--- name: "books_record_expense" area: "books" title: "Book an expense" price: "$0.01" method: "POST" url: "https://api.conecto.chat/v1/tools/books_record_expense" mcp_server: "https://api.conecto.chat/mcp/books" auth: "Authorization: Bearer " docs_url: "https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_record_expense" --- # Book an expense (`books_record_expense`) Books a cost the business paid, with its tax split off and the receipt attached. Book a cost the business paid: account is what it was for (an expense, or an asset like equipment), paid_from where the money came from (default the bank account; a card, cash or the owner's account). paid_by instead (an email) makes it an expense claim, like Xero's: someone paid with their own money and is paid back with books_repay_claims. With a tax, the tax to reclaim is split off (amount includes it unless amount_includes_tax is false). Attach the receipt from the file store. A negative amount is a refund. Price: $0.01 a call. A call that fails costs nothing. ## Use it when The business paid for something: a subscription, electricity, supplies, a repair. - For a supplier bill to pay later, use [purchasing_create_bill](https://conecto.chat/tools/purchasing/purchasing_create_bill.md). - For anything else that moves money between accounts, use [books_record_entry](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_record_entry.md). ## Say this to your agent > Book the 238 euros we paid Hamburg Energie for the warehouse's electricity on October 5, VAT included. The receipt is in our files. ## Inputs | Name | Type | Required | Description | Allowed values | Default | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | `date` | string | yes | YYYY-MM-DD (matches ^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$) | | | | `amount` | number or string | yes | e.g. "119.00". Up to 24 characters. | | | | `account` | string | yes | An account code from the chart, e.g. "6600". 1 to 20 characters. | | | | `paid_from` | string | no | An account code from the chart, e.g. "6600". 1 to 20 characters. | | | | `tax` | string | no | A tax by name (books_get lists them), e.g. "VAT 19%". Up to 60 characters. | | | | `amount_includes_tax` | boolean | no | | | `true` | | `vendor` | string | no | Up to 200 characters. | | | | `memo` | string | no | Up to 500 characters. | | | | `reference` | string | no | e.g. the receipt number. Up to 120 characters. | | | | `receipt_file_id` | string | no | A file_id from the file store. Exactly 36 characters. | | | | `currency` | string | no | When it is not the base currency, e.g. "USD". The rate is then rate, a standing rate, or the European Central Bank's for the date. Matches ^[A-Za-z]{3}$. | | | | `rate` | number or string | no | One unit of currency in the base currency, e.g. "0.9241". Default: a standing rate, else the European Central Bank's reference rate for the date. Up to 24 characters. | | | | `tracking` | object | no | Tracking options by category, e.g. {"Department": "Service"} (books_list_tracking). | | | | `paid_by` | string | no | The email of whoever paid it privately and is paid back: an expense claim. Not with paid_from. Up to 254 characters. | | | | `paid_by_name` | string | no | Up to 200 characters. | | | ## Example Written for Hansen & Voss, a restaurant-equipment wholesaler in Hamburg with 60 staff. MCP: call `books_record_expense` on the MCP server `https://api.conecto.chat/mcp/books` with these arguments: ```json { "date": "2026-10-05", "amount": "238.00", "account": "6800", "tax": "VAT 19%", "vendor": "Hamburg Energie", "reference": "RE 2026-10-5521", "receipt_file_id": "4c1f7e92-3a6b-4d8e-b5c0-9e2d1f3a7b68" } ``` REST: ```bash curl https://api.conecto.chat/v1/tools/books_record_expense \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $CONECTO_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"date": "2026-10-05", "amount": "238.00", "account": "6800", "tax": "VAT 19%", "vendor": "Hamburg Energie", "reference": "RE 2026-10-5521", "receipt_file_id": "4c1f7e92-3a6b-4d8e-b5c0-9e2d1f3a7b68"}' ``` ## Response ```json { "call_id": "5f0c8a2e-3b7d-4c1e-9a64-2d8e1f7b0c93", "tool": "books_record_expense", "status": "succeeded", "replayed": false, "cost_usd": "$0.01", "balance_usd": "$19.75", "result": { "entry": { "entry": 3, "date": "2026-10-05", "memo": "Expense: Hamburg Energie", "reference": "RE 2026-10-5521", "party": "Hamburg Energie", "source": "expense", "total": "238.00", "currency": "EUR", "rate": null, "lines": [ { "account": "6800", "account_name": "Utilities and phone", "debit": "200.00", "credit": null, "description": "Hamburg Energie", "tax": "VAT 19%" }, { "account": "1300", "account_name": "Tax to reclaim", "debit": "38.00", "credit": null, "description": "VAT 19%", "tax": "VAT 19%" } ], "reverses": null, "reversed_by": null, "receipt_file_id": "4c1f7e92-3a6b-4d8e-b5c0-9e2d1f3a7b68", "recorded_at": "2026-10-15T14:29:47+00:00", "recorded_by": "key 4101 (Pip)" } } } ``` `result`: The entry booked: its number, date, memo, party, receipt, and lines with the tax split off; with paid_by, claim: the expense claim to pay back. ## Errors | Code | Status | When | Fix | |---|---|---|---| | `no_books` | 409 | The business keeps no books yet. | Set them up with books_setup (base currency, start date). | | `not_found` | 404 | No account, tax, entry or file of the books has that code, name or id. | Check the codes with books_list_accounts and the taxes with books_get. | | `archived` | 409 | The account or tax is archived. | Use another one, or un-archive it with books_save_accounts. | | `unbalanced` | 400 | The debits and credits do not add up to the same amount. | Make the lines balance. | | `before_start` | 409 | The date is before the books start. | Use a later date. | | `period_locked` | 409 | The books are locked for that date. | Use a later date, or unlock with books_lock. | | `no_rate` | 409 | There is no exchange rate for the currency on that day. | Pass rate, or set a standing rate with books_setup rates. | | `rates_loading` | 503 | The day's exchange rates are still loading. | Try again in a few minutes, or pass rate. | | `invalid_input` | 400 | The amount is 0 or not a number, the date is not valid, paid_by is not an email, or both paid_by and paid_from are given. | Send an amount like "238.00" and a date like 2026-10-05. | | `no_role` | 409 | No account holds a role the expense needs (the bank, or tax to reclaim). | Give an account the role with books_save_accounts. | The refusals every tool can give (401 key, 402 balance, 429 limits) are on the errors page: https://conecto.chat/docs/errors.md ## Related - [books_setup](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_setup.md): Starts the business's double-entry books (currency, start date, chart of accounts) or changes their settings. $0.001 a call. - [books_get](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_get.md): The books' settings: currency, start date, fiscal year, locked period, roles, payment accounts, taxes, and what is waiting. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month. - [books_list_accounts](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_list_accounts.md): Every account with its code, type, role and balance on a day. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month. - [books_save_accounts](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_save_accounts.md): Adds accounts or changes them, matched by code: name, type, description, code, role or archived. $0.001 a call. - [books_save_tax](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_save_tax.md): Adds or changes a tax rate the books use (VAT, GST, sales tax), matched by name. $0.001 a call. - [books_record_entry](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_record_entry.md): Books a journal entry of two or more balancing lines, for whatever the other tools do not cover. $0.01 a call. - [books_attach_receipt](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_attach_receipt.md): Attaches a receipt from the file store to an entry that has none. $0.01 a call. - [books_reverse_entry](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_reverse_entry.md): Undoes an entry by booking its mirror image; entries are never edited or deleted. $0.01 a call. - [books_list_entries](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_list_entries.md): Entries, newest first, with their lines, by dates, account, source or text. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month. - [books_import_bank](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_import_bank.md): Reads a bank statement from the file store (CSV, CAMT.053 or OFX) onto a bank account, skipping lines imported before. Free. - [books_bank_lines](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_bank_lines.md): Imported bank lines (by default the ones still to match), each with up to three suggestions of what it was. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month. - [books_match_bank_lines](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_match_bank_lines.md): Says what bank lines were: entries already booked, invoices or bills they pay, an account to book them to, or nothing to book. $0.02 per bank line matched. - [books_save_bank_rule](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_save_bank_rule.md): Saves a bank rule, like Xero's: which new bank lines it matches and how they are booked, to one account or split by percent, each part with its own tax. $0.001 a call. - [books_list_bank_rules](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_list_bank_rules.md): Lists the bank rules in the order they are tried, with where they book and how often they were used. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month. - [books_apply_bank_rules](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_apply_bank_rules.md): Books every new bank line a rule matches, each by the first rule that matches. $0.02 per bank line booked. - [books_delete_bank_rule](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_delete_bank_rule.md): Deletes a bank rule; what it booked stays booked. Free. - [books_report](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_report.md): A report: profit and loss, balance sheet, trial balance, ledger, tax, the VAT or OSS return, the cash flow ahead or a snapshot of the business. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month. - [books_save_tracking](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_save_tracking.md): Saves a tracking category with its options, like Xero's: a department, a region or a project line that any line of the books can carry. $0.001 a call. - [books_list_tracking](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_list_tracking.md): Lists the tracking categories and their options. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month. - [books_save_budget](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_save_budget.md): Saves a budget per income and expense account and month, like Xero's budget manager: amounts, monthly or yearly. $0.001 a call. - [books_list_budgets](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_list_budgets.md): Lists the budgets with every line's monthly amounts and total. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month. - [books_delete_budget](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_delete_budget.md): Deletes a budget; the books don't change. Free. - [books_repay_claims](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_repay_claims.md): Pays someone back for costs they paid with their own money (expense claims), like Xero's, with a SEPA file when asked. $0.01 a call. - [books_list_claims](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_list_claims.md): Lists expense claims: what people paid for the business privately, and what each is owed. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month. - [books_save_asset](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_save_asset.md): Registers a fixed asset (a van, a machine) and how it depreciates, like Xero's: straight line, declining balance, at once or not at all. $0.001 a call. - [books_list_assets](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_list_assets.md): The fixed asset register: each asset's cost, accumulated depreciation and book value, what a run would book now, and the register held against the books. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month. - [books_depreciate](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_depreciate.md): Books the depreciation of every registered asset through a month's end, one entry a month, like Xero's run depreciation; or undoes it after a date. $0.01 a call. - [books_dispose_asset](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_dispose_asset.md): Sells or writes off a fixed asset, like Xero's dispose: depreciation to the day it goes, then its cost, the price and the gain or loss. $0.01 a call. - [books_delete_asset](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_delete_asset.md): Takes an asset registered by mistake out of the register; the books don't change. Free. - [books_lock](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_lock.md): Locks the books through a date, so nothing new is booked on or before it; null unlocks. $0.001 a call. - [books_close_year](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_close_year.md): Closes a fiscal year for good: nothing is booked on or before its last day again, and it can't be undone. $0.001 a call. - [books_export](https://conecto.chat/tools/books/books_export.md): A CSV of the journal or the accounts, a DATEV Buchungsstapel for a German tax adviser or a French FEC, with a download link. $0.001 a call.