Deep Dive: What is the Track plan and who is it for?
Overview of the Track plan
The Track plan is the bread and butter option for solo Expensify users who don't need to send their expenses to someone else. Individuals or sole proprietors can select the Track plan in order to configure their Individual policy to match their personal expense tracking needs.
Who should use the Track plan?
- An individual who wants to ditch the filing cabinet and store your receipts via the cloud
- An individual looking to track your spending by category to help with budgeting
- A self-employed user who needs to track receipts and mileage for tax purposes
Ultimately, the Track plan is all about tracking expenses for individual purposes. If that sounds like what you're looking for, read on!
Setting up the Track plan
To enable the Track plan, you'll want to select the "Track Spending" option from the Expensify Inbox. The Inbox is where you'll first configure your Individual policy to match up with your needs:
*If you've already selected a different plan, keep in mind that you can always change your mind. To do so, select "Show Hidden Tasks" at the bottom of the Inbox, and then look for the task shown above to select a new option.
You can also select the Track option from the policy settings. Navigate to Settings > Policies > Individual > [Policy Name] > Plan to select "Track":
Once you've selected the Track plan, the Inbox will be your guide to configuring your individual policy. Complete the tasks you see as they come up, and you'll be left with a solid starting point.
Features of the Track plan
Once you've selected the Track option, it's time to start utilizing the features available to you. Let's go through the core functionality:
SmartScan and receipt storage
SmartScan is the key to tracking receipts in Expensify. As soon as you get a receipt, take a photo via the mobile app and toss the receipt in the garbage. SmartScan will automatically read the merchant, date, and amount on the receipt and create an expense in your account, and then store it indefinitely so it can be viewed at any time.
If you receive a receipt in your email, simply forward it over to receipts@expensify.com from an email account associated with your Expensify account, and we'll take care of the rest.
You'll receive 25 free SmartScans per month just for creating an Expensify account. However, if you'd like to gain access to unlimited SmartScans, you'll want to pick up the $4.99 Monthly Subscription.
Mileage tracking
Many individuals utilize Expensify to track mileage for tax purposes, especially folks who are self-employed. You can make adjustments to the reimbursable mileage rate (typically set to the IRS default) and default unit (miles vs. kilometers) via Settings > Policies > Individual > [Policy Name] > Expenses.
Analytics
Once you've captured your expenses in your account, you can begin making use of the analytics options in Expensify to take a look at your patterns and category-by-category spend. This is all part of Track plan functionality and starts on the Expenses page.
