How to upload receipts

If you pay for property expenses in cash or outside your business bank account, you can upload photos or PDFs of receipts directly to Provestor. Provestor's AI extracts the transaction details automatically — date, amount, description — and creates a draft transaction for you to review and save.

This is useful when you don't have bank statements to upload, or when you're working with a cash account in Provestor.

If you have bank statements, use those instead. Bank statements are your primary source of data for record keeping. They're more reliable, show all transactions in one document, and make reconciliation easier. Only use receipt uploads for expenses that don't appear on your bank statements — for example, cash purchases or costs paid through personal accounts you're not uploading to Provestor.

This guide covers how to upload receipts, what the AI does, and how to review and save the extracted transactions.

When to use receipt uploads

Use receipt uploads when:

  • You pay for expenses in cash (no bank record exists)
  • You use your personal bank account for property expenses and don't want to upload full statements
  • You're working with a cash account in Provestor (no dedicated business bank account)
  • You have one-off receipts that aren't reflected in any statement you're uploading

Don't use receipt uploads if:

Using bank or agent statements as your primary source keeps your records more accurate and makes it easier to verify that everything is recorded correctly.

Supported file formats

Provestor accepts PDF, PNG, and JPG files for receipt uploads.

You can upload:

  • Photos of paper receipts taken with your phone
  • PDFs downloaded from online purchases (e.g., email receipts saved as PDF)
  • Screenshots of digital receipts

How to upload receipts

Step 1: Prepare your receipt file

If you have a paper receipt, take a photo with your phone. If you have a digital receipt (email, online purchase), save it as a PDF or take a screenshot.

See Best practices for receipt photography below for tips on getting clear, readable images.

Step 2: Upload to Provestor

  1. In your Property Business workspace, select the account where you want to record the expense (Cash, Business Bank Account, or another account)
  2. Choose Upload receipt
  3. Select your receipt file from your device

On mobile devices: Depending on your device and browser, your file picker may offer a "Take Photo" or "Camera" option alongside the standard file selection. This lets you photograph a receipt in real-time without saving it to your photos first. The availability of this option depends on your device's operating system and the browser you're using — it's not a Provestor feature, but a capability your device may provide.

You can upload multiple receipts at once. Provestor processes each receipt separately.

Step 3: Wait for AI extraction

Provestor uses AI to extract transaction details from your receipt. This usually takes a few seconds per receipt.

The AI creates a draft transaction and adds it to your account, ready for you to review.

How AI extraction works

For each receipt, the AI attempts to extract:

  • Date — The date shown on the receipt
  • Amount — The total amount paid
  • Description — A summary based on the vendor name or items purchased
  • Category — A prediction of the expense category (e.g., repairs, insurance)

The AI creates one summary transaction per receipt. It doesn't break down individual line items — it records the total amount as a single transaction.

If your receipt contains multiple items that need different categories (for example, repairs for one property and supplies for another), you can split the transaction manually after reviewing it. See How to break down receipts below.

AI categorisation

The AI predicts the expense category based on:

  1. Your history — If you've categorised similar transactions before, the AI suggests the same category and property
  2. Receipt details — If there's no match in your history, the AI predicts based on the vendor name and description

The AI can make mistakes. Always check the suggested category before saving — especially for first-time vendors or unfamiliar descriptions.

Review and save the extracted transaction

Once the AI finishes processing, you'll see the new transaction highlighted in your account as a draft.

Choose the transaction to open the editor and review:

  1. Check the date — Confirm it matches the receipt
  2. Check the amount — Verify the total is correct
  3. Check the description — Edit if needed to make it clearer (e.g., "Roof repairs - 12 Church Lane")
  4. Check the category — Ensure the AI chose the right expense category (see Which category should I use?)
  5. Check the property — Confirm it's linked to the correct property

If everything looks correct, choose Save. The transaction is no longer a draft and will be included in your quarterly updates.

If the AI got something wrong, correct it before saving.

If you need to delete the transaction (for example, it's a personal expense unrelated to your property business), you can delete it from the editor.

How to break down receipts

Sometimes a single receipt needs to be split into multiple items with different categories, properties, or adjustments.

Common reasons to split:

  • You bought items for multiple properties in one transaction
  • A receipt includes both business and personal purchases
  • You need different categorisation (e.g., some items are repairs, others are capital improvements)

To break down a receipt:

  1. Open the transaction for review
  2. On the first screen, select Yes, it's multiple items / categories for "Do you need to break this down into multiple items?"
  3. On the second screen, enter the amount for the first item, then categorise it and choose the property
  4. Choose Save — you'll see a summary screen showing how much is left to allocate
  5. Choose Add another item and repeat for each remaining item
  6. Continue until the full receipt amount is allocated

For detailed guidance on splitting transactions, see Capturing expenses.

Best practices for receipt photography

Clear, readable receipt images help the AI extract accurate data.

Ensure all four corners are visible

Frame the receipt so all edges are in shot. If the AI can't see the full receipt, it may miss the total amount or date.

Use good lighting

Take photos in bright, even lighting. Avoid shadows across the receipt or strong glare from overhead lights. Natural daylight works well.

Keep receipts flat

Smooth out creases or folds before photographing. Crumpled receipts are harder for the AI to read accurately.

Focus on key details

Make sure the date, vendor name, total amount, and itemised lines (if relevant) are legible. These are the fields the AI needs to extract.

Avoid blurry images

Hold your phone steady and ensure the text is in focus before taking the photo. Blurry receipts lead to extraction errors.

Capture receipts promptly

Receipt ink fades over time, especially thermal paper receipts from cash registers. Photograph receipts as soon as possible after receiving them.

Keeping receipts for HMRC

Uploading a receipt to Provestor creates a digital record of the expense, which is required for Making Tax Digital compliance. However, you still need to keep the original receipt or a copy as supporting documentation.

HMRC can request to see your original receipts, invoices, and bank statements during compliance checks. Keep these for at least 5 years after the 31 January tax return deadline for each tax year.

You can keep receipts as:

  • Paper originals stored in files or folders
  • Digital scans or photos saved to cloud storage
  • A combination of both

What matters is that you can produce them if HMRC asks.

See Digital record-keeping requirements for full details on HMRC's record retention rules.

PreviousAdding Expenses
NextAdding Transfers

Was this helpful?