August 23, 2026
How to extract data from receipts and expense tickets automatically
Of all the documents that pass through a company's books, receipts and expense tickets hold up the worst: they crease, fade, and get lost at the bottom of a wallet. And yet you still need to pull the amount, date and merchant from each one to justify every expense. Here's how that process can be automated.
Why receipts are harder than invoices
An invoice usually has a fairly structured format with clear fields. A store receipt, on the other hand, varies wildly from one merchant to another, is printed on thermal paper that fades over time, and is often photographed on the spot with a phone, in bad light or already creased. Any system that relies on a fixed template fails here almost every time.
What it takes to extract this data well
A vision-capable AI system doesn't need the receipt to follow a specific format: it identifies the total amount, date and merchant even when they're laid out differently on every ticket, and it works just as well with a quick phone photo as with a receipt that's already faded. This is especially useful for travel expenses, per diems or supply purchases, where the volume of small receipts is high and the time spent typing them in one by one adds up fast.
How to fit it into your expense routine
In practice, it's enough to snap a photo of the receipt at the moment (right after paying, for example) and upload it later, with no need to keep the paper or type anything in. The system extracts the amount, date and merchant, and you just review the result before it goes into your expense sheet or to your accounting firm.
Digitize your receipts the same way as your invoices
Sumafact processes receipts, expense tickets, invoices and delivery notes the same way: upload a photo or PDF and download the data as Excel. The free plan includes 15 documents a month.
Start for free