The best receipt scanner and organizer for sole proprietors and independent contractors
- 2-for-1 service: receipt scanning and expense tracking
- Outsource receipt scanning and manual data entry
- Automatically sorts receipts into 15 tax categories
- Reduce audit-risk with IRS-accepted receipt scans
- Add your accountant or bookkeeper to your account
4 Built-in Benefits for Managing Receipts
How does Shoeboxed’s Magic Envelope service work?
Why choose Shoeboxed's scanning process to organize receipts and manage business expenses?
How Shoeboxed systematically scans and organizes your receipts
A user sends in paper receipts using the Magic Envelope service, uploads them digitally to their Shoeboxed account, or imports receipts with the Gmail plugin. Receipt data is then extracted using our AI tech, and a team of data entry specialists goes through each receipt entry to check, correct errors, and verify the accuracy of the extracted data.
As your data is processed and verified by the Shoeboxed team, it is automatically assigned 1 of 15 tax categories. This systematized approach to receipt organization ensures speedy expense report creation and easy totaling of categories during tax season.
Solopreneurs, independent contractors, and sole proprietors with a variety of projects and project expenses can drill down even further, and tag expenses with a project name or any other category name they wish to assign, making it even easier to see expense totals based on any category you wish to track.
Case study
Talent agency director estimates $1500 monthly value with Shoeboxed
"I was like, I don't think I need this, and then [my bookkeeper] said, 'Listen, it's always good to have extra documentation if you ever get questions about your costs and you need to show proof.' So I said I'd do it. And it was definitely a good choice."... Read more
Dimitri Fostinis is an American entrepreneur with many businesses that he operates out of Los Angeles. Among his many business initiatives, he is the Director of The Voyagers Talent Agency, a talent recruitment and management firm where he fosters aspiring live streamers, helping them earn income on their own time and grow their skills.
Dimitri frequently travels as part of his work, which he can deduct as a business expense—if documented. Along those lines, he can expense meals with clients and items he purchases on the way to client meetings if he keeps receipts.
But the number of business receipts he was collecting was significant—approximately 700+ per year—and not something Dimitri desired to handle himself.
When his bookkeeper recommended he use Shoeboxed for scanning and organizing all the receipts, Dimitri says he felt hesitant.
“I was like, I don’t think I need this, and then [my bookkeeper] said, ‘Listen, it’s always good to have extra documentation if you ever get questions about your costs and you need to show proof.’ So I said I’d do it. And it was definitely a good choice.”
When asked if he could put a monetary amount to the value he gets from Shoeboxed, Dimitri said, “I would probably pay $1000 to $1500 a month to categorize all the stuff that I do. I think that’s the value add for me.”
Frequently asked questions
If you’re looking to streamline your receipt organization for tax season by digitizing your receipts, you may be wondering—will the IRS accept your receipt scans? Can receipt scans legally support your tax write-offs when filing taxes?
The quick answer: Receipt scans are 100% legitimate and approved by the IRS. In fact, the IRS has accepted scanned and digitized receipts as valid tax records for tax deductible purposes since 1997.
However, receipt scans must meet specific requirements to be eligible.
According to the IRS, digital or scanned receipts must meet the following requirements:
- Digital versions of receipt scans are completely identical to their original versions.
- Each receipt scan must exhibit a high degree of legibility and readability.
- You must be able to produce hard copies (print-outs) of the scanned receipts in the event of an IRS audit.
- Scanned documents must be stored in a secure place.
If you can ensure your scanned receipts are properly stored and backed up as digital files in a filing system that allows for easy retrieval, and you can reproduce hard copies from the digital versions in a legible, readable format, you may dispose of the original receipts.
See “Rev. Proc. 97-22 (Recordkeeping – Electronic Storage System),” IRS.gov
Every account comes with an unlimited number of users. If you would like, we can also make sub-accounts for any members of your staff to keep their receipts separate from your main account.
Shoeboxed’s receipt scanning app and service integrate with a wide range of accounting software, including Quickbooks Online. For a full list of accounting software integrations, go here.
Our standout receipt scanner feature is that we will scan physical receipts on your behalf. Simply send your receipts to our processing facility in a prepaid envelope, and we do the rest. Your receipts will be OCR (optical character recognition) scanned, the data will be extracted and human-verified, and uploaded to your account—without you having to do any of the data entry. If you’ve been looking for a receipt scanner for business owners, but don’t want to purchase a machine, Shoeboxed might be a good fit for you.
There are multiple ways for users to scan receipts into their Shoeboxed account.
- Mail your receipts to our processing facility for free with a pre-paid* envelope from us, then we’ll scan them into your Shoeboxed account.
- Download our receipt scanner app from the Apple store or Google Play for quick uploads on the go.
- Forward emails to the designated Shoeboxed address and any receipts sent will appear in your Shoeboxed account.
- Install our custom Gmail plugin to auto-import digital receipts to the Shoeboxed dashboard.
- Upload receipts to your Shoeboxed account from your laptop or desktop using the drag-and-drop method.
Shoeboxed takes both your physical documents and scanned documents into consideration when it comes to security. All incoming paperwork is kept safe in our facility in Durham, NC with 24/7 surveillance and entry control. Digital files and data are additionally protected by SSL encryption, which is the same utilized by banks to protect accounts. We suggest that users review the privacy policy and terms of service before using any receipt scanning software or receipt management tool.
You can try Shoeboxed without any charge for 30 days to test the service. If you then choose to cancel your subscription at any time during the month, you will not be billed. If you opt for an annual plan and decide to cancel within the first 30 days, you will be refunded fully.
Our price is comparable to other receipt scanning apps. Additionally, our Digital Only price starts at just 4.99 per month (price available in-App), making us less expensive than Expensify, Rydoo, Dext (Receipt Bank), and many other options in the same category.
The Startup plan is $29 per month and ideal for the independent contractor or a small business owner. You get 50 digital and 25 physical documents per month and unlimited users. All of our paid plans include unlimited storage, allowing you to use Shoeboxed as your dedicated document management system.
The Professional plan is ideal for professionals and small businesses who are looking for receipt management apps that handle both paper and digital. This plan includes 150 digital and 150 physical documents per month, unlimited prepaid Magic Envelopes, unlimited document returns, unlimited file storage, unlimited users, and Quickbooks Online integration.
The Business plan is great for businesses with a high volume of customers or purchases to manage. It includes 300 digital and 300 physical documents per month, unlimited prepaid magic envelopes, unlimited document returns, unlimited cloud storage, unlimited users, and Quickbooks Online integration.
A 20% discount is available when you sign up for an annual plan, providing great value for those searching for the best receipt scanner. Annual plans include annual document counts, best utilized for bulk upload or businesses that experience seasonal changes in receipt volume throughout the year.
Note: Postage is only pre-paid within the US at this time.
- Mail-in scanning service
- OCR scanning with human data verification
- Satisfy tax audit criteria with Shoeboxed’s receipt scanning platform
- Totaling of categories in just a few seconds
- Scan, organize, and manage expenses all in one place
- Add unlimited users to your account
- Digital image archive and document management system
- Unlimited cloud storage of scanned paper documents, digital documents, digital receipts, smart receipts, paper receipts, etc.
- Customizable receipt category tags and rules
- Export receipt details to well-known accounting software
- Track mileage for free for iOS and Android users
- Store and organize business cards
- Scan images from our iOS or Android mobile app
- Automatically convert currencies
- 24/7 monitoring of entry points at our processing facility for physical receipts & documents
- SSL encryption for digital documents and data
- 20% discount when billed annually
Software that can read text that has been captured in an image is referred to as Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This enables us to take the line items from an image and convert them into text. This information can then be used to fill in fields in accounting software or digital filing systems. Before settling on a receipt scanner, make sure it has the OCR feature.
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Turn business receipts into data & deductibles
