A petty cash request form is the short voucher you complete to draw from or get reimbursed by your employer’s small-cash fund. To get paid without a hold-up, do four things in order: confirm the expense is eligible, attach an itemized receipt, fill in every field on the form, and route it through your supervisor to the fund custodian.
Check Whether Your Expense Qualifies
Petty cash is for small, routine business purchases that aren’t worth a purchase order or procurement card: office supplies, postage, a last-minute cab fare, coffee for a team event. Most organizations cap individual transactions somewhere between $25 and $75, though the exact ceiling depends on your company’s policy. If you don’t know the limit, ask the fund custodian before you spend. Buying something over the cap means the form gets denied and you’ll need to file a regular expense report instead.
Some expenses are off-limits at any dollar amount. Common exclusions include personal loans or advances, salary or wage payments, travel that should go through a separate travel reimbursement process, relocation costs, check cashing, and capital equipment. Ohio State University’s cash-funds policy, which tracks standard corporate practice, explicitly bars cash advances to employees, personal check cashing, and any expenditure not otherwise authorized under the organization’s spending rules.1Ohio State University. Cash Funds Policy A quick test: was it a routine, low-dollar business expense you paid out of pocket? If yes, you’re probably fine. If the answer needs explanation, ask your supervisor first.
Get the Receipt Before You Fill Anything Out
No receipt, no reimbursement. That’s the rule in nearly every petty cash policy. The receipt or invoice must show the vendor’s name, the date, and an itemized breakdown of what you bought. A lump-sum total won’t work, because the reviewer needs to confirm each item was a legitimate business expense. Ohio’s state purchasing manual lays out the standard expectation: the supplier’s name, address, proof of payment, date, and a description of each item purchased.2OAKS FIN Process Manual. Purchasing with the Petty Cash Account
The IRS drives this too. If your employer deducts petty cash expenses on its tax return, the supporting documents need to identify the payee, the amount, proof of payment, the date, and a description showing the cost was a business expense.3Internal Revenue Service. What Kind of Records Should I Keep That’s the real reason your employer insists on receipts. It isn’t only internal bureaucracy.
When the Receipt Is Lost
If the original is gone, first ask the vendor for a duplicate. Many retailers and online merchants can reprint or email a copy if you have the transaction date and payment method. When that fails, most organizations require a missing-receipt affidavit: a short sworn statement describing the expense, the amount, and why the receipt is unavailable. Northern Illinois University’s version is typical. It requires a complete explanation of the expense, the employee’s signature, and the department head’s signature, and it asks you to certify that you haven’t submitted the same expense elsewhere for reimbursement.4Northern Illinois University. Missing Receipt Affidavit Attaching a credit card statement showing the charge helps, but it doesn’t replace the affidavit.
Filling Out the Form
Layouts vary from one employer to the next, but the fields are almost universal. You’ll need to complete:
- Date of the purchase, not the date you’re filling out the form (though some forms ask for both).
- Your full name as it appears in payroll or HR records.
- Department or account code, meaning the budget line the expense should be charged against. A blank or wrong code is the most common reason forms get sent back. If you don’t know your code, check with your manager or the finance team before submitting.
- Vendor or payee, the name of the store or supplier where you made the purchase.
- Description or purpose, a specific note explaining the business reason. “Office supplies for quarterly report mailing” is useful; “supplies” by itself isn’t.
- Amount, the exact dollar-and-cents figure, matching your receipt to the penny.
- Your signature. By signing, you’re affirming the expense was legitimate and the information is accurate.
A sample form from Clemson University shows the typical structure: fields for the date, the person signing out funds, the amount, the purpose, and separate signature lines for the person distributing funds and the person returning receipts.5Clemson University. Petty Cash Voucher Form Your employer’s version may combine or split some of these fields, but the core information is the same.
Write legibly on paper forms. Finance staff process dozens of these, and an amount that could be $12 or $17 will sit in someone’s inbox until they track you down. If your workplace uses a digital form on the company intranet, check that auto-fill hasn’t carried over a wrong department code from a previous submission.
Getting Approval and Receiving Your Cash
Once the form is complete, attach your receipt (or missing-receipt affidavit) and give the packet to your supervisor for approval. Most organizations require a supervisor’s signature before the custodian will release any funds. This isn’t a formality. Separation of duties is a core internal control: one person requests the money, a different person approves it, and a third records the transaction.6Illinois State Board of Education. Internal Controls for Revolving Account Fund and Petty Cash If the custodian is also your supervisor, their own purchases need sign-off from someone above them. No one approves their own reimbursement.
After the supervisor signs, deliver the packet to the petty cash custodian. The custodian checks that the receipt matches the form, the amount is within the policy limit, and the expense type is allowed. If everything lines up, you’ll receive cash directly from the lockbox or safe. Some workplaces have moved to adding petty cash reimbursements to the next payroll cycle instead of handing out bills, so ask which method your organization uses. Turnaround varies. In a small office with an on-site custodian, you might have cash the same day; larger organizations with centralized finance departments may take a few business days.
Why the Receipt Rule Matters at Tax Time
The receipt-and-form routine isn’t only internal policy. It’s what keeps your reimbursement from becoming taxable income. The IRS treats employee reimbursements as tax-free only when the employer runs an “accountable plan,” which requires three things:
- Business connection. The expense must relate to your work as an employee.
- Adequate accounting. You must substantiate the expense to your employer with receipts and a description within a reasonable time. The IRS considers 60 days after the expense a safe harbor.
- Return of excess. If you received more cash than you spent, you return the difference within 120 days.
These requirements come from IRS Publication 463.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses When a petty cash system meets all three, reimbursements aren’t taxable income and don’t show up on your W-2. When it doesn’t, because the employer hands out cash without requiring receipts or lets employees keep the change, the IRS treats the payments as taxable wages subject to income tax withholding, Social Security, and Medicare.8Internal Revenue Service. Fringe Benefit Guide
Columbia University’s policy states the principle plainly: petty cash reimbursements must be for “an approved University necessary and reasonable business expense that is not subject to IRS reporting or withholding as income.”9Columbia University. Petty Cash Policy Pocketing the difference between what you received and what you spent creates a tax problem for you as well as the employer. Turn in the receipt, return any leftover cash, and keep a copy of the signed form for your own records in case a question comes up later.