Receipts

Bank feeds tell you how much you spent at the grocery store. Receipts tell you how much you spent on milk. Scan any receipt and Essential Budget reads the merchant, date, totals, and every printed line item, then files the receipt to the right spot in your budget.

Scanning receipts is free, and you can scan 5 a month. Premium does not work to a scan count. Instead, scanning draws from the same monthly AI usage budget that recipe scanning and the app’s AI tools share. A Premium subscriber runs low on scans only when that budget is used up, not at a fixed number. With a linked bank, Premium also matches every receipt to the right transaction automatically. Scans only count when a receipt is read successfully; a failed scan never uses one up. On the free plan, your 5 scans count against the person scanning, and when they are used up the scan button offers to upgrade. The free count resets each month on the date you signed up. Anyone with access to the budget can view its receipts (Sharing). See Subscription for what Premium includes. The prices your receipts learn are also what power your Shopping Lists and the cost to make on your Recipes.

Scanning a receipt

Open the Receipts tab and tap the + button to choose how to bring a receipt in:

• Take Photo opens your camera.
• Choose from Library lets you pick existing photos, several at once.
• Upload File or PDF accepts image files and PDFs, which covers screenshots, photos saved on a computer, and receipts a store emailed you.
• Long Receipt (several photos) is for a receipt too long for one photo. Shoot it in sections; after each one the app asks “Got that part. More of this receipt?” so you can Add Next Part (up to three) or tap Done. Overlap the sections a little, and the app merges them into a single receipt that counts as one scan.

Selecting several at once is the way to catch up on a stack of receipts: each uploads in the background and files itself while you keep going. Bring in a larger stack (about five or more photos) and the app gathers them into a Backfill screen that sorts the batch for you: the ones that filed cleanly, any that need review, possible duplicates you can discard together, and a group of suggested event matches you can link in one tap.

The moment a receipt uploads, it appears in your list with a short “Reading receipt” indicator. A few seconds later the parsed details replace it. You never wait on a spinner to keep scanning.

If the app cannot read a receipt well enough to file it (the photo is too blurry, or the date or total is cut off), nothing is saved. A short message tells you, so you can scan again with a clearer photo. A read that fails this way never uses up one of your monthly scans.

Importing an emailed or electronic receipt

Many stores can email you a receipt or let you save one as a PDF. You can bring those straight into Essential Budget without taking a photo. Tap the + button, choose Upload File or PDF, and pick the file.

A PDF is read as a document, so the text is captured exactly as the store printed it. That makes the merchant, date, totals, and line items especially accurate. An online order with no store address simply leaves the location blank.

An imported file is scanned the same as a photo. On the free plan it uses one of your 5 monthly scans; on Premium it draws the monthly AI usage budget like any other scan. Once it is in, it files itself, links to events, itemizes, and feeds your insights exactly like a scanned receipt.

Sorting and filtering the list

After a backfill a budget can hold thousands of receipts. The list shows the most recent first and loads more as you scroll toward the bottom, so even a long history opens quickly. To sort or narrow it, tap Filter at the top of the tab to open the panel.

Sort by Date (newest first by default), Amount, or Merchant, and flip the Order (for example, Highest first, or Oldest first). Filter by:

• Linking: only receipts linked to an event, only those filed to history, or only the ones not linked yet.
• Merchant: type part of a store name.
• Not itemized: receipts with no line items, so you can find the ones to itemize before a tax report.
• Needs review: receipts still waiting for a second look.

Tap Apply to set the view, or Clear all to return to the full list. While a filter is on, the toolbar reads Filters on. Sorting and filtering run on the server, so they cover your whole history, not just the receipts already on screen.

Automatic filing

A receipt that reads cleanly files itself. When the receipt clearly matches one of your planned events, it links automatically and a toast appears: “Saved and linked” with View and Undo buttons. Missing the toast costs nothing. Automatic linking never changes any balance, the receipt carries a “New” badge until you look at it, and you can unlink it any time from the receipt’s detail screen.

A receipt that needs a second look goes to the review queue instead. A chip at the top of the Receipts tab (“3 receipts need review”) steps you through them. Common reasons: the photo was hard to read, the totals did not add up, or the receipt looks like one you already scanned.

Linking receipts to events

Open any receipt to see its details. The app suggests the best match by checking, in order: transactions already in your budget, merchants you have linked before, and open events with a matching amount and date. The suggestion reads Link to the item, with a short reason underneath (“Matches a bank transaction”, “You linked this merchant here before”, or “Matches this event”). One tap on Link accepts it.

Linking attaches the receipt as a record of the purchase. It never changes a balance: the receipt sits alongside the event as proof of what you bought, while the event’s own transaction carries the amount. To turn a receipt’s line items into transactions in your budget, use Adding an itemized receipt to your budget below.

A linked receipt shows Linked with a one-tap Unlink button; a receipt on an event that has already resolved reads Linked (resolved) instead. When the app is confident about a store, it also offers a one-tap chip to always match that store to a budget item, so the next receipt from the store links on its own.

A receipt with no good match saves unlinked. That is a normal state, not an error: unlinked receipts stay in your chronological list with a Link button for later.

Linked receipts show up in both directions: the event’s edit screen lists its receipts, and a resolved event’s History entry shows them too. You can also scan directly from an event or from History detail, which links the new receipt to that spot immediately.

Adding an itemized receipt to your budget

Linking files a receipt next to an event. To turn its line items into real transactions, the receipt detail has a Transaction mapping section below the receipt fields. Match each scanned product to a budget item (the part of your budget you track spending against, such as Groceries), and the app adds what you spent to your budget, divided across those items the way the receipt was rung up.

Each product has a Map to… picker; choose the budget item it belongs to. On Premium, Suggest with AI fills in every product at once; free members see “Premium maps every product in one tap.” and the button opens the upgrade screen. To handle several at once, check them and use the Map N to… bar that appears in the Select all row.

As you map, the products gather into one card per budget item. Each card shows the item, the event the cost will be added to, a Change button to send it to a different open event for that item, the product lines, a Receipt taxes/fees line (the receipt’s tax, tip, and fees spread across the items by price), and a Total. The footer keeps a running Added to Budget total. A card for an item you do not normally track notes that “Adding to your budget will turn on tracking for this item.” To move a product to a different budget item, use the Move to… control on its line; it joins the chosen item’s card and the totals update.

When a receipt rang the same product up more than once at the same price, those lines collapse into a single row with a quantity: the product name with “2 × $4.36” beneath it and the combined $8.72 on the right. The grouping is for reading only; the amount added to your budget is the same either way.

One Save in the toolbar commits everything. It saves any edits to the receipt fields and adds the mapped items to your budget, then stays on the page so you see it land (“Receipt added to your budget”). Save stays off until every product is mapped. Leaving with an unsaved receipt prompts “Discard Changes?” first. A receipt you have already added reads “This receipt is in your budget. Change a group to update it.”, and changing a mapping turns Save back on to update it.

When the bank transaction arrives later

If you added an itemized receipt to your budget and the same purchase later arrives from your bank, Essential Budget notices the likely duplicate during transaction matching and shows both side by side. Choose It’s the Same Purchase to merge them (only a tip difference, if any, changes your numbers), or Keep Both if they really are two purchases. Nothing merges silently.

Line items and the Itemize dialog

Each scanned receipt captures its printed line items: the raw text, a readable name, quantity, and price. The receipt row shows an item count (“12 items”) or “Not itemized” when none were read.

Tap Itemize on a receipt to edit line items, laid out as a table with Item, Price, Tax, and Ded (deductible) columns. Fix names or prices, and check Ded on each line you can deduct. Each line’s share of the receipt’s sales tax sits in the Tax column (it reads $0.00 when the receipt has no sales tax), so a misread is easy to spot. A Total row at the bottom sums the Price, Tax, and deductible columns. When a receipt prints per-line tax codes, the tax split follows them exactly; otherwise the app spreads the tax across the items by price.

A discount, coupon, or rebate the scan detects is shown as a reduction (with a leading minus) and left out of the deductible total, since a reduction is never tax deductible.

The year-end tax report

Tap Tax report at the top of the Receipts tab to build a report for any calendar year (Premium). It gathers every line item you marked deductible, with its share of sales tax, grouped by category. If you linked any refunds or credits (see Marking a refund, return, or credit), the report subtracts the ones dated in the same tax year and shows three figures: gross deductible, refunds applied, and net deductible. Net is never less than zero. Export it as a PDF for your accountant, a CSV for spreadsheets, or download the supporting receipt images as a ZIP. A coverage note tells you how many receipts that year are not yet itemized, so you can fill gaps before exporting. If you have receipts that look like refunds for a deductible purchase but are not linked to one, the report shows how many (“2 possible refunds not accounted for”) and lists them, so you can link them before exporting. Nothing is subtracted for a refund until you link it. The report is generated from your scanned receipts and is not tax advice.

Marking a refund, return, or credit

When you get money back on something you bought, you can tell the app it relates to an earlier purchase, so your year-end tax report counts the net amount instead of the full purchase.

When the app recognizes a receipt as a likely refund or credit for an earlier purchase at the same store, it proposes the matching purchase for you. Open the receipt and you see a line such as “This refund looks like it is for your Desk Co purchase on 2026-02-01 ($100.00). Apply it?” Tap Apply to link it, or Dismiss to pick a different purchase or leave it unlinked. The app never links a refund on its own: the suggestion is a starting point you confirm.

You can also link a refund yourself. Open the receipt for the refund and tap Mark as refund. A picker titled “Refund for which purchase?” lists the purchases in your budget. Search by store name and tap the original purchase. The refund then shows “Refund or credit for” that purchase, with an Unlink button if you change your mind. The original purchase shows how many refunds you have linked to it.

If the refund lists the items you returned, tap Itemize and mark the lines that match your deductible purchase. On a refund, the deductible control reads Reduces deduction, so the direction is clear: those lines lower the deduction rather than add to it.

The app does not decide your taxes. It subtracts only what you linked, shows its work as gross, refunds, and net, and leaves the tax treatment to you or your accountant.

Why doesn’t a refund from a later year reduce last year’s deduction? A refund counts against a purchase only when both fall in the same tax year. A refund you receive this year for something you deducted in an earlier year is listed on its own, in a section for adjustments received this year that relate to a prior year. How to handle it is a question for you or your accountant, so the app surfaces it rather than deciding for you.

Insights

Once you have scanned a few grocery receipts, Insights turns their line items into a picture of what you actually pay over time, store by store and product by product. Open it from the Insights button at the top of the Receipts tab, or from the Reports tab: tap Select Report and choose Insights. Insights are free for everyone.

Insights shows your own price history. To compare what you pay with shoppers near you, open Community Prices, a separate report under Receipts.

The top of Insights is Your grocery inflation: a single number for how much your own basket has changed in price compared with your earliest prices, with a small trend line under it. With only a handful of receipts it tells you what it can and how many more scans sharpen the number.

Below the inflation number are more cards:

• Price watch: each product you buy repeatedly, with its current price, how much it has moved, and a six-month trend. Biggest movers come first.
• Shrinkflation alerts: when a product at the same store quietly shrank its package while the price per unit went up.
• Store showdown: your usual basket priced at the stores you shop, so you can see which is cheaper for what you actually buy.
• Savings found: how much you have saved by buying below your own usual price for a product.
• Top products: where your grocery money goes, ranked by spend.

Why don’t receipts in review count yet? A receipt waiting in the review queue has not been confirmed, so its prices could be misread. Insights only counts receipts that scanned cleanly and are not in review. Confirm a receipt from the review queue and it joins your insights.

Tap any product to open its detail: a price-over-time chart with a dot for every purchase, your average at each store, and the lowest price you have paid. Tap a dot to see that purchase, then View receipt to open the receipt behind it. Insights refresh on their own as you scan, so a new receipt updates the numbers without a reload.

Community Prices: comparing with your area

Community Prices compares what you pay with other shoppers near you, once enough people in your area contribute their prices. It is a separate report under Receipts: on the Reports tab, tap Select Report and choose it from the Receipts group.

To take part, turn on Contribute to Community Prices in Settings. It is off until you choose to turn it on. Only anonymized prices are ever contributed, never your receipt images or any personal information, and you can turn it off again at any time. After your first scan, the app asks once whether you want to contribute, with Contribute and Not now; neither is pre-selected, so the choice is yours.

Once enough shoppers near you have contributed their prices, the report shows how your prices compare to the local median, product by product. Each row reads as how much you pay above or below shoppers near you, and a headline sums it up across the products you buy often. The comparison is grouped to your area, your city, your state, or the country, whichever has enough shoppers to compare fairly, and the report tells you which one it is showing.

Seeing the comparison is a fair exchange: it stays open while you are contributing and you have scanned at least one receipt in the last month. If you stop scanning for a while, the comparison pauses with a note to scan a receipt this month, and it returns with your next scan. Your own price history in Insights is never affected by this.

If your area does not have enough contributed prices yet, the report says so and invites you to bring in people nearby, with a share button and a progress bar toward unlocking your area. The more neighbors who contribute, the sooner local prices appear for everyone there.

Why is contributing off by default? Your receipts are private unless you decide otherwise. Contributing only the prices, never the images or anything that identifies you, is what makes a community comparison possible without giving up your privacy, so it is something you opt into rather than out of. A single shopper’s prices are never shown on their own; comparisons appear only once enough people in an area have contributed.

What if you stop contributing or delete your account? Turning off Contribute to Community Prices stops contributing new prices. It does not pull back what you already contributed, which lives on only inside the anonymized community statistics. If you delete your account, your receipts and their images are deleted, except a receipt in a budget you share with other people, which stays with that budget. The community statistics remain because they are anonymized and cannot be tied back to you.

Year and Month in Receipts

Insights also builds a shareable recap of your grocery spending: a Year in Receipts and a lighter monthly version. On the Insights screen, find the recap card, named for the month (like “May in Receipts”), and tap View recap, or tap the year button beside it for the annual edition. Swipe through the cards: how many receipts you scanned, what your scanned items added up to, your top products, the savings you found, and a few highlights like the item you bought most often. The annual recap also shows how your grocery prices moved over the year.

Tap Share to turn the recap into an image and send it through your phone’s share sheet, to a friend or to social media. Only that image is shared; nothing else from your budget leaves the app.

Recaps are free for everyone, and you can share any of them. Early in a month, before you have scanned much, the recap invites you to scan a few more receipts instead of showing thin numbers.

Why does a recap wait for a few receipts? A recap of one or two receipts is not a picture of your month. Until you have scanned enough, it shows how many more receipts will fill it out, so the numbers it does show are worth sharing.

The app can also tell you when there is something to see. In notification settings, Lowest price alerts lets you know when a grocery item hits the lowest price you have seen, and Year in Receipts lets you know when your annual recap is ready. Both arrive at most about twice a month, and you can turn either off at any time.

Receipts and your budget’s lifecycle

Receipts never get lost when your budget changes:

• Editing a schedule’s timing or deleting an event unlinks its receipts; the receipts stay in your list, ready to relink.
• Resolving an event keeps its receipts attached to the History entry. Undoing the resolve restores the link to the open event.
• Deleting a receipt you added to your budget asks whether to keep its transactions or remove them; removing them restores the balances.

Backups and shared budgets

Budget backups include your receipts, their line items, and learned merchant matches. Restored receipts arrive unlinked (a restore rebuilds your budget’s events from scratch), with all parsed data and images intact; relink them with the ordinary Link button. If an image is missing after a restore, the receipt shows an “image unavailable” placeholder and its data remains fully usable.

In a shared budget, everyone can see receipts and their details. Scanning and linking need edit permission, and deductible flags are visible to all members like any other receipt detail.