How to Track Expenses for Taxes on iPhone (The Easy Way)

For employees with a simple W-2, taxes are mostly automatic. For freelancers, contractors, small business owners, and anyone with deductible expenses, tracking expenses for taxes throughout the year is what separates a stress-free April from a chaotic one — and directly affects how much you pay.

The people who do this well share one habit: they don't try to reconstruct 12 months of expenses in April. They track as they go.

Why Tracking Expenses Year-Round Saves You Money at Tax Time

Deductible business expenses reduce your taxable income dollar for dollar. For a freelancer in the 24% federal tax bracket, $10,000 in legitimate business deductions saves $2,400 in federal taxes alone — plus state taxes and potentially self-employment tax on top.

That's not a hypothetical benefit. It's money left on the table by people who didn't keep records.

The problem with tracking in April: most receipts are gone, most memories are vague, and the IRS requires actual documentation for deductions above certain thresholds. "I think I spent about $2,000 on software last year" is not the same as a clean CSV with dates, amounts, and vendor names.

Which Expenses Are Tax-Deductible?

This is not tax advice — consult a CPA for your specific situation. But broadly, common deductible business expenses include:

For self-employed and freelancers:

Home office (the portion of your home used exclusively for work)
Business equipment (laptop, camera, tools, peripherals)
Software and apps used for business
Internet and phone (business-use percentage)
Professional development: courses, books, conferences
Travel for business: flights, hotels, rental cars, mileage
Professional services: accountants, lawyers, contractors
Business insurance
Professional memberships and subscriptions
Marketing and advertising costs
Client gifts (limited to $25/client/year under IRS rules)

For employees (limited, mostly post-TCJA):

Unreimbursed employee business expenses have significant limitations since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Check with a tax professional about what applies in your situation.

The Problem With Doing This in April (It's Already Too Late)

April tax preparation for self-employed people is genuinely stressful when you're doing it without records. You're trying to reconstruct:

Every business software subscription for the last 12 months
Every client meal receipt
Every business travel expense
Mileage from months ago

Even with bank statements, you're missing the context. A bank statement shows "Amazon - $127.99" but not whether it was a business purchase or a personal one. Without a note at time of purchase, you often can't remember.

The fix is structural: log expenses when they happen, with enough detail to justify them later. 30 seconds at the point of purchase vs 30 minutes of confused reconstruction in April.

How to Set Up Tax Categories in an Expense App

For tracking business expenses on iPhone, create a set of business-specific categories in Expenly:

Business — Software: SaaS, apps, subscriptions used for work
Business — Equipment: Hardware, tools, one-time purchases
Business — Travel: Flights, hotels, rideshares for business trips
Business — Meals (Client): Meals with clients (50% deductible)
Business — Professional Development: Courses, books, conferences
Business — Marketing: Ads, design, website costs
Business — Professional Services: Accountant, lawyer, subcontractors
Business — Home Office: Your calculated monthly home office amount

Log each business expense to the right category with a brief note (e.g., "Figma annual subscription," "Flight to NYC client meeting"). This note becomes your audit trail.

How to Export Your Expenses for Your Accountant

At tax time (or quarterly if you're filing estimated taxes), you can export your full expense history from Expenly to CSV or Excel — all transactions in one clean spreadsheet, organized by category, date, and amount.

Export steps in Expenly:

Open the app
Go to the export/reports section
Select date range (full year, or by quarter)
Choose CSV, Excel, or PDF format
Share to email, AirDrop, or save to Files

Your accountant receives a clean, organized record. You've saved them hours of work — and avoided the "I need all your receipts from last year" conversation.

The CSV format works directly with Excel, Google Sheets, or most accounting software.

The Receipt Habit: Logging the Moment You Spend

For business expenses, the best practice is logging within minutes of spending. You still have the receipt in hand, you remember exactly what it was for, and the note you write reflects the actual business purpose.

For cash business expenses — client lunches paid in cash, parking for a business meeting — this is especially important. There's no digital record to fall back on.

The habit: pay for something, add it to Expenly before you put your phone away. 10 seconds. For a freelancer, those 10 seconds are worth potentially hundreds of dollars in documented deductions.

What the IRS Actually Wants to See

For most common deductions under $250, the IRS wants:

Date of purchase
Amount
Business purpose
Name of vendor

Your Expenly CSV provides the first three automatically. The note field covers business purpose. If you're also keeping the original receipts for large purchases (over $75 for travel and entertainment, IRS recommends receipts for all items), you have a complete record.

For home office deductions, you need the square footage calculation and utility bills — the expense tracker doesn't replace that, but it documents the software, supplies, and services that also qualify.

Free on the App Store

Expenly

Export a clean CSV for your accountant in seconds.

Also read: How to Budget With Irregular Income · How to Export Your Expenses as a CSV or Excel File