Memos for expenses

OverviewAdd a memo to a single expenseAdd a memo to multiple expensesEdit an existing memoTroubleshooting

This article refers to a feature that might not be available in your current Brex plan. If you'd like to learn more about this feature and how to unlock additional capabilities in Brex's upgraded plans, please have your account or card admin reach out to Brex Support by clicking on Support in your dashboard.

Overview

You can type out a memo and add it to an expense to help add context to the purchase. You can use it as a reminder for yourself once it comes time to close your books, or have your team fill out memos to keep track of why any given expense was made. When exporting expenses that have attached memos, the memo will also be exported to QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, or Expensify.


Add a memo to a single expense

In the dashboard

Step 1: Account and card admins can add or edit memos of other users’ expenses in Expenses. Personal expenses can also be edited in Wallet. Step 2: Click on the expense you want to attach the memo to. You can also find incomplete expenses in Inbox > Expenses. Step 3: Scroll to Memo on the right.

In the app

Step 1: Click the Wallet icon at the bottom to get to the Expenses page. Step 2: Tap the expense you want to attach the memo to. Step 3: Scroll to the Memo section and type in your memo.

Via push notification

If you have push notifications enabled for card expenses, you’ll be notified when an expense comes through that needs a memo to maintain compliance. You can include the memo as follows: Note: You can only upload a memo via a push notification if you’re using an iOS operating system. Step 1: Tap the notification when it appears on your screen. Step 2: Type out the memo and tap Submit.

Automatic memo 

Account and card admins can set up auto-memo rules for card expenses and reimbursements. These rules can use either the spend limit name or the custom text from your policies, and will auto-fill memos so employees don’t have to do any manual work. To enable this, select a policy or spend limit template and navigate to Edit policy > Next > Edit documentation & review settings for card expenses or reimbursements.

Automatic memo suggestion

When you transact with your Brex card, your Brex dashboard will generate a handful of potential memos that you can choose to add to the expense. Step 1: Go to Wallet and click on the expense you want to add the memo to. Alternatively, you can go to Inbox > Expenses and click on an expense. Step 2: Under Memo, review Suggestions. If a suggestion looks accurate, select it. If none suit your needs, add a memo manually using the instructions above.

Via email

If you’re already attaching a receipt to an expense via email, you can include the memo to be added in the same email. To do so, type “memo:” somewhere in your email body. Then type out your memo text. For example, if you want your memo to read “Coffee with client” type out “memo: Coffee with client.”


Add a memo to multiple expenses

In the dashboard

Step 1: Account and card admins can add or edit memos of other users’ expenses in Expenses. Personal expenses can also be edited in Wallet. Step 2: Check the box to the left of all the expenses you want to add a memo to. Step 3: Click the pencil icon at the bottom of the page. Step 4: In the details pane under Memo, type in your desired memo. Step 5: Click Edit [#] expenses.


Edit an existing memo

In the dashboard

Step 1: Go to Expenses. Step 2: Click on the expense you want to edit the memo for. Step 3: In the details pane, change the memo by clicking on the text box and typing in the new memo. It will automatically save and show a checkmark.

In the app

Step 1: Click the Wallet icon at the bottom to get to the Expenses page. Step 2: Tap the expense you want to edit the memo of. Step 3: Scroll to the Memo section and update the memo.


Troubleshooting

Duplicate memos Occasionally, if you have multiple expenses with the same vendor, uploading a receipt or memo to one of these expenses will cause it to duplicate to others from that vendor. This happens whenever the merchant reuses a single authorization code across multiple expenses. Even if it looks to be a completely separate charge in your Brex dashboard, memos and receipts will automatically be added to expenses that share the same merchant code. The best solution is to add all of your receipts for the affected expenses to a single document and upload that.

Was this article helpful?