Missing receipt affidavit: a free lost receipt form.

Download the form

• Missing receipt affidavitWord (.docx) · fill it in on screen
• Printable missing receipt affidavitPDF · 1 page, US Letter

The form has room for six missing receipts, the reason each one is missing, what you did to get a copy, a signed statement, and a line for your manager's approval. To fill it in with Google Docs, upload the Word file to Google Drive and open it with Google Docs. It also opens in Word, Pages and LibreOffice. No email address or account needed.

What a missing receipt affidavit is

A missing receipt affidavit is a signed statement that stands in for a receipt you can't produce. You'll also see it called a lost receipt form, missing receipt declaration or lost receipt certification. Employers, universities and grant programs use it so an expense can still be reimbursed, and self-employed people write the same kind of statement to back up a business expense in their own records.

Despite the name, most organizations don't ask for it to be notarized: your signature, and often a manager's approval, is enough. If your employer has its own form, use theirs. Expense systems such as SAP Concur often have a missing receipt declaration built in.

What to fill in

Try to get a copy first

1. 01
   Ask the merchant

   Many stores, restaurants and hotels can reprint a receipt or email a copy if you give them the date, the amount and the card you used.

2. 02
   Search your email and accounts

   Online orders, airlines, hotels and ride-hailing apps usually email a receipt, and your account's order history can often print one.

3. 03
   Get your card or bank statement

   It shows the amount, date and merchant, but not what you bought or why. Attach it to the affidavit rather than using it on its own.

4. 04
   Then fill in the affidavit

   Do it the same week, while you still remember the details. A record made close to the time is worth more than one written months later.

Check your organization's policy before you rely on an affidavit: many cap what can be claimed without a receipt, and some require a duplicate for airfare, hotels and car rentals.

Does the IRS accept a missing receipt affidavit?

There's no official IRS lost receipt form, and a statement you write yourself isn't proof on its own. But you can still prove an expense without the receipt. When your records are incomplete, IRS Publication 463 says you prove the missing details with your own written statement containing specific information, plus other supporting evidence.

• When you need a receipt: for travel, gift and car expenses, you need documentary evidence, such as a receipt, for any lodging and for any other expense of $75 or more. Transportation, like a taxi, is an exception when a receipt isn't readily available.
• What a receipt should show: the amount, date, place and what the expense was. For a business meal: the restaurant's name and location, the number of people served, the date and the amount.
• A card statement or canceled check: together with a bill from the payee, it ordinarily establishes the cost. On its own it doesn't prove the expense was for business.
• Destroyed records: if you can't produce a receipt for reasons beyond your control, such as a fire or flood, you can prove a deduction by reconstructing your records.
• Other business expenses: your documents should show who you paid, the amount, proof of payment, the date, and what you bought. The IRS notes that it can take a combination of documents to cover all of that.

General information, not tax or legal advice. If a large deduction depends on records you've lost, talk to a tax professional.

Stop losing receipts

Most lost receipts are paper ones that fade, crumple or get thrown out. A photo taken the moment you get a receipt is a copy you can't lose, and it stays readable after thermal paper fades. Then track the expense in our free expense tracker spreadsheet, and check how long to keep receipts before you throw any away.