# Putting together travel expenses

> Add up the travel expenses of a business trip so anyone can follow them: hotel, fares, meal allowances and extras, each with a comment – example to adapt.

- Language: English
- This page as HTML: https://www.calctape.com/en/travel-expenses
- Updated: 2026-09-12

A travel expense claim is a list of receipts with explanations: two nights in a
hotel, the flight, the meal allowances for the days of the trip,
the taxi to the customer. On a desktop calculator only the total survives. On
the tape every receipt stays put – and when accounting asks where the 47.60 € come
from, the answer is written beside it.

## The example calculation

Three days at a customer’s site, two nights in a hotel: accommodation, flight,
meal allowances for the day of arrival, the full day and the day of departure,
plus taxi and parking. The allowances carry the German rates: 14 € for the
days of arrival and departure, 28 € for a full day – enter the ones that apply
to you.
Change the hotel rate or the number of nights – the total follows.

| | Betrag | Posten |
|---|---:|---|
| | | *Travel expenses: customer visit, 3 days, 2 nights* |
|  | 118.50 | Hotel, rate per night |
| × | 2.00 | nights |
| = | **237.00** | Accommodation |
| + | 342.80 | Flight, return |
| + | 14.00 | Meal allowance, day of arrival |
| + | 28.00 | Meal allowance, full day |
| + | 14.00 | Meal allowance, day of departure |
| + | 47.60 | Taxi to the customer and back |
| + | 26.50 | Airport parking |
| = | **709.90** | Travel expenses total |

## What the calculation shows

- **Multiplying on the tape.** `* 2 nights` takes the total above times two –
  the line reads like the receipt: rate per night, number of nights,
  accommodation total.
- **Allowances stay explained.** Three meal allowances, two different
  amounts: the comment says which day is meant. If the allowance changes, you
  change the amount, not the calculation.
- **Add receipts without retyping.** The parking ticket only turns up when you
  empty your jacket? Insert a line, the total recalculates.
- **Easy to follow for others.** Printed or as a PDF, the tape is the statement
  for accounting at the same time – comments in green, amounts in columns.

## How to do it in CalcTape

1. Type receipt by receipt: operator, amount, comment.
2. `*` and `/` work on the total above – for “rate times quantity”, put the rate
   in the first line and the quantity below it.
3. The `=` key (or Enter) closes a subtotal, for example the accommodation
   total; four dashes in a line do the same.
4. If a receipt is missing, insert the line in the right place; order and
   comments stay intact.

## Reusing it as a template

Save the claim for the first trip as a file and use it for all the others: swap
the amounts, add lines, done. With [Pro](https://www.calctape.com/en/#editions), several trips
sit side by side; on the Windows desktop Pro also hands the statement to
accounting as an Excel file. On the go you write the receipts into the
[Android app](https://www.calctape.com/en/calctape-android) or the app for
[iPhone and iPad](https://www.calctape.com/en/calctape-ios) and take the file with you; at the desk,
CalcTape in the browser is enough.