This article is relevant for all user roles.
What is a self-issued receipt?
A self-issued receipt is a replacement document created by the company itself, which is used when the original invoice or receipt is no longer available. This is an absolute exception that can also have consequences in the event of a tax audit. As a general rule, if an invoice is missing, employees should contact the merchant and verify whether an invoice truly can no longer be requested. A self-issued receipt serves solely as proof for the deduction of business expenses (reduction of profit), but never entitles the company to a VAT credit.
A self-issued receipt is an exception for missing receipts, not the standard procedure. It should only be used if regular proof is truly unavailable.
When you may use a self-issued receipt
In Germany, a self-issued receipt may only be used as a justified exception if an external receipt is missing through no fault of your own, has been lost, or could not be issued for technical reasons. A prerequisite is always that a duplicate cannot be obtained from the issuer (merchant) or can only be obtained with unreasonable effort.
Loss of a receipt through no fault of the buyer: The original invoice has been lost, stolen, or destroyed, and the issuer cannot or will not issue a duplicate.
Technically-induced receiptless expenses: Expenses at machines without a receipt printer (e.g., older parking ticket machines, car washes, coin-operated machines).
Business-related tips: Cash tips for taxi rides or business meals, provided these are not directly listed on the regular receipt or invoice.
Credit card fraud: If credit card fraud was committed using a finway card, no document can be generated for this transaction. To still provide the data to your tax advisor, you can use a self-issued receipt. However, some tax advisors process such cases even without a transaction record, so finway Support can delete the corresponding requests. Consult with your company’s accounting department and find out whether a data record is required. See also: I have an unknown card transaction—what should I do?
A self-issued receipt does not replace the regular invoicing process but serves as a workaround for individual special cases.
Use self-issued receipts only in exceptional cases.
The process should be understandable and plausible.
The less frequently self-issued receipts are used within the company, the less critical the assessment will be.
How the feature works in finway
If there is no receipt for an expense, finway guides you through creating a self-issued receipt directly within the expense.
Open the relevant expense or reimbursement request in finway.
Enable the toggle to create a self-issued receipt.
3. Fill out all required fields completely.
4. finway automatically generates a PDF and attaches it to the expense.
The benefit: You don’t need a separate template, no manual signing on paper, and no upload from external tools.
The creation process is documented by the system. The electronic approval and subsequent traceability are recorded in the audit trail. This documents who created or approved the self-issued receipt and when that occurred.
This information must be included in the self-issued receipt
For a self-issued receipt to be verifiable as a business expense, certain information must be fully recorded. finway supports you in this process with a guided workflow.
Required Field | Description |
Payee | Name and address of the merchant or service provider |
Date of Expense | The day on which the expense was actually incurred |
Type of Expense | As detailed a description as possible of what was purchased or paid for |
Cost | Gross amount of the expense |
Reason for the Self-Generated Receipt | For example, “Original receipt lost” or “Receipt not received” |
Issuer | The person who created the receipt; documented automatically by the finway system |
For digital self-issued receipts, it is crucial that the information is authorized and cannot be altered retroactively without being noticed. The logging feature in finway supports precisely this traceability.
Important Tax Information
As a general rule, input tax cannot be claimed based on self-issued receipts.
The receipt is therefore typically treated without input tax deduction.
Special caution is advised for larger amounts, as the tax office’s review may be more rigorous.
As a practical guideline: Smaller amounts are usually easier to verify, especially if there is supporting documentation such as a card payment or a bank statement. For larger sums, you should try, if possible, to obtain an original receipt after all.
A self-issued receipt does not automatically guarantee tax recognition. The final assessment always depends on plausibility, completeness, and the specific case.
In which cases is this feature particularly helpful?
Card transactions without an available receipt
Standard reimbursements when an invoice is lost
Entertainment expense reimbursements in exceptional cases where proof is missing
For employees, this means less manual effort. For finance teams, it means greater standardization, better documentation, and a cleaner process directly within the system.
Last updated September 29th, 2026