Receipts collector from Gmail for expenses and tax time
Every online order, ride and subscription sends a receipt to Gmail, and at month end you hunt for them one by one. This prompt has your todo.is agent search your inbox for receipts, save each one as a PDF, and build a spreadsheet with date, vendor, amount, tax and category, ready for your accountant or expense report.
The prompt
- On the [DAY OF MONTH] of every month, search my Gmail for receipts, invoices and order confirmations from the previous month (look for words like receipt, invoice, order, payment, and PDF attachments). For each one, save the receipt as a PDF (the attachment, or the email itself if there is no attachment), named date_vendor_amount.pdf. Build an Excel sheet with: date, vendor, description, amount, currency, tax or VAT if shown, payment method, category from [MY CATEGORIES], and a link to the email. Mark anything that looks like [BUSINESS OR PERSONAL RULE]. Add totals per category. Put the sheet and all PDFs in one zip and email it to [EMAIL ADDRESS]. List anything you were unsure about.
What to change
- [DAY OF MONTH]: e.g. "1st" or "3rd" (gives late receipts time to arrive).
- [MY CATEGORIES]: e.g. "software, travel, meals, office supplies, phone and internet, other".
- [BUSINESS OR PERSONAL RULE]: e.g. "business: anything paid with my card ending 4417, or sent to @mystudio.com".
- [EMAIL ADDRESS]: Where to send it, e.g. your own address or your bookkeeper's.
Example result
- Receipts for September 2026
- 38 receipts found in Gmail. 36 had a PDF or clear amount; 2 need a check.
- Totals by category (business only)
- • Software: 412.80 (Figma, Notion, Google Workspace, Adobe)
- • Travel: 586.40 (train to Hamburg, two ride-hail trips, hotel)
- • Meals: 96.50 (client lunch, team coffee)
- • Office supplies: 74.99 (desk lamp, printer paper)
- • Phone and internet: 59.00
- • Total business: 1,229.69, of which VAT shown: 196.34
- Sample rows from the sheet
- • 2026-09-02, Google Workspace, Business Starter 2 users, 13.80, EUR, VAT 2.20, card 4417, Software
- • 2026-09-11, Rail Nord, Berlin to Hamburg return, 118.00, EUR, VAT 7.72, card 4417, Travel
- • 2026-09-11, Hotel Elbblick, 1 night, 139.00, EUR, VAT 9.09, card 4417, Travel
- • 2026-09-18, Café Mira, client lunch with R. Holm, 48.50, EUR, VAT 7.74, card 4417, Meals
- Files in the zip
- • receipts-2026-09.xlsx (Receipts sheet + Totals sheet)
- • 38 PDFs, e.g. 2026-09-11_Rail-Nord_118.00.pdf
- Please check
- • Amazon order 302-55...: two items, one looks personal (headphones). Marked personal for now.
- • Ride-hail 24 Sept: the email shows a total but no VAT. Download the full invoice from the app if you need it for tax.
How to do it with todo.is
- Connect Google in todo.is so your agent can search Gmail and read attachments.
- Copy the prompt and set your categories, the business rule and the email to send it to.
- Paste it on the Today screen. It runs each month on the day you chose.
- Open the zip, check the flagged items, and forward it to your accountant or upload it to your expense tool.
Tips for a better result
- Run it a few days into the new month. Some receipts and monthly invoices arrive late.
- Give a clear business rule, like a card ending or a work address. It makes the business or personal split much more accurate.
- Some apps only email a summary and keep the real tax invoice in your account. The agent flags those so you can download them.
- Keep the original emails too. Tax offices in many countries want receipts kept for several years.
receipts collector from Gmail: FAQ
- How do I find all receipts in Gmail? Search for words like receipt, invoice, order confirmation and "has:attachment" for a date range. Your agent runs these searches for you, reads each email and pulls out the amounts.
- Can it read receipts that are images or scanned PDFs? Yes. Your agent reads text from photos and scanned PDFs with OCR. Check the amounts on blurry scans.
- Is this good enough for my taxes? It gives you an organized list and copies of your receipts. Ask your accountant or tax adviser what records your country requires and which expenses you can deduct.
- Can I also add paper receipts? Yes. Send photos of paper receipts to your agent and ask it to add them to the same month's sheet.
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