Free Expense Report Template for Excel

A ready-to-use Excel template with automatic category totals and a mileage helper — plus a short guide to building your own.

An expense report gathers everything you spent on a trip or project into one itemized sheet your employer or accountant can approve. The free Excel template below tallies every line, subtotals by category, and handles mileage — the one expense people always get stuck on.

Download the free Excel template (.xlsx)

No email required. Works in Excel for Windows, Mac, and the web.

What an expense report should include

Whatever the format, an expense report answers who, when, why, and how much:

• Who & why — name, department, the period, and the business purpose
• Date of each expense
• Category — airfare, lodging, meals, mileage, supplies, and so on
• Description & merchant — what it was and where you paid
• Amount, with a receipt to back it up

How to create an expense report in Excel, step by step

1. Add a header block with your name, department, period, manager, and business purpose.
2. Set up the columns: Date, Category, Description, Merchant, and Amount. A dropdown on the Category column keeps things consistent.
3. List each expense on its own row.
4. Total it: =SUM(E9:E33) for the grand total, and =SUMIF(...) to subtotal each category.
5. Add mileage as its own line (see below).

The downloadable template already has the category dropdown, the grand total, a per-category summary, and a mileage helper built in.

Adding mileage to the report

Mileage is reimbursed at a per-mile rate rather than from a receipt: business miles × the IRS standard mileage rate (2025: $0.70/mile). The template's mileage helper does the multiplication for you — you just need the miles.

That's the tedious part, and where RouteMetrics helps: its ROUTE.DISTANCE formula returns real driving miles between two addresses, right in the cell, so you never open a maps tab:

Get RouteMetrics on Microsoft AppSource See pricing

Frequently asked questions

What should an expense report include?

Who is claiming, the period and business purpose, then one line per expense with date, category, description, merchant, and amount — backed by receipts.

How do I add mileage to an expense report?

Multiply business miles by the IRS rate ($0.70/mile in 2025) and enter it as a Mileage line. RouteMetrics can calculate the miles from two addresses.

Is this template free?

Yes — download it above and use it however you like.

Related: Mileage log template · Mileage reimbursement calculator · All Excel templates & guides

This guide is general information, not tax advice. Rules and rates change; confirm current requirements with the IRS or a tax professional.