A company cost needs a company reason
Lunch, a laptop, and a family bill are not the same kind of receipt. If you cannot say what the company bought, do not pay it from the company.
1 min · Checked: October 27, 2026
This is a StartCG summary, not legal, tax, or investment advice. Confirm fees, forms and deadlines on the official page before you act.
The test
Could you show the receipt to the accountant and name the job it paid for? A tool you use to deliver the work, a seat you agreed in writing, a supplier invoice with the company’s name: those have a sentence. A private dinner does not become a company cost because the card in your pocket was the company card.
Write the sentence when you pay
Who sold. What you bought. Which client or which month of work it belongs to. If you cannot write that, pay it yourself and sort it later with the accountant, instead of sorting it inside a tax return.
Connected to how you pay yourself
Moving “what is left” to your personal card is a different question: salary, loan, or profit. Do that on purpose. A muddy receipt and a muddy transfer are how a small company loses a day with the Tax Administration’s filing, which goes through IRMS.
If this summary and an official page disagree, follow the official page.
Official pages
More in this topic
- Keep the papers the accountant will ask to seeBookkeeping starts as a folder: certificate, invoices, bank statements, fee receipts. IRMS is where the filing goes. You still have to find the file.
- Write the money you need before anyone pays youFees, a seat, a signature, tools, and months without an invoice. Own money, a bank, and a fund are three different conversations.
- Questions to take to the bankThe Central Bank supervises banks. It does not pick one for you. Ask two banks the same list and compare the written answers.