Split expense settlement

Learn how to share costs with team members and track settlements when multiple people split a business expense.

What is a split expense?

A split expense is a single business cost that's shared among multiple people, where one person pays the full amount initially and then others reimburse their share. This feature solves the common problem of team meals, shared transportation, and group purchases where it's impractical for everyone to pay separately at the point of sale.

Common scenarios for split expenses. Team dinners are the most frequent use case, where colleagues go out for a meal together and one person picks up the check. Shared transportation like taxis or Uber rides when multiple colleagues travel together from the airport or between client meetings also benefit from splitting. Group hotel bookings where several team members share a suite or block of rooms can be split appropriately. Conference registrations purchased as a group often need to be divided among attendees. Shared office supplies purchased for a team project can be allocated across team members or cost centers.

Create a split expense

Creating a split expense follows the normal expense creation flow with additional steps to designate participants and their shares.

Start by creating the expense normally, filling in merchant name, total amount, transaction date, and category as you would for any expense. Enable the "Split Expense" toggle switch, which reveals additional fields for managing participants. Click "Add Participants" to open the team member selection dialog. Select the team members from your organization's user list who shared in this expense—you can add as many participants as needed. Choose your split method from three options: equal split to divide the amount evenly among all participants, custom amounts to specify exactly what each person owes, or percentages to allocate shares based on percentage of the total. Add your own share to the split calculation—you'll be both the payer and a participant. Click "Save" to create the split expense.

The system automatically calculates what each participant owes and sends email notifications to all participants informing them of the split expense and their share.

Split methods

Eloope supports three flexible methods for dividing expenses to accommodate different sharing scenarios.

Equal split (most common). This method is perfect when everyone shared equally in the expense and you want the system to calculate shares automatically. For example, if a team dinner totaled $120 and 4 people attended, each person owes $30. The system divides the total evenly and updates automatically if participants are added or removed. This is the simplest and most commonly used method for team meals and shared rides.

Custom amounts. When people didn't share equally—perhaps someone ordered more expensive items or left early—you can specify exact amounts per person. For instance, a $150 dinner might break down as Person A owing $60 for their steak, Person B owing $45 for pasta, and Person C owing $45 for a salad. Enter the exact amount each person should pay, and the system verifies that the individual amounts sum to the total expense amount.

Percentages. For business expenses that need to be allocated by project contribution or organizational responsibility, percentage splits work best. A $200 shared expense might be split as 50% ($100) for you, 30% ($60) for Colleague A, and 20% ($40) for Colleague B. Enter the percentage for each person, and the system calculates dollar amounts while ensuring percentages total 100%.

Participant view

The split expense interface shows different information depending on whether you paid or owe money.

When you paid (expense creator), your view shows comprehensive tracking. You see the total amount you paid initially, your personal share of the expense that you'll claim for reimbursement, and the amount owed to you by all other participants combined. For example, for a $120 dinner with 4 people, you'd see: Total paid: $120, Your share: $30 (which goes in your expense report), Amount owed to you: $90 (3 people × $30 each). As participants settle up, the dashboard updates to show who has paid and who still owes money.

When someone else paid (participant), you see your obligation. The split expense appears in your "Split Expenses" widget on your dashboard showing the amount you owe, the payee's name so you know who to reimburse, expense details including merchant and date for context, and a "Mark as Settled" button to confirm when you've paid your share. This keeps you aware of outstanding obligations without requiring you to remember separately.

Settlement process

The settlement process happens outside of Eloope through person-to-person payment, with Eloope tracking the settlement status.

If you paid initially and are collecting money. The system automatically sends email notifications to all participants when the split expense is created, alerting them that they owe you money. Participants can see their share in their dashboard split expenses widget. When participants pay you back through Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, cash, or any other method, they should mark the settlement as complete in Eloope. Alternatively, once you confirm receiving payment from someone, you can mark them as settled manually.

If you owe someone and need to pay your share. You receive an email notification immediately when you're added to a split expense, with details about the amount and payee. The split expense appears in your dashboard widget under "Amount You Owe" so you can't forget about it. Pay the person back using your preferred method—Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, cash, bank transfer, or whatever works for both of you. This payment happens entirely outside of Eloope. Once you've sent the payment, click "Mark as Settled" in your dashboard widget or on the expense details page. Add an optional note indicating the payment method used, such as "Paid via Venmo" or "Gave cash on March 20." The expense disappears from your "you owe" list once marked as settled.

Track settlements

Eloope provides multiple ways to track outstanding split expenses and settlement status.

View all split expenses in one place. Navigate to Expenses → Split Expenses tab to see a comprehensive list of all split expenses you've been involved in. Each expense shows its current status: "Pending" means no participants have settled yet, "Partially Settled" indicates some but not all participants have paid, and "Fully Settled" confirms all participants have paid their share. You can filter by status to focus on pending items requiring action.

Dashboard widget provides at-a-glance visibility. Your dashboard displays a dedicated split expenses widget summarizing your financial position. It shows the total amount owed to you from expenses you paid, the total amount you owe others for their expenses, and your net balance—positive if you're owed more than you owe, negative if you owe more than you're owed. Click any amount to drill into the details and see which specific expenses contribute to the total.

Mark as settled

The process for marking settlement varies slightly depending on whether you're the payer or participant.

When you paid and someone settled with you. Navigate to the split expense by clicking it from your dashboard widget or expense list. The expense detail page shows all participants with their individual settlement status. Click on the participant's name who paid you. Click the "Mark as Settled" button next to their share. Confirm the settlement in the dialog that appears. Optionally add a note documenting when and how they paid, such as "Venmo received March 18, 2025" or "Cash received." The participant's status changes to "Settled" and their amount is removed from your "Amount Owed to You" total.

When you owe someone and paid them back. Your dashboard widget shows the amount you owe with a direct link to the expense. After paying the person through Venmo, cash, or another method outside of Eloope, click "Mark as Settled" in your dashboard widget or from the expense details page. Confirm the settlement in the dialog. Add an optional note indicating your payment method for your own records. The expense immediately disappears from your "Amount You Owe" list, and the payer sees your share as settled in their tracking.

Split expense and reports

Understanding how split expenses interact with expense reports ensures proper reimbursement.

Submitting in your expense report. Only include your personal share of the split expense in your report, not the full amount you paid. For example, if you paid $120 for a team dinner and your share was $30, you submit only the $30 in your expense report. Each participant submits their own $30 share in their individual reports. This ensures everyone gets reimbursed for their portion without double-counting.

Reimbursement process. You receive reimbursement from your company for your share only, in the previous example $30. You collect money directly from the other three participants, receiving $90 from them outside the Eloope system. The net result is that you have zero personal cost—you get $30 from your company for your share, and $90 from colleagues for their shares, totaling the $120 you initially paid.

Best practices

Following these guidelines ensures smooth split expense management with minimal confusion or delays.

Create the split expense immediately after the shared purchase while details are fresh and before receipts get lost. Notify participants right away by ensuring the system's automatic email notifications are enabled and optionally sending a quick message confirming they received the notice. Track settlements promptly by marking them as complete as soon as payments are received or made. Use popular payment apps like Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App for easy electronic transfers that leave a digital trail. Mark settlements as complete the same day payment is made or received rather than letting them pile up. Add notes documenting the payment method used so both parties have a record. Communicate proactively with participants if issues arise, such as someone forgetting to pay after several weeks.

Reminders and notifications

Eloope's automated reminder system helps ensure timely settlements without requiring manual follow-up.

Automatic reminders are sent on a schedule. Participants receive an immediate notification when they're first added to a split expense, explaining their share and whom they owe. If settlement hasn't occurred after 7 days, the system sends a first reminder to outstanding participants. A second reminder goes out at the 14-day mark if payment still hasn't been marked as settled. A final reminder is sent at 30 days for any remaining unsettled shares.

Participants can customize their experience. If a participant has already paid but hasn't marked it settled yet, they can mute reminders for that specific expense to avoid unnecessary notifications. Users can set default reminder preferences in their account settings to control frequency or disable reminders entirely if they prefer. Viewing all pending settlements is easy through the dedicated split expenses widget on the dashboard, which provides a centralized view of all outstanding obligations.

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