Business Tool · Accounting
Expense and receipt tracking for cottage food sellers
A cottage food expense tracker that knows what a booth fee is. Log the flour run, snap the receipt, and it lands on the right Schedule C line. Part of Artisan Pro.
The problem
Receipt tracking for home bakers usually means a drawer
You know roughly what you spend on flour, jars, and labels. You don't know it to the dollar, and neither does your preparer. That gap is money left on the table every January.
The Costco receipt problem
Forty pounds of flour, a case of mason jars, and the family groceries on one receipt. Six months later you can't tell which lines were the business.
Fees paid in cash
A $35 booth fee handed over every Saturday is more than $1,800 a year. It rarely comes with a receipt, so it rarely gets deducted.
Generic categories
Freelancer apps offer "Office supplies" and "Meals." A sourdough seller needs Ingredients, Packaging & Labels, and Kitchen Rental.
Try it now
Where does the money go?
Drag the sliders to your typical month. The right side shows the year by category, with the Schedule C line each one maps to.
A typical month
Your year, by category
Line mapping is a bookkeeping convenience, not tax advice — confirm with your preparer. This shows records and deductions, not tax owed; SellFood does not calculate tax.
In the real tool, these are your receipts, not sliders. Each expense carries its photo, category, and Schedule C line, and the totals build themselves all year.
Start tracking →Included with Artisan Pro
An expense log built around a home kitchen
It lives on your Accounting page, next to your orders and payouts. Everything here is live today.
Categories that match how you spend
Ingredients, Packaging & Labels, Equipment, Market Fees — 3rd Party, Kitchen Rental, Advertising, Sales Tax Remitted. Each points at its Schedule C line, so the Taxes page fills in on its own.
Receipt capture
On your phone, the camera opens from the expense form. Attach an image or PDF up to 5 MB; photos are resized before upload. Stored privately, tap to view, replace or remove any time.
Recurring expenses
The Saturday booth fee, the monthly kitchen rental. Tap "Log again" on last time's entry and it's recorded for today, same category and amount, ready for a new receipt.
Custom categories with a line
License renewal, insurance, a food-handler class. Name the category once, pick its Schedule C line (or leave it on 27a), and it's a reusable option from then on.
COGS from your variant costs
Set what each variant costs to make. Every SellFood order and offline sale of that variant adds cost × quantity to cost of goods sold on your P&L. No per-sale math.
CSV export and the preparer package
Download the expense log as CSV any time. In January, the preparer package adds an expenses PDF, by category and as a ledger, with every receipt renamed by date, category, and amount.
Questions sellers ask
Plain answers. None of this is tax advice; your preparer has the final word.
Do I still need to keep paper receipts?
Keep whatever your preparer advises. SellFood stores the photo or PDF you attach privately on your account and includes it in your preparer package, renamed by date, category, and amount. Some preparers accept a clear photo; others want originals for larger purchases.
How big can a receipt be?
Up to 5 MB per receipt, as an image or a PDF. Phone photos are resized to 1600 pixels on the long side before upload, so a normal camera shot lands well under the cap and still reads clearly. Multi-page invoices work best as a PDF.
Who can see my receipts?
Only you. Receipts are stored privately on your seller account and never appear on your shop, in order emails, or to buyers. They leave your account only in a preparer package: the zip you download, or the private 7-day link you email your preparer.
What is the difference between an expense and COGS here?
An expense is something you log: a bag of flour, a booth fee, with a receipt if you have one. COGS is calculated for you. When you set a cost on a variant, every order and offline sale of it adds cost times quantity to cost of goods sold. Both show on your P&L.
Can I import expenses from my bank or card?
No. SellFood is a ledger, not a bank aggregator, so there is no bank feed to connect. Your sales already arrive from your orders, and expenses take a few seconds to log with the receipt attached. CSV export gives you the columns back any time.
Related tools
Start this Saturday
Log it in the parking lot. Find it in January.
Included with Artisan Pro. See pricing when you're ready, or the state cottage food guides if you're just starting.