Before you start
Finding card expenses to submit
Submitting a card expense for an employee card
Adding and managing receipts
Itemising card expenses (splitting one transaction)
How requirements can affect your ability to submit
Submitting the expense
After you submit
Expense assistant: Submitting on behalf of someone else
Troubleshooting and getting help
This guide will walk you through submitting card expenses as a team member or cardholder, either via the Airwallex mobile app (iOS, Android) or via the Airwallex webapp.
You’ll learn how to:
Find the card expenses that need your attention
Add receipts (including using AI Receipt Matching)
Itemise complex transactions
Understand how policies (late expenses, missing receipts, card freezing) affect you
Edit or track an expense after you’ve submitted it
Before you start
Download the Airwallex mobile app
Card expenses are supported by Airwallex’s iOS and Android mobile apps.
Get the mobile app now from:
Who can submit card expenses online?
You can submit card expenses if:
You are the cardholder of an employee card, or
You are listed as a card contact on a company card
You’ll see card expenses for any cards you hold or are a contact for, across the entities and accounts you have access to.
Finding card expenses to submit
Step 1: Log in and go to Expenses
Log in to your Airwallex account.
From the navigation menu, go to Spend > (Expenses) > Card expenses.
Depending on your organisation’s setup and past activity, you may land directly on Card expenses.
Step 2: Use filters and statuses to find the right expense
On the Card expenses page you’ll see a list of expenses with their current status.
Common statuses include:
Incomplete – expense details are missing; action is required from you
In approval – you’ve submitted the expense; it’s waiting for approval
Approved – the expense has been approved
Resubmit needed – the expense has been rejected; you need to fix and resubmit
Use the filters at the top of the page to narrow down the list, for example:
Expense status – filter to Incomplete to see what you still need to submit
Late expenses – filter to expenses 1 day before deadline or already late
Where available, the table may also show icons or columns such as warning icon – indicating missing information, potential policy issues, or other actions required.
Click any expense row to open the detailed form.
Submitting a card expense for an employee card
Step 1: Open the expense details form
From the Card expenses list, click on an expense with Incomplete status. This opens the expense details form.
You’ll see:
Required fields – usually labelled as required
Optional fields – fields you can fill in if relevant to your organisation
All required fields must be completed before you can submit the expense for review.
Step 2: Complete required details
Required fields vary by organisation and by whether you are connected to an accounting system (such as Xero, QuickBooks or NetSuite), but commonly include:
Merchant – usually pre-filled from the card transaction
Expense category – how this expense should be coded in your organisation’s chart of accounts
Date – the date of the transaction
Amount and currency – billed amount; this may be locked to the card transaction
Tax information – for example GST or VAT, if configured
Tracking categories/dimensions – such as department, project, cost centre, or other custom fields
For organisations connected to an accounting system, the Expense category, Tax information, and other Tracking categories may be pre-populated based on rules defined by your financial admins. They can also be pre-filled by AI based on how similar expenses have been categorised in the past. You can usually override this if it’s not appropriate.
Step 3: Add optional details
Optional fields can help your approver or finance team understand the expense, such as:
Description/notes
Customer or project references
Additional tracking categories
Providing clear descriptions according to your organisation’s policy can reduce back-and-forth and speed up approval.
Note: Submitting expenses when you’re a card contact on a company card
If you are a card contact on a company card, you’ll see card expenses that belong to that company card. You can submit those expenses following the same steps as for an employee card.
Adding and managing receipts
Adding supporting documents is a critical part of submitting card expenses. Your organisation may require receipts above certain thresholds or for particular categories.
Using AI Receipt Matching
Receipts can be automatically matched to your card expenses, reducing manual work. Receipts can reach your account easily through:
Email forwarding – simply forward receipt emails to this email address: receipts@expenses.airwallex.com
Bulk upload – you can drag and drop or upload multiple receipts in the top-right Upload receipts drawer.
Once receipts are sent to Airwallex, you may see at the top right:
Review receipts – where Airwallex proposes a receipt for a specific card expense based on date, amount, merchant and other signals, and where unmatched receipts are stored until matched to an expense.
Uploading receipts directly to an expense
From the expense form:
Look for the Receipts area
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Upload receipts by:
Dragging and dropping files from your computer into the web upload area, or
Clicking to select files from your computer or mobile
Supported formats include common image, Word and PDF formats at a maximum 10MB size.
You can:
Attach multiple receipts to a single expense (for example, multiple pages or a folio plus tip)
Remove or replace receipts if you uploaded the wrong file, subject to your organisation’s settings.
Don’t have a receipt?
You may still be able to submit the expense:
If a required receipt is not available, you may mark the expense as Missing receipt with a justification.
Some organisations may not require receipts in certain circumstances; others may block submission or require additional approval.
Itemising card expenses (splitting one transaction)
For some expenses, a single card transaction includes multiple types of spend. Example: a hotel bill with room, meals, and parking.
Use itemisation whenever parts of the same transaction should be coded differently or taxed differently. This saves finance from manual adjustments later.
You can split one card transaction into multiple line items for the same expense, each with its own:
Amount,
Description,
Tax treatment,
Tracking categories…
From the web expense form:
Look for the Itemise expense button under ellipsis ... at top right
Add one line per component of the transaction (for example, “Accommodation”, “Meals”, “Parking”).
Ensure the line item amounts add up to the full transaction amount; the system may prevent submission until they match.
Assign the correct categories and tax codes for each line.
How requirements can affect your ability to submit
Your organisation may apply requirements that control how and when you can submit card expenses. These policies are enforced in the submission form and can change what you see when submitting.
Late expenses
Some organisations require card expenses to be submitted within a certain number of days from the transaction date.
When a card expense is late, you might see:
A warning or banner explaining that the expense is outside the allowed window
Additional required fields (for example, a reason for lateness)
Stricter approval flows or the need for manager override
Follow any on‑screen instructions. If you’re unsure, provide a clear explanation in the comments/notes and contact your manager or finance team.
Card freezing
If you organization has automatic card freezing for late expenses enabled, it may have rules that:
Freeze cards if expenses are left unsubmitted for too long
Unfreeze cards automatically or after review once overdue expenses have been submitted and approved
You will be notified 24 hours in advance of a card freeze.
If your card has been frozen and you see banners in the Cards or Expenses areas:
Go to Spend > (Expenses) > Card expenses.
Filter to Incomplete or other relevant statuses to find expenses blocking you.
Add required details and receipts, then submit for review.
This helps restore compliance and may be a precondition for your card to be unfrozen, depending on your organisation’s rules.
Submitting the expense
Once all required fields and any receipt requirements are satisfied:
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Review the details:
Amount and currency
Category and tax
Tracking categories
Receipts attached
Any policy notes or comments
Click Submit expense.
After submission:
The expense status will change from Incomplete to In review.
The expense will be routed through your organisation’s approval workflow.
If submission is blocked:
Review any error messages or highlighted fields.
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Check for:
Missing required fields
Missing or invalid receipts
Policy violations that need explanation or adjustment
After you submit
Policy agent
If your organisation uses the AI‑powered policy agent to review expenses, you may see:
Policy flags on the expenses table and expense form, explaining why the expense may be out of policy (for example supporting documents, category, description…)
Suggested actions, such as adding mandatory information
Policy verifications, indicating your expense is in policy.
Treat flags as opportunities to fix issues early, usually avoiding back-and-forth later.
Recalling and editing a submitted expense
What you can do after submission depends on your organisation’s configuration and your permissions. For expenses in In review status, you may need to recall the expense, make edits, and resubmit.
Look for the option to Recall expense in order to pull the expense back from the approval queue.
Using the expense timeline and comments
Each expense typically has a timeline and comment area that shows:
When the expense was created
When details or receipts were added
When the expense was submitted, approved, rejected or changed
Any policy checks or automated decisions applied
Comments from you, your approver, or finance
Use comments to:
Clarify unusual transactions
Respond to questions from approvers
Document exceptions (for example, missing receipts, late submissions)
This reduces the need for separate email threads.
Expense assistant: Submitting on behalf of someone else
Assistants or admins may be allowed to help prepare or submit expenses for others.
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The webapp will usually show:
Who the cardholder is
Which user is performing the action
Read how to use the assistant feature on this dedicated guide.
Troubleshooting and getting help
If you’re having trouble submitting an expense online:
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You can’t find any expenses:
Confirm you’re on Expenses > Card expenses.
Check your filters (for example, clear filters that might hide your card or entity).
Ask your admin to confirm that Spend / Expenses access and cardholder/card-contact settings are correct.
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You can’t submit because of missing receipts or late expense errors:
Check the Receipts section for missing files.
Read any warnings on the form or in the timeline and follow the guidance.
If you cannot meet a requirement (for example, lost receipt), use the provided missing receipt flow or contact your approver/finance.
If issues persist, contact Airwallex Support and provide:
Your organisation name
Screenshots of the issue (including any error messages or policy banners)
A link to your card expense in the webapp if available
This helps us and your admin resolve the issue as quickly as possible.