Expense Claim Skill
Automates the full workflow of turning a pile of receipt images and PDFs into clean, submission-ready expense claim packages — sorted by date and category, with currency conversions and a summary table.
Workflow Overview
Run these five phases in order. Never skip a phase.
Phase 1 → Ingest & Parse all uploaded files
Phase 2 → Classify each bill (date, vendor, category, currency, amount)
Phase 3 → Generate per-day per-category PDFs
Phase 4 → Generate the expense spreadsheet (XLSX)
Phase 5 → Output summary tables for manual form entry
Phase 1 — Ingest & Parse
- List every file in
/mnt/user-data/uploads/ - For each file:
- Images (
.png,.jpg,.jpeg): read visually — extract date, vendor, amount, currency, bill number, and any GST/VAT breakdown - PDFs (
.pdf): usepypdfto extract text; if text is sparse, treat as scanned and read visually
- Images (
- Ask the user if any files are missing or unreadable before proceeding
Phase 2 — Classify
Map every bill to this schema:
date : DD-Mon-YY (e.g. 13-Feb-26)
vendor : string
location : city / airport / country
category : one of the TCS categories below
currency : INR | USD | EUR | GBP | SGD | AED | ...
amount_orig : float (as printed on bill)
bill_no : string (from receipt; use "attached" if none)
notes : brief description of items
TCS Expense Categories (map every bill to one)
| TCS Category | What goes here |
|---|---|
| Travel Expenses – Conveyance | Uber, Ola, Lyft, taxis, local cabs, airport transfers |
| Ticket Expenses – Air Tickets | Airline tickets, excess baggage fees (keep SEPARATE per bill) |
| Ticket Expenses – Train Tickets | Rail bookings |
| Ticket Expenses – Bus Tickets | Bus / coach bookings |
| Hotel Accommodation | Hotel folios, checkout invoices (NOT room dining — that's Meal) |
| Travel Expenses – Meal | All food, beverages, airport snacks, restaurant bills, delivery (Zomato/Swiggy), cafe receipts |
| Client Entertainment – Travel | Meals/entertainment where clients were present |
| Car Expenses | Fuel, parking, tolls |
| Communication Expenses | SIM cards, roaming, internet dongles |
| Conference and Training Courses | Registration fees, course materials |
Special Rules
- Room dining at a hotel → Meal (NOT Hotel Accommodation)
- Zomato/Swiggy orders: bundle restaurant bill + platform fee + delivery fee into ONE line item with the combined total
- Delta / airline excess baggage → Air Tickets (separate PDF per bill)
- Airport retail (water, snacks, chocolates) → Meal
- Sweets / gifts (e.g. Kantis, mithai shops) → Meal (flag with note: "verify if gift policy applies")
- Multiple bills same day same category → merged into one PDF
Phase 3 — Generate PDFs
Read /mnt/skills/public/pdf/SKILL.md before running this phase.
Naming convention:
DD_Mon_YYYY_<TCS_Category_Underscored>.pdf
Examples:
13_Feb_2026_Travel_Expenses_Conveyance.pdf
13_Feb_2026_Travel_Expenses_Meal.pdf
13_Feb_2026_Ticket_Expenses_Air_Tickets.pdf
20_Feb_2026_Hotel_Accommodation.pdf
Script to use: scripts/build_pdfs.py
- Converts images → PDF pages using
img2pdf+Pillow - Merges existing PDFs using
pypdf - Outputs to
/mnt/user-data/outputs/bills_by_category/
Run: python3 scripts/build_pdfs.py
Present all generated PDFs to the user using present_files.
Phase 4 — Generate XLSX Summary
Read /mnt/skills/public/xlsx/SKILL.md before running this phase.
Script to use: scripts/build_xlsx.py
The spreadsheet has two sheets:
Sheet 1: "All Expenses"
Columns: #, Date, Vendor, Location, Category, Currency, Amount (Original), Amount (INR equiv.), Notes
Color coding:
- Blue fill → Travel / Conveyance / Air Tickets
- Green fill → Food & Meal
- Orange fill → Accommodation
- Purple fill → Other
Sheet 2: "Summary"
Rows = TCS categories; Columns = Category, # Items, Original Amounts, INR Equiv.
Plus a Grand Total row with all-in USD equivalent.
Currency conversion — use rates from references/fx_rates.md or fetch live
rates if web search is available. Always show the rate used and its date.
Output to /mnt/user-data/outputs/expense_claim.xlsx
Phase 5 — Summary Tables for Manual Entry
Always output three tables in chat so the user can fill their expense portal directly:
Table A: Conveyance entries
Bill Date | From Location | To Location | Bill No | Currency | Amount | Remarks
Table B: Meal entries
Bill Date | Name of Hotel/Restaurant | Bill No | Currency | Amount | Remarks
Table C: Hotel entries
Bill Date | From Date | To Date | Bill No | Currency | Amount | Remarks
Table D: Air Ticket entries
Bill Date | Bill No | Currency | Amount | Remarks
Table E: Day-wise spend summary
Date | Conveyance | Air Ticket | Hotel | Meal (local currency) | Day Total (USD)
— Include a GRAND TOTAL row at the bottom.
Currency Conversion Rules
See references/fx_rates.md for standard rates.
- Always convert everything to INR for Indian domestic claims
- Always convert everything to USD for international / global summary
- Show the exchange rate used in every table and in the XLSX notes
- If the trip spans multiple currencies, show original + converted in the XLSX
- Flag any bill where the currency on the receipt doesn't match the card currency (possible forex fee)
Output Checklist
Before finishing, confirm all of these exist:
- One PDF per day per category in
/mnt/user-data/outputs/bills_by_category/ -
expense_claim.xlsxwith both sheets - Table A–E printed in chat
- Grand total in USD stated clearly
- Any flagged items noted (gift policy, missing bills, illegible receipts)
Error Handling
| Problem | Action |
|---|---|
| Can't read a receipt | Note it, ask user to confirm amount manually |
| Date missing from bill | Infer from surrounding bills or ask user |
| Currency ambiguous | Default to country of purchase; flag for user |
| Bill number not on receipt | Use "attached" |
| Multiple receipts same vendor same day | Merge into one line, note qty |
Reference Files
references/fx_rates.md— Standard FX rates for common travel corridorsreferences/tcs_categories.md— Full TCS category eligibility rulesscripts/build_pdfs.py— PDF generation scriptscripts/build_xlsx.py— Excel generation script