Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, completely free. There are no hidden charges, no premium tiers, no credit card requirements, and no signup. Our free expense categorization tool is sustained through non-intrusive advertising. Every feature — from automatic categorization to PDF tax report generation — is available to every user at no cost. We believe that freelancers and small business owners deserve free access to powerful financial tools, especially during tax season when every dollar matters.

No. There is absolutely no account creation required. You do not need to provide your email, name, or any personal information. Just open the website, upload your files, and start categorizing your expenses immediately. If you want to save your work for later, you can use the "Save Session" feature, which stores data in your browser's local storage — not on any server.

Our automatic expense categorizer is built for anyone who files taxes as self-employed in the United States. This includes freelancers, independent contractors (1099 workers), gig economy workers (rideshare, delivery), sole proprietors, single-member LLC owners, and side hustlers with self-employment income. Tax professionals and bookkeepers also use our tool to quickly categorize client expenses before preparing returns.

Absolutely. This is the most important aspect of our tool. All processing happens entirely in your web browser. When you upload a bank statement or CSV file, it is read and processed by JavaScript running on your computer. Your financial data — transaction descriptions, amounts, dates — never leaves your device. There is no server receiving your data, no database storing it, and no third party accessing it. When you close the browser tab, your data disappears entirely (unless you chose to save it to local storage). Read our full privacy policy for more details.

The anonymize feature masks sensitive information in transaction descriptions — account numbers, reference codes, and long numeric strings are replaced with asterisks. This is useful if you plan to share the exported report with someone and want to remove potentially identifying details while keeping the expense categories and amounts intact.

Our bank statement expense categorizer supports the following formats:

• CSV files — the most reliable format; exported from most bank websites
• Excel files (.xlsx, .xls) — bank exports or your own expense spreadsheets
• PDF bank statements — downloaded directly from your bank's website
• Receipt images (PNG, JPG, WebP) — photos or scans of paper receipts

For best results, we recommend using CSV exports from your bank, as these have the cleanest and most consistent data format. Learn more on our How It Works page.

Yes! Batch processing is fully supported. You can upload all 12 monthly bank statements at once, mix CSV files with PDF statements, and even include receipt images in the same batch. All files are processed sequentially and the results are combined into a single categorized view.

Our tool works with CSV and PDF exports from every major US bank and credit card issuer, including Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, Capital One, US Bank, PNC, TD Bank, American Express, Discover, Navy Federal Credit Union, USAA, Ally Bank, Charles Schwab, and many more. If your bank allows you to download transactions as a CSV file, it will work with our tool.

Our categorization engine matches transaction descriptions against a database of over 50,000 merchant name patterns mapped to IRS Schedule C categories. Accuracy typically ranges from 85% to 95%, depending on how descriptive your bank's transaction names are. Common merchants like Starbucks, Amazon, Shell, Adobe, and Uber are categorized with near-perfect accuracy. Less common or abbreviated merchant names may need manual correction — which is easy to do with our interactive table editor.

Yes. Our schedule C expense tracker covers every deduction line on the IRS Schedule C form (Part II, Lines 8 through 27a), including: Advertising (Line 8), Car & Truck Expenses (Line 9), Commissions & Fees (Line 10), Contract Labor (Line 11), Insurance (Line 15), Legal & Professional Services (Line 17), Office Expenses (Line 18), Rent (Lines 20a-20b), Supplies (Line 22), Travel (Line 24a), Meals (Line 24b), Utilities (Line 25), and Other Expenses (Line 27a). We also include sub-categories for Software & Technology, Education, Shipping, and Bank Fees under "Other Expenses."

Absolutely. Every category is fully editable. In the results table, click the category dropdown on any transaction and select the correct category from the list. The dashboard, charts, totals, and tax-deductible amounts update automatically in real time. All your edits are preserved when you export the results.

We offer four export options: CSV for simple spreadsheet import; Excel (.xlsx) with a multi-sheet workbook including a transaction sheet and category summary; PDF Tax Report with a professionally formatted document including your summary, category breakdown, and full transaction list; and QuickBooks/Xero Import formatted for direct import into popular accounting software.

Yes. Click the "QuickBooks / Xero" export button to generate a specially formatted Excel file designed for import into QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, FreshBooks, and Wave. The file includes properly formatted columns for date, account, payee name, memo, amount, category, and class — ready for direct import without manual formatting.

Yes. Click the "Save Session" button to store your categorized expenses in your browser's local storage. When you return to the site, you will see your previous sessions listed with the ability to restore any of them. Up to 10 sessions are stored. Note that this data is saved locally on your device — not on any server — so clearing your browser data will remove saved sessions.