Owner-Paid Expense Checker

You paid for something the business uses, out of your own pocket. Answer four questions and see where that money lands: deductible to the business, taxable to you as wages, or nowhere at all. Current for tax years beginning after 31 December 2025.

How is the business taxed? Pick the entity that got the benefit of the spending

Is there a written accountable plan in place? A board-adopted reimbursement policy that existed before the reimbursement was paid

Does the partnership or operating agreement provide for reimbursement of this cost? Check the expense and reimbursement clause, and the firm's actual routine practice

Has the business paid you back? Money actually left the business account and reached you

Was it substantiated within 60 days? Receipt, date, amount and business purpose handed to the business within 60 days of paying it

Amount you paid personally This expense, or your running total for the year ($)

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Amount you funded What left your personal account.

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Amount that lands somewhere Deducted by the business, or by you, on a return.

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Amount that counts nowhere Spent, benefited the business, deductible by nobody.

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What to do about it

Want the number for your own business?

We reconcile owner and intercompany balances every month, so what the business owes you is a figure you can see rather than one we rebuild at the extension deadline.

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General information, not tax advice. This tool applies federal rules to the answers you give and cannot see your agreements, your payroll records or your facts. Reimbursement outcomes assume the cost is an ordinary and necessary business expense of the entity you selected. State treatment can differ. Have your tax adviser confirm before you file or adopt a plan.