Expense receipts sorted, straight from WhatsApp.
Pennies is a WhatsApp receipt app for small businesses. You and your staff photograph receipts as you go; Pennies files them, keeps track of who paid, and gives your accountant everything at month-end.
R249 a month after a 14-day free trial · owner plus 5 staff · 200 receipts a month
On a computer? Scan with your phone's camerato start in WhatsApp.
✅ Filed: Sunnyside Fuel · R487.09 · 14 Oct
What was this for?
Fuel for the delivery van
📝 Noted – your accountant has it.
Your dashboard
What you get
- Receipts filed by month
- Supplier, date, amount and your note, with the original photo or PDF kept.
- Your team on board
- Send staff an invite link. Their receipts land in your business, marked with who sent them.
- Expense claims
- Staff send claim; you get a PDF claim pack with every receipt. Approve, query or reject it on WhatsApp or the dashboard, then mark it paid – your staff member is told.
- Projects
- Group receipts by job, site or event – yours and your staff's, including ones on their expense claims. See each project's total and download it.
- SARS travel logbook
- Type or say trip 42km client meeting Sandton. Pennies builds the logbook for each tax year, March to February.
- Your dashboard
- What needs you at the top, spend by supplier, person and month. Tap a receipt to see it full size, add a note or answer your accountant. Opened with a one-time code sent to your WhatsApp.
- Your accountant, free
- Invite your accountant or bookkeeper and they see everything you send, at no extra cost.
- Invoices by email
- Your own Pennies email address. Forward supplier invoices there, by hand or with a Gmail or Outlook rule – they're filed like receipts. Statements are kept separately.
- Several businesses
- Run more than one company or branch? Pennies asks which one when it can't tell.
- Your language
- English, Afrikaans and the other official South African languages, plus Portuguese and French.
Expense claims, even from a spreadsheet
Staff can send their claim as an Excel or CSV file. Pennies reads every line, matches the receipts they've sent, flags what's missing, and puts it in front of you to approve.
Keep a job's costs together
Working on a shopfit, an event or a client job? Start a project and every receipt sent for it lands in one place – yours, and your staff's, including the ones they're claiming back. You see what the job has cost so far, and your accountant sees the project on each receipt.
Start it on WhatsApp
Send new project and a name, or create it on your dashboard.
Send receipts as usual
After each receipt Pennies asks Which project? – one tap. Or send project and the name first, or add #rivonia to the photo's caption.
Stay on budget
Give the project a budget and you get a WhatsApp at 80% and 100%. Send project status for what it's cost, who spent what and the latest receipts.
Close it with one PDF
Send close project and the name: a project pack with the totals, a split by person and by category, and every receipt.
new project Rivonia shopfit
📁 Project Rivonia shopfit is on. Receipts you send now go into it.
✅ Filed: Timber Yard · R6,580.00
📁 Project: Rivonia shopfit
Your staff send project rivonia – their receipts go in too, even the ones they claim back.
Rivonia shopfit
- Hardware HubR1,240.00Thabo · tiles and grout Claim #4 · approved
- Timber YardR6,580.00Owner · shelving boards
- Electrical Supply CoR2,915.50Owner · downlights
- Paint DepotR1,104.90Thabo · primer Claim #4 · approved
- Rentals PlusR1,850.00Owner · scaffold hire
- Fuel stopR689.60Lerato · bakkie fuel
Download the project as a CSV · your accountant sees the project on every receipt
Example with made-up suppliers and amounts.
Supplier invoices straight from your inbox
Suppliers who email their invoices don't need a photo. Your business gets its own Pennies address – forward invoices there and they're read, filed and, when the supplier is on a job you're running, offered to that project with one tap. Your accountant sees them in their review queue with everything else.
Get your address
Send inbox on WhatsApp, or open Email on your dashboard. It's yours alone, e.g. acme-builders-k7m2qp@in.penniesapp.com.
Link Gmail once
Add the address as a forwarding address in Gmail – Pennies sends you the confirmation code on WhatsApp – then make a filter for your suppliers. Outlook rules work too.
Invoices file themselves
Each PDF or photo attached is read like a receipt: supplier, date, amount, invoice number. Statements go on their own list.
Onto the right project
Used that supplier on an open project? Pennies asks add it to Rivonia shopfit? – one tap and the project total is up to date.
Tax invoice TY-20418
Please find your invoice attached. Thank you for your business.
acme-builders-k7m2qp@in.penniesapp.com📧 From your Pennies email address
• Timber Yard Accounts: Timber Yard R4,210.00
You've used them on Rivonia shopfit – add it to that project?
Add to project
📁 Added Timber Yard R4,210.00 to Rivonia shopfit.
Rivonia shopfit
- Timber YardR4,210.00Tax invoice TY-20418 📧 by email
- Hardware HubR1,240.00Thabo · tiles and grout Claim #4
- Electrical Supply CoR2,915.50Owner · downlights
- Timber YardR6,580.00Owner · shelving boards
Statements from Timber Yard are kept on their own list – never counted as receipts.
Example with made-up suppliers and amounts. Step-by-step set-up for Gmail and Outlook
Questions from businesses
How do I send receipts to my accountant?
Save the Pennies number, send a photo of each receipt on WhatsApp and add a few words about what it was for. If your accountant uses Pennies, they see it straight away. If they don't, invite them from your dashboard – accountants join free on the Business plan.
Do I need to download an app?
No. Pennies works inside WhatsApp, which you already have. Owners and accountants also get a web dashboard, opened with a one-time code sent on WhatsApp.
Can my staff send receipts and claim expenses?
Yes. Owners invite staff with a link. Staff receipts are filed under the business and marked with who sent them. Staff say whether they paid with their own money or a company card, send the word 'claim' when they're ready, and the owner receives a PDF claim pack. The owner approves, queries or rejects it on WhatsApp or the dashboard, then marks it paid once the money is paid back – the staff member is told at each step.
Can Pennies pick up supplier invoices from my email?
Yes. Every business gets its own Pennies email address, such as yourbusiness-k7m2qp@in.penniesapp.com – send 'inbox' on WhatsApp or open Email on your dashboard to see it. Set a Gmail filter or an Outlook rule to forward your suppliers' emails there, or forward invoices by hand. Pennies reads each PDF or photo attached and files it with your receipts. If you've used that supplier on an open project, Pennies asks on WhatsApp whether to add the invoice to it.
What happens to supplier statements that are emailed in?
Pennies recognises a statement and keeps it on its own list for the business and its accountant, so it never counts as a receipt or ends up in an expense claim or export. Invoices and credit notes are filed as usual.
Can Pennies keep a travel logbook for SARS?
Yes. Send a message or voice note such as 'trip 42km client meeting Sandton', or the odometer readings. Pennies builds a SARS-style logbook spreadsheet for each tax year, March to February.
Which languages and currencies does Pennies support?
Pennies replies in English, Afrikaans and the other official South African languages, plus Portuguese and French. Each receipt keeps its own currency, so rand, pounds, euros and dollars sit side by side without being converted.
Can I use Pennies outside South Africa?
Yes. Pennies works anywhere WhatsApp does, and keeps every receipt in its own currency. The pricing page shows prices in rand, pounds, euros and dollars. The SARS travel logbook is South African; everything else works the same everywhere.
Send your first receipt today.
14 days free. No card, no app to install – it starts in WhatsApp.