Organizing Expenses with Tags

Overview

Tags are powerful organizational tools that let you categorize expenses beyond standard categories. Learn how to use tags for project tracking, client management, and custom organization that fits your unique business needs.

What You'll Learn

• What tags are and why they're useful
• How to create and apply tags
• Best practices for tag organization
• Filtering and reporting by tags
• Bulk tagging operations
• Tag management strategies

What Are Expense Tags?

Tags vs. Categories

Categories:

• Tax-focused (CRA compliance)
• Predefined structure
• One category per expense (usually)
• Examples: "Office Expenses", "Meals & Entertainment"

Tags:

• Flexible, custom labels
• User-defined structure
• Multiple tags per expense
• Examples: "Q4-2025", "Client: ABC Corp", "Project: Website"

Why Use Tags?

Project Tracking:

• Track all expenses for a specific project
• Calculate project profitability
• Bill clients for project-related expenses

Client Organization:

• Group all expenses by client
• Generate client-specific reports
• Track client profitability

Time-Based Tracking:

• Tag by quarter, year, or season
• Compare spending across time periods
• Organize for tax years

Purpose Tracking:

• "Business Development"
• "Marketing Campaign"
• "Trade Show"

Multi-Dimensional Analysis:

• Combine tags for deeper insights
• Example: "Client: XYZ" + "Q3-2025" + "Marketing"

Creating Tags

Create Tag While Adding Expense

1. Open new expense form
2. Tags field (below description)
3. Type tag name
4. Press Enter or click "+ Create"
5. Tag is created and applied to expense

Auto-suggestions: As you type, existing tags appear for selection. This prevents duplicate tags with slight variations.

Tag Naming Best Practices

Use consistent prefixes:

• Client: ABC Corp
• Client: XYZ Inc
• Project: Website
• Project: Logo Design

Use descriptive names:

• ✅ "Q4-2025-Marketing"
• ❌ "Q4"

Use kebab-case or snake_case:

• ✅ "trade-show-2025"
• ✅ "trade_show_2025"
• ❌ "Trade Show 2025" (harder to type quickly)

Keep tags short:

• ✅ "Client-ABC"
• ❌ "Client ABC Corporation Limited"

Creating Tags in Advance

Pre-create tags for consistent use:

1. Go to Settings > Tags
2. Click "+ Create Tag"
3. Tag details:
   • Name: Tag label
   • Color: Visual identification (optional)
   • Description: Internal notes about tag usage
4. Click "Save Tag"

Benefit: Team members see available tags and use consistent naming.

Applying Tags to Expenses

Single Expense Tagging

1. Open expense (new or existing)
2. Tags field
3. Type or select tags:
   • Type to search existing tags
   • Select from dropdown
   • Create new tag
4. Add multiple tags:
   • Press Enter after each tag
   • Up to 10 tags per expense
5. Save expense

Bulk Tagging

Tag multiple expenses at once:

1. Go to Expenses page
2. Select expenses (checkboxes)
3. Click "Bulk Actions" > "Add Tags"
4. Enter tags:
   • Type tag names
   • Press Enter after each
5. Choose merge strategy:
   • Add to existing tags - Keep current tags, add new ones
   • Replace all tags - Remove old tags, apply only new ones
6. Click "Apply to X expenses"

Example: Selected all "Staples" expenses, bulk add tag "Office-Supplies-2025"

See Bulk Operations guide for details.

Auto-Tagging with AI (Professional/Growth)

AI learns your tagging patterns:

1. Tag expenses manually for a few weeks
2. AI observes patterns:
   • "Starbucks" expenses often tagged "Client-Meetings"
   • Friday expenses tagged "End-of-Week"
3. AI suggests tags for new expenses
4. Accept or modify suggestions
5. AI improves over time

Enable: Settings > AI Features > Enable AI Tag Suggestions

Tag Colors

Assigning Colors to Tags

Visual organization with color-coding:

1. Go to Settings > Tags
2. Click tag to edit
3. Select color:
   • Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, Gray
4. Save

Color strategy examples:

By type:

• 🔴 Clients (Red)
• 🟢 Projects (Green)
• 🔵 Time periods (Blue)
• 🟡 Status (Yellow)

By priority:

• 🔴 Billable (Red)
• 🟢 Non-billable (Green)
• 🟡 Pending review (Yellow)

By department:

• 🔵 Marketing (Blue)
• 🟣 Operations (Purple)
• 🟢 Sales (Green)

Color Display

Tags appear with color coding:

• In expense list
• On expense detail view
• In filters
• In reports

Makes visual scanning much faster.

Filtering by Tags

Tag Filters

1. Go to Expenses page
2. Click "Filters"
3. Tags section:
   • Search for tags
   • Select one or multiple
4. Match strategy:
   • Match ANY - Expenses with any selected tag
   • Match ALL - Expenses with all selected tags
5. Click "Apply"

Example filters:

"Client: ABC" OR "Client: XYZ":

• Match ANY
• Shows all expenses for either client

"Project: Website" AND "Billable":

• Match ALL
• Shows only billable expenses for website project

Quick Tag Filters

Click any tag in the expense list:

• Instantly filters to that tag
• Temporary filter (clear to reset)

Saved Searches with Tags

Combine tags with other filters and save:

Example: "Client ABC - Q4 Review"

• Tags: "Client-ABC"
• Date: Q4 2025
• Category: Any
• Save search for reuse

Reporting by Tags

Tag-Based Reports

Generate reports filtered by tags:

1. Go to Reports
2. Select report type:
   • Expense Report
   • Summary Report
   • Custom Report
3. Filter by tags:
   • Select tags
   • Choose match strategy
4. Generate report

Report shows:

• Total spent per tag
• Breakdown by category within tag
• Time-based trends
• Tag combinations

Project Profitability

Track project expenses:

1. Tag all project expenses: "Project-Website"
2. Generate tag report
3. Compare to project revenue (from invoices)
4. Calculate profit:
   • Revenue - Tagged Expenses = Profit

Client Reports

Generate client expense reports:

1. Filter by client tag
2. Select date range
3. Export to PDF
4. Send to client (for reimbursable expenses)

Tag Management

Viewing All Tags

Settings > Tags

See all tags with:

• Name
• Color
• Number of expenses using tag
• Last used date
• Created date

Editing Tags

1. Settings > Tags
2. Click tag to edit
3. Modify:
   • Name (updates all expenses using tag)
   • Color
   • Description
4. Save changes

Warning: Renaming a tag updates ALL expenses using it.

Merging Tags

Combine duplicate or similar tags:

1. Settings > Tags
2. Select "Merge Tags"
3. Choose tags to merge:
   • "Client-ABC"
   • "ABC-Corp"
   • "ABC"
4. Choose master tag (name to keep)
5. Confirm merge

All expenses with merged tags now use master tag.

Use case: Clean up inconsistent tag naming from early use.

Deleting Tags

Remove unused tags:

1. Settings > Tags
2. Click tag
3. Click "Delete Tag"
4. Choose what to do with tagged expenses:
   • Remove tag from all expenses (recommended)
   • Delete all expenses with this tag (dangerous!)
5. Confirm deletion

Note: Deleting tag doesn't delete expenses (unless you explicitly choose that option).

Archiving Tags

Hide old tags without deleting:

1. Settings > Tags
2. Click tag
3. Click "Archive"
4. Tag hidden from tag selector
5. Expenses keep the tag
6. Can unarchive anytime

Use case: Completed projects, old clients, past campaigns.

Tag Strategy Examples

Freelancer/Consultant Strategy

Tags:

• Client-[ClientName] - Track per-client expenses
• Billable / Non-Billable - Identify reimbursable expenses
• Project-[ProjectName] - Project-specific tracking
• Tax-Review - Flag expenses needing accountant review

Example expense:

• Merchant: Starbucks
• Category: Meals & Entertainment
• Tags: Client-XYZ, Billable, Project-Website

Agency Strategy

Tags:

• Campaign-[Name] - Marketing campaign expenses
• Client-[Name] - Client work
• Dept-[Department] - Department allocation
• Q[X]-[Year] - Quarterly tracking

Retail Strategy

Tags:

• Inventory-[Category] - Inventory purchases
• Store-[Location] - Multi-location businesses
• Vendor-[Name] - Track by supplier
• Season-[Season] - Seasonal products

Project-Based Strategy

Tags:

• [ProjectCode] - Unique project identifier
• Phase-[Number] - Project phases
• Milestone-[Name] - Milestone tracking
• Approved / Pending - Approval status

Advanced Tag Features

Tag Hierarchies (Growth Plan)

Create parent-child tag relationships:

Example:

• Client-ABC (parent)
  • Client-ABC-Project1 (child)
  • Client-ABC-Project2 (child)

Benefits:

• Filter by parent shows all child tags
• Hierarchical reporting
• Better organization

Tag Templates (Growth Plan)

Pre-defined tag sets for quick application:

Create template:

1. Settings > Tag Templates
2. Name template: "Website Project"
3. Add tags: "Project-Website", "Billable", "Client-XYZ"
4. Save

Apply template:

1. Creating expense
2. Click "Apply Tag Template"
3. Select template
4. All tags applied instantly

Team Tag Guidelines (Growth Plan)

Set tag naming conventions for team:

1. Settings > Tags > Guidelines
2. Document tag structure:
   • Naming conventions
   • Required tags
   • Tag purposes
3. Team sees guidelines when creating tags

Tips & Best Practices

• Start simple - Don't create too many tags initially
• Be consistent - Use same naming pattern
• Use prefixes - Group related tags ("Client-", "Project-")
• Combine with categories - Tags complement, don't replace categories
• Review monthly - Clean up unused tags
• Document tag strategy - Especially for teams
• Use colors strategically - Visual cues speed up workflow
• Merge duplicates - "ABC", "ABC-Corp", "ABC Corp" → One tag
• Archive completed projects - Keeps active tag list manageable

Common Questions

Q: How many tags can I add to one expense? A: Up to 10 tags per expense. If you need more, consider using broader tag categories.

Q: Can I rename a tag? A: Yes, editing tag name updates all expenses using it automatically.

Q: What's the difference between tags and custom categories? A: Categories affect tax deductions and are single-per-expense. Tags are flexible, multi-per-expense, and for organization only.

Q: Can I use tags in expense imports? A: Yes! Include a tags column in your CSV with comma-separated tag names.

Q: Do tags work with AI categorization? A: Yes, AI can learn and suggest tags based on your patterns (Professional/Growth plans).

Q: Can clients see tags on invoices? A: No, tags are internal only. They don't appear on invoices sent to clients.

Q: Can I filter reports by multiple tags? A: Yes, select multiple tags and choose "Match ANY" or "Match ALL".

Q: What happens to tags when I delete an expense? A: Tags remain in the system for use on other expenses. Only the expense-tag relationship is removed.

Related Articles

• Creating Expenses - Add tags to expenses
• Bulk Operations - Bulk tagging
• Searching Expenses - Search by tags
• Custom Reports - Tag-based reporting

Need More Help?

Contact support at support@akiliapps.com or use the live chat in the bottom right corner of the app.