included in the welcome booklet, for example, it avoids any grey areas in terms of what is accepted, acceptable and prohibited.

That's why it's so important to have a clear, precise spending policy that's accessible to everyone.

Not only does the manager control the company's cash flow and encourage good habits, but employees are well informed and reassured.

To optimise expense management, the expense policy summarises :

• reimbursable expenses and the maximum limit (particularly for alcohol),
• the contact person responsible for managing expense claims,
• the process: procedures for receiving and validating receipts and reimbursement deadlines.

Respect a reasonable reimbursement deadline

Is there a legal time limit for reimbursing expense claims?

The law is not strict on this subject. But it seems obvious that reimbursements should be made within a reasonable timeframe, once the documents and receipts have been received, so as not to put the employee in an uncomfortable situation and cause resentment.

In most cases, the person in charge of accounting or payroll will reimburse meal expenses from the next salary.

Reclaim VAT on meal expenses

Companies may exercise their right to deduct and declare VAT provided that:

• it is itself liable for VAT ;
• the receipt shows the amount.

Be picky

Watch out for false restaurant bills!

It can happen that an employee is invited to lunch but gets the bill back to be reimbursed. Be vigilant.

Use software to save time and make things run more smoothly

There are some very practical tools available to relieve the burden on both administrative and field teams.

In the cloud, they have the advantage of being up to date with regulations and usable on the move, for a streamlined processing and validation circuit in real time.

What's more, they make it possible to dematerialise expense reports, including receipts, thanks to OCR technology, which detects the characters on your tickets from a simple photo and transfers them to the application, avoiding re-typing and loss of documents.

Here are four examples:

Expensya, smooth and simple expense claim processes

With Expensya, every company (VSE, SME, large group) or freelancer has an intuitive tool for managing expense claim procedures with fluidity.

OCR+ technology transforms your receipt into a digital expense claim that complies with URSSAF standards, and even manages tips. Then, just a few clicks are all it takes to send it to the manager or accountant, who are instantly notified.

And best of all, they are digitally archived until the end of the legal retention period.

Silae Expense, artificial intelligence for your autonomy

Silae Expense stands out for its artificial intelligence, which enables the tool to be improved by learning from the practices of different users within a company.

Its OCR technology has been developed in-house, and its digital safe option guarantees the probative value of the supporting documents supplied in the event of an audit.

You can connect it to your global management software, such as your ERP.

Kizeo Forms, the mobile application for creating customised forms

Kizeo Forms helps companies move towards paperless expense management, while maintaining consistent documentation across all sectors.

The benefits of Kizeo Forms include

• standardisation and configuration of claim forms by your administrative teams,
• automatic entry and transmission of expense claims from the field to the right contact(s), with all the information and photos of receipts.

Rydoo, your travel and expenses policy at the heart of the tool

With Rydoo, you can integrate your expense policy into the tool: expenses that comply with it are automatically validated, by defining ceilings for example.

Rydoo Expense can be used to manage standard expense reports, while Rydoo Travel optimises the management of business travel: there are no expense advances to make.

The tool can also be interconnected with your management and collaboration solutions.

Spendesk dematerialises and modernises expense claims

With Spendesk, you can digitalise 100% of your expense claim process. Employees can submit their expense claims quickly and easily using the application. Expenses are centralised in a single interface, giving you global visibility in real time. This means you can validate them in just a few clicks, and reimburse and reconcile them automatically.

See all software Expense Management

Don't pay for time-consuming management

Expenditure → reimbursement request → control → validation → reimbursement...

This simplified diagram does not even take into account refusals or reminders due to missing documents.

Adopt software! Software solutions herald the end of supporting documents piling up, gathering dust, getting lost or even being erased over time.

The circuits, from request to validation, are simplified and your documents are secure.

What's more, you can monitor your cash flow and expenditure trends to adjust your expense claim management and plan ahead more effectively.

What value-added task are you going to spend all this time saving on?